It’s April.
I can’t believe it’s been almost 4 months since that night that changed my life forever. On one hand, it seems like 4 months have passed by in the blink of an eye and yet on the other, it seems I’ve been stuck in this wheelchair forever, even though it’s just been 6 weeks. In the last 4 months I: got hit by the 7 train, lost both my legs, had 12 operations, spent 3 months in the hospital, went to rehab, learned to use a wheelchair, became ambulatory, and so much more. Can’t say I haven’t been productive!..even though a lot of the time I don’t feel that way…
Well, at least the weather is starting to warm up a bit. Although, April Showers might make it a little difficult for me to leave the house. How do people who are wheelchair bound leave the house in inclement weather?…They can’t hold an umbrella in one AND push themselves with the other…you’d end up going in a circle! There isn’t an umbrella attachment for the wheelchair (at least not that I’m aware of) and if you hold an umbrella while someone pushes you then that person gets rained on. The next time it rains, look out for people in wheelchairs and let me know how it’s done please. I digress. Mom and I have been taking advantage of the nice weather while we have it and going on some strolls. I get some fresh air and she gets a little workout by pushing me. We’ll both have killer arms soon! The downside of these outings is that people stare. I could care less (although I’m sure on some level it bothers me..probably) but I know it bothers my mom, which she voiced when she said to me, “It’s fine if people look as you pass by but when they turn their heads and continue to follow after you’ve passed them…I just want to smack them!” (I may have paraphrased..). Stare all you want, but for future reference, I’d rather you flat out ask me what happened instead of being all bug eyed…or maybe I just need to get some shirts made that say, “Take a picture. It’ll last longer!” in multiple languages. Maybe I should look into that before my mom decks someone one day! =)
I had my first out patient visit with my rehab doctor since leaving rehab in March. He said that everything looked to be healing on track for the most part and that there were no major issues. I have a follow-up appointment in 6 weeks and hopefully by then I won’t be too far off from having prosthesis. Fingers crossed that healing continues to progress in these next 6 weeks. Until then, I’ll be researching and visiting prosthetic facilities. I’ll be visiting a few this week and will let everyone know how that goes in my next post!