Sunday Stroke Survival: It Works!

 When I walked into my Hanger appointment carrying my new AFO, the tech visibly girded her loin expecting a slew of complaints. She was pleasantly surprised to learn it was unnecessary. I told her the problem and she was relieved greatly.

My little nit picking problems were addressed and fixed and I was out of the office wearing my new AFO and a smile on my face in under an hour unlike previous appointments that last 2 or 3 hours. It only took them six years to produce a working AFO for me. 

I'm up to wearing this new AFO for six hours off and on so far with no issues other than my foot swelling. It swells in part because of the stress fracture that refuses to heal and my heart issues. Neither cause has anything to do with the brace itself.

Mt Emey Comfort walking shoe

I'm loving my new shoes too. Especially since I can now wear two of them again. The knobby soles allow me to walk without slipping and sliding even on inclines while the new AFO  straightens my foot with less than a 10° inversion. I feel more confident walking. I'm once again walking without watching my feet with every step. It's amazing how comfortable they are. I'm more sure footed. Of course, the bad habits of watching my feet and walking hunched over are two habits I'll have to work on to break again.

I opted for elastic laces to replace the cloth ones. I actually the chore of tying my shoes every time they have to be loosened or come untied got old fast. The left shoe (unaffected foot)is looser than the right so kicking the shoe off with it being tied was easy. It's only 1 1/2 sizes too big for my foot and twice the wide of my foot in order to fit my AFO clad foot on my right affected side. But you can't order two different sized shoes at a time. I wish. Some sacrifices have to be made walking post stroke. Now both shoes can be slipped on and off with ease and I don't have to bother with any shoe tying. I'm just that glad to be away from Velcro shoes.

At $129 a pop it's a good thing they only come in one color because I'd go into debt buying them out of pocket buying multiple pairs of this shoe. They are that comfortable and utilitarian for my lifestyle. It feels so good to walk and feel secure and not be in pain while doing it! I even did my post stroke version of an Irish jig after I got every thing in place again.

I'm back to collecting eggs and starting plants for the garden. Next month is planting season for our 1/2 acre garden and orchard and now I'm chomping at the bit to get at it again. It's hard not to get too excited and over doing. I'm still taking it slow getting the breaking in of the new shoes and AFO. I'm still trouble shooting and watching for new pressure sores. Blisters are bad enough. I want to nip them in the buds before they get worse and lay me up again.

While I'm in a holding pattern for moving, I still got to eat, right? The plan is to split whatever is put up between the two of us when I move. I'm still set on moving into a senior housing in south Georgia. It will be nice living in a community again although I'll miss the fresh eggs and chickens... well sort of miss the chickens. 😂

Nothing is impossible.