I climbed stairs, . . . and drove

Now, when walking at PT I carry trekking poles only as insurance, dragging them along behind me around the PT room.  Also my PT person encouraged me to arrive early and put in time on their peddling machine, so I'm building on balance and a little cardio capability

Between PT sessions I have been walking on my own around the office at The Mountaineers or up & down Ballard Landmark hallways.  Last weekend I overdid it by walking two full circuits around the ground floor of the Ballard Landmark, which resulted in a swollen left ankle, so I reigned it in this week to get the swelling down in time for a first attempt at stairs this morning.  Henceforth I'll use ice on the left foot/ankle after PT sessions or walking on my own until it begins to behave as well as the right foot/ankle.

This morning, after warming up on the peddle machine and demonstrating satisfactory pace and balance walking around the room for a couple laps, we headed outside to a half flight of stairs near the PT entryway and I began to make my way carefully up and down.  "Bad foot first on the way down, and good foot first on they way up," is the rule.  All went well with my PT person close at hand and ready to catch me if I got wobbly.  No sweat!  Afterward, we agreed that we should work on this several more times before she'll give me the green light to try this on my own out in the world.

Earlier this week she had given me permission to try driving, so this afternoon I met the AAA person at our house to jumpstart my car, and once it had warmed up thoroughly I drove around quiet Ballard streets to reintroduce basic driving skills, and then I drove along Ballard arterials and beyond through the nearby neighborhoods.  After an hour of anti-climatic tooling around I returned home, nonplused that getting to drive after five months of convalescence wasn't more euphoric.  It was like nothing had happened between now and the end of June.  I suppose that's a good thing?  

The good news is that with an ability to navigate stairs and operate an automobile, I am very much closer to heading back home, very likely before year end. 

This morning I asked my PT person what it would take use a bicycle and after a pause she suggested I work on balance and endurance by increasing the speed and distance I can walk before trying a bicycle.  OK, so those are my next goals, . . . speed & distance while walking and then commuting to work via bicycle, both awesome ways to build up conditioning and muscle mass.

Oh, . . . first I'll need to figure out a way to put socks on by myself!  Thus far I haven't regained enough flexibility to reach down with both hands to the tips of my toes to pull on socks.  I'll figure out something though!