October 1, 2021
Dear Everyone:
I met with the
vascular surgeon last Tuesday.
He happily pronounced the operation a Complete Success.
He also said to continue wearing the compression stockings for
another four weeks.
Considering the fact that it takes five minutes, and a pair of pliers,
to get one stocking on, this is not an enjoyable prospect.
He also cheerfully
agreed that nothing he did was guaranteed to have any effect on whatever
it was that happened to me four months ago.
Then he wanted to know how soon he could perform the same
procedure on my right leg.
I replied, “When I
can walk again.”
In the meantime…
I’ve been using a walker since this whole thing
began.
Unfortunately, the designer assumed that
everyone has arms that are longer than mine.
In addition to having shorter-than-average legs, I also have
shorter-than-average arms.
This means that my hands land exactly where the pre-formed handholds
end. The heel of my hand
lands directly on top of the ridge formed by the handhold.
Result:
Bruised palms, blisters, numb fingers.
I have no feeling in my fingers, which makes attaching ear studs
to their backs a real problem.
Also, when sewing, I can’t feel the needle or thread.
Bummer.
When the Physical Therapist assigned to me
first arrived at my home, he took one look at the walker and pronounced
it “too big” for me. He
pulled out his cell phone (of course!) and promptly located a “walker
junior” that would provide me with a better fit for my height.
He even sent a link in a text message so I could find it quickly.
It turned out to be available at Amazon.
I ordered one the very same day.
It arrived just before the Physical Therapist
on his next visit. In fact,
he just about had to step over the box to get in the front door.
Instead, he picked it up and brought it inside.
Then he opened the box and put the new walker
together in record time.
In the meantime, while looking for the walker
online, I spotted an item that boasted it came with “foam handles”.
I thought, “Foam! Of
course!”
Several years ago I had bought some 2-inch
thick foam for some project or other.
It comes in sheets that you can purchase by the yard, just like
fabric. Since I wasn’t sure
how much I would need, I got a lot more than I needed.
And frugal person that I am, I put the leftovers somewhere in the
second bedroom “just in case” I found a need for them.
I had “Jeannie” scout through the place and
bring out pieces of foam from various corners.
I cut a couple of blocks, about 3 inches by 8 inches, to lay on
top of the walker handle area.
Then I tried holding it in place with a scrap of fabric with
strips of Velcro attached to it.
While the Physical Therapist was here, he
pinned the foam down with the fabric quite securely.
(It’s a wonder that we got any PT work done with all the
extracurricular activities we came up with.)
This ad hoc cushioning helped.
But I quickly realized that the foam was pushed down too firmly.
It didn’t buffer the hard edge of the molded plastic enough to
satisfy me. I decided to try
some experimentation.
First, I needed some soft fabric, preferably in
a dark color. Fortunately,
someone had given me a knit shirt, in black, that I never wore because
it didn’t fit. Nevertheless,
I didn’t just throw it out.
Now it came in handy.
I cut some rectangles out of the shirt, long
enough and wide enough to cover the foam without pressing it down too
much. Next, I tried using
some short shoelaces to gather the fabric ends in.
I laid new pieces of foam on the handle, pulled the shoelaces
together and tied them off.
Finally, I stitched the long edges along the bottom together.
What I had was a kind of upholstery that
cushioned my hands when I was hobbling along with the walker.
It was definitely an improvement.
This week, I upgraded the original concept with
elastic instead of shoelaces.
Also, I added flat hook-and-eye closures similar to ones used to
hold trouser waistbands together, instead of stitching the long open
edges underneath.
The result looks better, plus it doesn’t tend
to rotate by itself when the walker is being wrestled into the car.
So far, so good.
Of course, my real hope is that as soon as I get the walker as
comfortable as possible, I won’t need it anymore.
Everyone keep your fingers crossed.
Love, as always,
Pete
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