CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER!

     I just received new forearm crutches today.  Black and silver and shiny and beautiful.  One to keep in the car, and one for everything.  Last week molds were made of my legs for new braces.  The woman who worked on me put me in a chair that she raises very high to measure and wrap my legs in some sort of mold.  She noticed how one of my old braces was pushing my leg inward causing problems with my knee, so she is making an adjustment when she makes the new braces. She took her time and asked me a lot of questions.  I saw that they had a poster for children with braces like mine.  They had them not only in colors, but with different designs.  I loved it.  She asked why I wore the same brace on my left leg  for 26 years.  There is a big crack on the back of it.  I explained that it was just more comfortable than the newer ones.  She made note of that.  She is also putting pads in them, where there is tenderness. A dear friend called a few weeks ago and said it’s a little sad that I’m excited about new braces and crutches.  She may have meant that the time it takes to get the doctor’s approval, getting insurance to pay for it, and having to justify it all is ridiculous.  Or she may have meant that it's unfortunate that a I need them at all.  I have only had four pairs of braces in 32 years. When I was first learning to walk, I could barely move my legs and couldn’t feel the floor beneath me.  One doctor came to my hospital room, did a quick check and said that since I only got a small return of the muscles in the last several weeks, that I probably wouldn’t be walking very much again.  However, for the few steps that I could take he prescribed long legged metal braces to my waist with a waistband, and of course two crutches.  He said that way, when I do walk, I won’t substitute any muscles.  “Substitution”.  That’s a big word in physical therapy.  That's the only way that I can get from point A to point B.  I don’t do “heel toe”, like most people, I sort of waddle. He had the final say in what I would be using to be mobile.  After he left my room, I was in tears.  It wasn't just his demeanor, and telling me this was all I would get back,  it was the idea of wearing metal braces up to my waist.  The physical therapists talked to me privately and said that they didn't agree with him, and sent me to the brace maker that they like.  He talked to this doctor and bet him a steak dinner that he would have me in short plastic braces to my knees and that was that.  When I met him, he sat on the floor and talked to me.  I was in a wheelchair and it was such a joy to speak to someone and look eye to eye with him.  My neck hurt from looking up to talk to people.  He had some ideas.  He put me in braces already made that were very soft.  He wrapped my feet and braces with an ace bandage, pulling the foot up past a 90 degree angle.  He said that since my quadriceps worked, the braces would force me to stay in a bent knee position.  When we worked on it together, I was able to take a few more steps with two crutches.  Staying in the bent knee position, I could stand and not fall.  He made me beautiful braces.  That’s how I walked for 5 and a half years and got down to one crutch.   As the years passed, and my feet and legs got stronger, an acupuncturist pointed out that I no longer needed the braces made like this, and to get them at a 90 degree angle.  It would be better for my legs and back and I would walk more normally.  I went to a few different brace makers.  The left leg and foot got stronger faster than the right, and one brace maker asked why I wore a brace on the left leg at all.  I explained that my back and leg wore out so fast, causing a lot of pain if I didn’t wear it.  He said he thought that I was just lazy.  I didn’t go back to him.  I finally found the right man and got what I needed.  I would have gone back to the same original brace maker, but I moved to another city.  Nowadays, it seems that they “get it”.   They make them just right for me and try to find the easiest way for me to walk.  I wouldn't be as independent without these beautiful aides.  A forearm crutch helps me walk even straighter.  And yes, after 32 years, it is STILL thrilling!