Jan 11 - Still learning to walk.

02:40
What a lot of phantom pain! Very strong and nonstop.

When I showered last night,and I washed the stump, I noticed many small blisters along where the stitches used to be, and around the stump about half way up. They didn't hurt.

Taking the liner off was a relief. I could feel the blood rushing into the stump. The stump was in the socket about 11 hours, but it never felt uncomfortable or painful. I had a little trouble getting to sleep, but nothing really notable.
At about 1:45 I awoke and the pain was substantial. I got a mirror, but other than the small blisters, there was nothing to see. The stump looks fine.
 It took a moment for me to realize that the pain was not actually on the stump, but a few inches below the stump. It felt like real pain. It was like I had been cut.
Now I am wild awake. Tomorrow the weather for all of South Africa is supposed to be rain. We need it, so it will be welcome. It may mean I can't walk on my street though.

Our poor currency is in trouble. The Rand is sick.
A one ounce gold coin was worth R8200 in Feb last year, today it is worth R18,200. More than half the value.
People always equate wealth with a currency. My house here cost R100,000 in 1993, and today is worth R1,200,000. BUT ...It almost worth the same amout of Krugerrands today as it did in 1993.
People just miss the whole concept of money versus wealth.
One week ago the Rand was 15.4 to the Dollar, and now is 16.2.
That is a 6% loss in value in a week.
The Rand to Dollar was 11.5 exactly a year ago today. That is a 30%
decrease in value in one year to the Dollar.

I will always remember a story from the Koran about Mohammed buying a chicken for one silver Durham about 1500 years ago. Today in Saudi Arabia a chicken costs one silver Durham. Things of value like chickens or silver or gold seem to have the same value for hundreds or thousands of years it is only currencies that are based on nothing (Like the US Dollar and the Rand) that change in value.

Why am I talking about Gold at 03:00?
 --
Up at 8:00 after getting back to bed after 5.
I put my leg on easily, and even got it pointed in the right direction.

--
 18:00

I had a lazy day. I was playing Artificial intelligence in my train game, and walking with the leg in between. I also did laundry.
I walked 3 times to the gate. It is about 100 meters there. So I walked about 600 meters for the day. The best was the last 100 meters. I did that without any crutch touching the ground. Just the 2 feet. I rock and roll, and swivel, and hunch, but I can do it.

Laundry was easy once I figured out to put the wash basket in the wheelchair, and wheel the laundry out to the line. With legs it is almost easy to hang up the laundry. It got even easier when I locked the leg straight. Hard to walk, but very secure.

My neighbor came by and offered to drive the beetle around the block a few times. That was nice of her.

I just took the leg off. It was on for 10 hours. It was starting to itch, so I also removed the silicone liner and gave everything a good washing, then put the liner back on.

I am dozing off
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