Of shoes and other stuff

We spent a chunk of OT time this afternoon looking at the clever devices to help put on shoes with AFO’s. The general concensus of three therapists, two patients, and me, is that it’s not going to work the way things currently are. One possibility is to add another velcro strap around the ankle (in addition to the one around the calf) to hold it in place. Except it’s not really needed after the foot goes in the shoe, and I’m not happy with the idea of yet another velcro thing, since the shoe also has a velcro strap. You CAN have too much velcro.

A better solution is to get different shoes. Friend Kathie had already suggested that and I’d ordered a pair of diabetic fold over slippers from Zappos even before I went to therapy. They’re speedy on shipping and I’m hoping this will do the trick. I don’t even care if they’re attractive or not as long as they work. As my body heals and hopefully the foot gets less heavy, I should be able to do what I’m doing now – and if someone comes over who can put them on for me, all the better. I just know that I need to wear them as much as possible for my safety when walking.

I spent today with my feet and legs wrapped in Ace bandages to help reduce water retention that is turning the feet and toes into water balloons. My right foot feels heavier than ever; perhaps it’s the water. It’s annoying anyway. But I’m also aware that the nerves are doing things in that leg – which is the one messed up by the stenosis. The big toe has been tingling and prickly, and there are electric shock sensations around the knee. I’m hoping this means the nerves are maybe waking up a little bit, though there’s a long way to go.

I’ve also noticed that areas around my hips/waist/thighs have feeling now and they didn’t use to – or at least I think I remember that they used to be numb just like my right foot. That changed somewhere but I don’t know when and I wish I did. There’s one strip on my right butt check that still IS numb and it feels totally weird, but I think before the whole thing was weird. This paragraph doesn’t make a lot of sense but I wanted a record that the sensations are changing. Now if only I could get my right SI joint to stop screaming at me. I’ve spent the last 8 weeks in limited positions and I would give anything to be able to roll on my side. Do not take small things for granted.

Someone in therapy fell this morning; he’s fine, but we were all shook up. We wear gait belts and are spotted as we do new or hard things, but no one expects to actually fall. It followed a night where a resident in another “pod” found her way into ours and started screaming and howling, calling for the police and that she was in terrible pain. All of us woke up and wondered what was happening, but of course the staff couldn’t tell us anything because of HIPAA. So naturally it was all we talked about at breakfast, and usually we don’t talk much if at all.