Month: February 2016

Back to a Normal Life. Sort of.

On By Michel McDonaldIn HealthLeave a comment

Walking_Cane

Yesterday I put my new Schwinn adult tricycle together by myself in the kitchen, which meant that I had to put pressure on my bad leg as I walked around the bike. I told my physical therapist what I did, and that last night I really paid for it because I was in a lot of pain. He told me I was in pain because my leg isn’t used to it, but he said that I’m ready to start putting pressure on it, even though I’m 2-4 weeks early according to my doctor. But I agree with him about being ready because it doesn’t hurt at all to stand only on my right leg. I actually did that at physical therapy with both hands ready to grab something if it hurt, and I didn’t feel any pain. I was more surprised than one of the girls that work there.

One of the therapists showed me the proper way to use a cane. Yes, there is a proper way, I did not know that. I thought I would use my right hand and extend the cane on the same side as my bad leg. I was half right. I have to use my left hand, and I extend the cane and extend my right leg at the same time. So it’s good to know. I used a cane when I came out of the hospital when I had pneumonia only because I felt dizzy. I didn’t have a specific leg that I had to use the cane with, so I just used it to keep my balance.

We happened to have a cane in the car, so when I was on ice in PT, I called my partner and asked him to bring the cane to me, and he did. I walked out with a cane and holding my crutches and the other patients were shocked that I was walking without my crutches. We see each other every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the same time, so we’ve all become friendly and all know each others names heh. It’s like Cheers.

When we came home, I figured since I can start walking with a cane, it will be so much easier to start doing chores around the house again, like doing the dishes, taking out the dog, doing laundry etc. I took the dog out during The Ellen Show and I was fine. I just did the dishes the other day so we don’t really have that many dishes to do, so I’ll wait until tonight after dinner because I plan on making dinner tonight. I’m so sick of ham sandwiches for dinner lol. Oh, speaking of laundry, we put some clothes in the washer before going to PT and there are towels in the dryer that I have to fold, so I think I’m going to get started. My life has to start getting back to normal some time, it might as well start today.

My New Tricycle

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Me on tricycle

My Schwinn Meridian 3-wheel tricycle came today. YAY! It took me about an hour to put it together in the kitchen. You would think that it would be difficult to put a big thing like this together when you have a broken leg that is still healing, but I didn’t have too much problem. Well, except for a couple of issues.

Assembling my new tricycle was pretty much a cake walk with the exception of the fenders. The front fender went on without a problem, but the instructions said to install the fender first, then install the front wheel while the tricycle was upside down. Ok, no problem. But when I installed the front wheel I found a problem. The front of the fender was raised 3 inches above the wheel, but the back of the fender which is next to the frame is sitting right on the wheel, which means it would always rub against the wheel. I don’t know what the fix is, so I just turned it around so it’s on backwards, and it works.

The back fenders on the other hand are both installed correctly and they also rub the tires. The box that it came in was really damaged. I honestly don’t know if it was damaged from Amazon or UPS. When the driver dropped it off, he banged on the wood (we have wood paneling outside lol) then he rang the bell and ran to his truck and literally drove away before we could even open the door. Why do they do that? They used to wait for you to come to the door, then have you sign something, now they don’t even wait for you to come to the door. For all I know they could drop it off and someone could steal it before I even get to the door. Not that they could since it was a 71lb box lol.

schwinn box 1
schwinn box 2
schwinn box 3

Anyway, getting back to the tricycle lol.

So after I put it together, I went out on a little test ride in front of the house. I got on and tried to use my good leg to get me going, but for some reason I couldn’t. I’m so used to using my right leg, so I used my right leg, which isn’t a very good thing because it took a lot of force to get me going. But it didn’t hurt, so that’s a good thing. It was really difficult to turn right because the street slopes. The middle of the street is a higher elevation than it is at the gutter, so when I tried to turn right, I had a bit of trouble. I wasn’t sure if it was the handlebars that wasn’t aligned with the front wheel, so I adjusted it and I still had problems. I’m sure when I can start walking again I will have all the kinks worked out and turning won’t be that big of an issue.

