Crawl Before You Walk

It’s amazing the things we take for granted in life…until one day they are suddenly taken away. For me it’s been walking. I haven’t walked unassisted since the morning of October 7, 2013, when I walked into pre-op at Emory Midtown Hospital in Atlanta to get a giant cell tumor removed from my femur. Luckily, for me, it’s only a temporary absence in my life. I am hoping and praying come January that the bone will have healed enough to be able to drop both crutches for good and take my first unaided steps once again. I can’t help but wonder what that will be like and to be honest I’m a little scared. But just like taking first steps as a toddler, it’s something to work up to–you don’t go from tummy time and rolling over to running, there are steps along the way. Two weeks ago I started to practice walking at physical therapy–I am strapped into a harness so I don’t put too much weight on my recovering leg but it has given me the ability to practice in a safe environment before being let loose into the world to go walk. The first day it was just a couple of minutes. They also placed a mirror in front of me so I could watch myself as I walked to make sure I was not favoring my stronger leg. I have worked up to walking for 15 minutes at about 1.6 mph as of today. It’s amazing how that’s what I look forward to at present where a couple months ago it was my 100 mile weekends on the bike, but times have changed and so have my goals…and that’s okay. My next appointment with the doctor is not until January 9 where we will get to take a look inside again via X-rays and an MRI. If the bone has sufficiently healed, then we get to say goodbye to the crutches and hello to walking again. As I was recently reminded by my fortune cookie, “Endurance and patience will be rewarded.” Fingers and toes crossed 🙂