February 2016 – charcot cha-cha

HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, BABE!…….

OH!, (looking around and about quickly!) you mean, ME???? Yeah, M E ! !

In a sort of take-off from “A Christmas Carol”….let’s scroll back in time, and look at our past self. WOW! What do we see???!!! We see ourselves a few months back in time, mad at the fact I can hardly do anything from the chair of my wheelchair. Mad for my mom to be put out taking me to a store, and for her to have to grunt putting my wheelchair into the trunk. We see my past self being secretly envious of all those people dashing past me ON THEIR OWN FEET, in whatever store I might have been rolling about in….and you see the sympathetic glances from well meaning folks, which ironically always soothed me, proof of our Lord at work!!

I look back at some of my past posts, and marvel that I was so thrilled to be walking with my walker! Today, I am walking so close to a normal persons gait, that it really is just so astonishing to take that glance backwards, and realize how far I have actually come!! AND YOU WILL TOO!!!!

So, my point to you, my fellow Charcoter’s, is to always keep the FAITH!!! Have Faith in your lord, and often ask him for his help, he will provide if he can, and to also try to accept each day’s challenges, “one-day-at-a-time”, and take my own example as excellent proof that one can grow, daily, from one point in time that might be bad, to another end….an end that could have potential for a rainbow!

Carry on my fellow Charcoter’s, and hold your head’s HIGH!!!

I’M NEARLY GLOWING!

And not in a good way. Not in a flushed with love way, or new pregnancy way, or even in a too many glasses of wine way. No, I’m talking about the realization that I have had over probably 100 X-RAYS to my foot over the last year and am certainly glowing with radiation! That is a lot of X-rays, and come to think about it, I wasn’t always offered that heavy drape/shield thingie, either! Like half the time! I seem to recall having asked for it one time, and they said, “You’re not planning on having any babies are you?” And since my answer was no, that sort of put an end to it, no drape came forth. And I sort of shrugged it off as you know, not critical. But now that I use my brain a little (ouch!) it certainly makes no difference whether or not I plan on having babies in the future…I do kinda plan though, on not having cancer from X-rays!!! Sheesh! Well, I know I am being humorous about this, but this is all after the fact, so that is all one can do. Now just have to go through the years and hope no bad comes from it.

BUT! As a precautionary tale for the rest of you who are about to venture down the Charcot Foot road…make sure you are given that shield during your x-rays! I kid you not, when I said well over 100 x-rays! He wanted three angles each visit, which was several times a month, for 17 months! Do the math.

On a bit cheerier note, I am doing 1/2 mile walks daily, to acclimate to the level of walking I will be doing when I return to work. And my limp is nearly extinguished. Almost look like a normal walking person. A true miracle!!!

NEARLY ALMOST NORMAL!

Well, things have moved along pretty well, and I am quite close to my return to work and normal life! I am currently going through a bunch of red-tape regarding my returning to work, and no doubt you will run into similar scenarios when it is time for you too to return to work. My employer is quite large, and I have to be cleared through their medical unit before they will allow my return. They can see from my doctors list of restrictions and limitations that I won’t be able to do the job I used to do, but they don’t really have anything available that fits my criteria. I have to go on a month-to-month basis based on my doctors recommendations and do “light duty” at work until I can return to my prior position, or hopefully bid on the rare opportunities of a sit-down job. I will likely also be able to consider retiring on disability if there is nothing to accommodate me. It’s complicated and frightening, but take it one day at a time, and try not to let it get you depressed!

My physical therapy is going well. I’d almost decided to not attend my last group of sessions because I was finally walking without the cane, and about to return to work, so I wasn’t able to see the point. But I spoke to my therapist, and he convinced me to continue because I still need help with balance and walking without a limp. He’s super cute and we have a lot of fun in therapy, so ok, it wasn’t a hard decision to continue! Lol! I really do have to work on my walk…I have noticed that it appears as though I am drunk at times, like if I slow up, and start off again, there is a little side step, thing, (I don’t know, hard to describe), but it looks like I am teetering, or stumbling a bit. Kind of embarrassing! And I have a lot of fear to place all my weight on the foot when taking a step, which caused me to pick the foot up earlier, and this creates a limp. But, I know that in time it will work itself out, because just in the last few weeks my balance has improved and I think the limping is getting less. I really would like to find some kind of exercise I could do that will allow me to drop these excess pounds, but that won’t strain my foot. I think a stationary bicycle might do the trick.

Well, just be aware that even with your Charcot Foot improvements, there are still always going to be some set-backs, or bumps in the road. Try to stay positive and have a healthy outlook about your situation, and try hard to work around whatever obstacles are in your way!