My partner was freaking out about me getting through the doors because this bike is so wide. It’s got a badonkadonk lol. The back of it was really difficult to get through the door because of the caps on the axle on each side. I got it out of the kitchen and out the front door, although it took some doin’ to get it outside. When I was finished with my test ride I went to put it in our patio and I noticed that I had more of an issue getting it in the patio than I had getting it out of the front door. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do if getting it in and out of the patio is going to cause problems for me. But I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do. It has to go in our patio, there’s no question. So I guess I’m just going to have to suck it up buttercup and deal with it.

I love the color, and I’m going to have to find a matching nail polish because there are already scratches on the paint from the shipping. It doesn’t bother me much, but it bothered my partner. He wanted me to send it back. Screw that noise! It’s going to get more scratches along the way, so who cares. But, I’d still like to find a matching color just so I can fix it if it gets crazy scratched up.

Riding this tricycle is awkward for me, but perhaps it’s because I’m not used to riding a tricycle. I’m sure it will get easier and I look forward to more practice.

Schwinn Meridian Single Speed Adult Tricycle

On By Michel McDonaldIn Bike, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Schwinn Cherry Meridian

I finally ordered my new Schwinn Meridian Single Speed Adult Tricycle. I’m very excited because I’ve wanted one of these for years. They’ve always been way out of my price range because I never have that much money and I can never successfully save that much money. The only way I would be able to buy something this expensive is if I won a sweepstakes, which I actually did, hence why I was finally able to buy it.

The sweepstakes in case you are wondering is from the National Consumer Panel. I buy groceries, then scan the groceries with my cell phone, then send them the information and I get points for every week I am active in the program. I also have the opportunity to get 150 points or put 50 points towards monthly sweepstakes by doing surveys. They send me lots of surveys, and they don’t really take that long.

After I broke my leg, I think I waited a couple of weeks, but I emailed them to tell them that I broke my leg and I won’t be able to scan groceries for awhile, and they put that note in my account, and a week later I got an email telling me that I won the monthly sweepstakes of $500. I got another email a few days later telling me it was a mistake, that it was only $250, but they were still going to send me the $500 anyway. Well, I received the first $250 last week and the second $250 came today, so that’s how I was able to buy the tricycle.

The tricycle will help me rehab my leg and it will also get me back to the gym. It will also be a bigger help buying groceries with the bigger basket in the back. My old bike had a basket that I built that was smaller, and this one actually looks so much safer lol.

So thank you to the National Consumer Panel for making a typo and sending me more than I should have gotten, but you helped me buy my tricycle and you also helped me buy groceries. We were running out of money this month because my bills are killing me. Oh and I will get back to scanning soon because I can start putting pressure on my leg in the next month to month and a half.

2 Months

On By Michel McDonaldIn Doctor, Health, UncategorizedLeave a comment
Leg scar
leg scar

It has been 2 months since I broke my leg and had surgery. The picture on the left was taken last month  on 1/20/2016 and the one on the right was just taken on 2/18/2016. I wanted to show how it’s healing.

My leg still hurts from time to time if I twist my leg at the knee, but that’s about it. My partner was giving them to me every 4 hours like clockwork for the first month because he didn’t want me to be in any pain, which I appreciate. After so much time had passed, I guess he just forgot to give me the pills unless I asked for one. But that’s a good thing because I should only be taking them when I actually need them. They are so expensive that I’d rather only take them when I actually need them.

I go to Physical Therapy 3 days a week and that has helped a lot. I went to Physical Therapy at a place only a block away on the same street a couple of years ago for my back when I found out that I had scoliosis, and I didn’t like going there. I’m HIV+ and they didn’t want me to be in the open room with the rest of their clients, so they put me in a room by myself, which was very awkward because I had to ring a bell when I was done with my exercises and wait for the guy to come give me the tool for the next exercise. I didn’t tell this place that I am HIV+ because it’s not relevant. I’m not going to bleed or ejaculate on anything, so there’s no reason for them to fear me. That other place told me that they want to put me in a room by myself because they don’t want me to catch a cold from one of the other clients, but I’ve been going to PT at this new place for at least a month and I haven’t gotten since yet, and yes, there have been clients who were sick and I never caught their cold.

My doctor told me that I can put pressure on it in between the middle of March until the beginning of April. I wonder if I will replace the crutches with a cane by then. I sure do hope so. I am so sick of crutches. I will blog about that when that time comes.