Christmas 2010 The celebration of family and friends at the Taylor home. Fred marathoned his sitting record up to a full 6 hours and only took a half hour nap. We were thankful he was here to join in another year. God preserved his life.
Last Thursday, Ryan and Matt came over and lit a fire under Fred by talking "jeep" talk. Here Fred has dressed himself to direct the efforts outside. Jeeps make him smell offroad adventure in the air. So here are some of Fred's thoughts today the 2nd of January.

Another word from Fred:

Welcome 2011!

With my last visit to the ortho doctor and a new set of x-rays I was given the OK to start putting some weight on my right side. I made it a point to do all my moving while in the doctors office without any assistance from anyone. What a difference from my last set of x-rays at Presbertian Hospital when I dreaded being moved around so they could get the right angle. I now am pretty much able to move myself around without much pain and have the ability to lay down, roll on my left side and get myself back up all on my own, I still haven't tried rolling unto my right side yet as prior partial rolls wither by design or accident have call up a warning light from that side of my pelvic region.

What they call putting 50% weight bearing is really nothing more than putting the weight of your own leg down. I would hardly call this 50%!

So now with January 13th only 10 days away I started using crutches instead of the walker (helps my ego a bit!) I actually stand up from my hospital bed, wheelchair or any other chair I was using without even the use of the crutches. Using a walking rotation with my legs as I move along with the crutches always trying to lead with my left leg as it my main weight bearing side. However, I have caught myself forgetting and leading with my right side, this causes me to put my full body weight down on the rights side. I immediately notice an awkwardness but no real pain which I take as a good sign.

Trying to emulate the walking motion and rhythm I think will greatly help me to shed the crutches as I try and mimic what it would actually be like to walk again after so long.

Yesterday, Mina started a fire in our bedroom fireplace and after it had died down I decided to see what I could do, so with the crutches I walked over to the fireplace and using the raised hearth for support, dropped to my knees and proceeded to stoke the fire and add a generous amount of new fire wood. My knees let me know that they didn't appreciate me kneeling on them but that's just from neglect of me kneeling on them and after a few days working on my Jeep they will toughen up again. When I sat on the raised hearth the seating part of my anatomy felt a bit less padded (I assume that much of the 30 lbs I lost was from this region, so with time this too will pass.)


Last night Phil and Abby came over and after I walked (with crutches) into the living room and sat down the conversation turned to how I was doing. I told them I worked on the fire, I could stand up by myself with out and assistance (including crutches) and could also crawl. Phil's eyebrows went up with surprise and he responded "you can crawl"? I actually hadn't yet but I figured with the moments earlier experience with working on the fire in the bedroom, it made sense to me that I could do the mechanics. So without any further delay I stood up on my own, then using the arms of the chair dropped to my knees and proceeded to crawl on my hands and knees across the room! Fortunately my theory was correct and I made it back to my chair without incident. One would think I was all better. but such activity brings on a slight sensation in my inner pelvic area that reminds me I am not. Here is a video of my current progress.

So with the New Year my progress will continue and with some effort, new activities, which to most of us seem trivial will be re-discovered as I venture into wholesome, active, wonderful life with full movement again!

Comments

Aw... that's fun to remember where he was and where he is now

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