Dan steps off -- for real

Long pants are now on the agenda.

 
Thanks to Plainfield Today readers who inquire how things are going with the peg-leg. I have been reluctant to tempt the fates by saying much lately, but here's a brief update.

After months of monkeying around with little fixes and workaround for the blister problem -- which seemed like it was going to last forever -- we have made a breakthrough.

The solution is a 'stump sock' that is an inner layer of a jelly-like polymer substance permanently bonded to an outer Spandex-like nylon sheath. The difference was noticeable to me at once, and the results have been nothing short of miraculous.

The blistering problem went away -- almost literally overnight. This means not only that I have been able to increase time on the prosthesis to about 8-9 hours per day as of now, but that I can walk and perform ordinary daily activities at will.

Things have been so dramatic that I progressed from using two crutches (to keep pressure on the peg-leg to a minimum) to using one crutch only to sort of steady me. My therapy coach Susan expects to present me with a prescription for a cane on Friday, meaning end of crutches.

On Monday, I had the pleasure of wearing long pants and dressing up for the YMCA donors' reception, at which I mingled and moved around without incident.

We passed the escalator test on Tuesday and I'm fine on grass, gravel and lumpy lawns as well as up and down slopes. Stairs need more work and are on my list.

And then we are working on my gait, so that I look more like a human coming down the hall rather than a Lego man.

It's amazing the progress that is being made now that the 'Mister Blister' phase appears to be behind us!

Many thanks to my coach Sue, prosthetist Lou, and Dr. Heikki Uustal -- wizards of rehab all.

No wonder JFK is consistently recognized for rehab excellence.

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-- Dan Damon [follow]

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