Walking achievements

I have been practicing walking and shifting my weight to my prosthesis for the past week. It's hard work. Today, I balanced on my prosthesis for 15 seconds. I had to hold onto bars for support, but that is my new record. I can balance on my right leg, without arm support, for about 20 minutes or more. I may never get that good on my left leg, but I hope to stand on it without support for maybe 30 seconds in the future.

Rebecca is an amazingly inspiring volunteer who is also an above-knee amputee. She lost her leg about 2 1/2 years ago and walks so well now that I couldn't tell that she has a prosthesis. Her Blog details her experiences in learning to walk and use her prosthesis. She committed herself to walking 1,000 miles on her prosthesis. I decided to do the same thing. I am getting a pedometer and will start measuring my steps when I leave Magee. I hope I can do it by August 2015, to mark 2 years after being diagnosed with sarcoma. I invite my family and friends to participate as well. It is easy to take our abilities to move freely for granted, but it's not certain that we will always have freedom of movement. I want to celebrate every step that I can take.

At mealtimes, I sit in the cafeteria at communal tables with other patients. We get to know each other. At lunch, people often compliment each other on their walking during morning therapy. We get to brag about standing longer, taking more steps, or walking up the stairs to encouraging listeners who know exactly how hard won these small victories were. Everyone has a story of what brought them to Magee. Some people had accidents. Other people have chronic diseases. Some people had joint replacement surgeries. Many people have a few medical problems.

In some ways, people are so delicate. It doesn't take much for us to lose our abilities to move ourselves and control our limbs. In other ways, people seem to rise to the occasion. We practice standing and leaning. We practice walking and balancing. We get up again.

I tend to think of us as not being at such different levels, although some of us have more mobility than others. We are all dealing with different experiences. We are so gentle with each other here. It feels more supportive than life outside of the hospital. Outside of the hospital, everyone has different struggles, but people are usually less open about them. People outside of the hospital often don't share their micro- victories and tiny achievements either. I don't know if it is because healthy grown ups tend to arrange their lives so that they minimize challenges or if it is just not something we tend to discuss. I