Day 84 - Trip to the Mall.

Morning -
I woke with quite a bit of pain. Back pain and good leg pain. I think I over did it yesterday.
Maddie gave me a fruit salad straight away, so I could take pills.

Noon - 
Today we decided to go to the big pharmacy and get prescribed pills.

Tomorrow we have to return the Avis car. Then we only have the beetle till we find a car we like.
Maddie got to drive the beetle, and we had to see if I could get in and out of it. Maddie did so well in the beetle. Even with its funny door opening sequence, and the seat being hard to move, and her arms not reaching the gear shift. I was able to get in easily. The back of the passenger seat is very solid and easy to grip for getting in and out.

Maddie drove us to the big mall. The closest parking was about 200 meters from the pharmacy. I never use the elevator or the escalator because the stairs are free exercise. Today we took the elevator. :-(

I find that while crutching, my concentration is focused on the floor in front of me. I wouldn't notice a rhino beside me. I always used to watch for potential security threats, but not today, just the floor in front of me.

Maddie did all our prescriptions, while I rested on a bench. Medical aid refused most of my medications. Lack of funds.  So we only got a few of the most important pills, and paid lots of cash.

We bought 2 more extension grabbers. I want to put large cup hooks in the ceiling by my bed, over the computer, and in the bathroom. That way when not in use, I can just grip the hook with the grabber, and the grabber will hang out of the way, but in easy reach.

We went to a good restaurant next, another 100 meters. It seems best to have Maddie go ahead and scout out places before I get there. She walked ahead to the restaurant, and found a crutches friendly table, and it was easy for me. I expect in a few weeks, I'll be the zoomer, and she will be trying to keep up with me :-)

 

Maddie went off to do shopping, and I sat awhile and had another coffee. Then I crutched to the book store, another 100 meters. They have a small reading room there. The chairs are fluffy deep cushioned chairs. Bad news. I sank into one, and would just have to wait for Maddie to rescue me. A relaxing hour later she came and pulled me out of the chair, and we went to the car and drove straight home.

Over all about 500 meters crutching for the day. My hands are sore, my wrist, elbows, and shoulders are sore. My good knee is also sore. The good leg is taking strain. I refuse to even think what a catastrophe, a simple injury to the good leg would cause in my lifestyle. Something like an ankle sprain would make me bedridden for weeks.

The guys that use the same crutches I use for long distance walking, say that even a poor prosthesis is much, much better when using crutches. They still use crutches the same way, but the prosthetic takes most strain off the arms.
Using crutches without a prosthetic usually results in back pain. The poor spine never is able to enter the pelvis at the correct angle. It is always wrong. My back is going to be a big problem until I can get some sort of prosthesis to balance the forces on the pelvis.

I found a car place that has 3 high mileage BMW 330Ds for sale. a 2004 model, and 2 x  2005 models. Each is about R60,000 ($5000). Diesel, and automatic transmissions. Of course the BIG thing too keep in mind is that somebody got rid of these cars for a reason. Like a big maintenance bill coming.
I still think I prefer the Mercedes Benz C220-ish type of car.

I very good, and pleasant day. Very tiring, but well worth it.
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