Hooray!
More glitter and fireworks! Happy dances and honest happy tears. I’m so happy for both of you.
Thanks for the update. It’s so good to hear good news.
Yay!!Yay!!Yay!!
Wonderful news!
Wonderful news. I wish him well everyday.
What a great thread to look at - so nice to hear such good news!
WOOHOO Mr. Shoe!!! So glad to see he’s getting better and better!
Aww Purple, that is wonderful news!! Thank you for updating us. xoxo
Glad I could cheer everyone up! His long-long-term goal is to walk, obviously; his shorter-long-term goal is to be able to drive. (For those unfamiliar with this area, it’s … ah, well, let’s just say it’s heavily car-centric and has piss-poor public transportation. He’s basically stuck home alone all day and dependent on his parents for rides to PT while I’m at work.)
We’re thinking we might go out to a quiet empty parking lot some weekend and see [del]if[/del] how well he might be able to drive left-footed. In fact, he suggested the nearest good spot would be the elementary school parking lot where his parents taught him to drive in the first place. He’s been “practicing” while sitting on the couch already, flipping his good foot back and forth as quickly as possible.
Glad to hear the good news!
Rather than taking any chances with driving left-footed, can his car be fitted with hand controls until he’s back to where he needs to be to be able to drive? That way he could get out more, sooner!
We’ve looked into it, and it’s not an idea that’s off the table or anything, but driving left-footed is, well, free, while retrofitting a car is not.
I’m so happy to hear about his progress. (I’m also still absolutely gobsmacked at the enormity of the impact a tiny little mosquito bite can have!)
His memory problem may go away once he is getting out of the house. It’s very common for people who have no enforced schedule (i.e. work) to lose track of time, and this retroactively affects memory. When they have schedules again, memory also becomes anchored in time again. Particularly with what you mentioned about him waking up in the middle of the night, his flexible schedule is probably at least part of the problem, and it will resolve itself.
There are lots of options to retrofit most cars for hand controls, or to add a pedal on the left side that is tied to the gas so you don’t have to cross over.
At one point I was looking at having surgery on my right foot. I spent about a week driving left footed to see if I would be ok. It wasn’t that hard.
In any case…yay! Good news on the foot!
Thank you (and everyone else!)
To clarify, for anyone who’s clutching their pearls, he grew up learning to drive a stick shift (manual) so the concept of driving while using the left foot is already innate to him anyway.
We shall see . . .
All this time, my Other Shoe has been rolling around in loaner wheelchair from the hospital where he was doing inpatient physical therapy. Finally, FINALLY his “real” chair showed up this week. The frame suits him better, the back support is much better suited to his body and is and more adjustable, the wheels have better tread, and, for funzies, it has a lovely matte blue finish instead of the badly chipped yellow of the loaner.
He’s still attending physical therapy sessions once or twice a week, and can walk several dozen yards now (using a walker and with constant assistance from a PT). His right leg still doesn’t move much in response to his brain sending “Hey, Rightie – MOVE!” signals, and the knee won’t lock so it can’t support his body weight, so the PT has to help keep his leg straightened and shuffle his foot forward.
In addition, he’s taken on some part-time work through a family friend doing some simple welding work. He’s never done it before (he’s learning on the job as he goes) but he’s always wanted to tackle learning how to do it. He loves working with his hands and is a good woodworker, so this was a natural progression for him. Plus, it gives him a schedule, a reason to get out of the house, and a bit of money so he feels like he’s contributing more.
He’s more or less sleeping a bit better (lifelong insomniac) and is grilling, cooking and baking more. He’s planning to make brownies as a (belated) birthday gift for one of his PTs. It’s still a heck of a mental adjustment for him, but he’s a stubborn man and in this case, that’s a very good thing.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
So glad to hear from you. Be sure Other Shoe knows we are still thinking of him and rooting for him.
Hey, I got these warm fuzzies on me now! Eeeeeewwwww!
Seriously, thanks for the updates. I’m so glad he’s with you. And that he’s got a snazzy new chair. 
(I think they make those loaner wheelchairs as ugly as possible on purpose, so they have a fighting chance of getting a few of them back. Wheelchairs are stolen like mad; I bet 25% of the wheelchairs you see in any given week are hot.)
Yay! The welding has to be a huge thing for him- I’m so happy that he has that. Good to see your updates and know that progress is being made regularly.