I got up early this morning to go do a ParkRun at a new venue. I got there, and it was so crowded. There are usually a thousand people running this ParkRun every Saturday. There must have been 500 white SUV's in the parking lot. Yuppy city. The parking was so far from the start line, that I just turned my car around, and headed back home.
It sounds silly to want to park closer to the start line so I don't have to walk so far before I race 5 km. Standing while waiting for the start, and the extra walking reduces the pleasure of the ParkRun because I will be tired, and sore before the race even begins.
I stopped on the drive home, and considered going to another Park Run venue. Then I asked myself what I would be doing right now if I could do anything. The answer was to be sitting in my wheelchair, drinking coffee and reading a book. So I came straight home.
Yesterday I went to the Prosthetist. He asked me to walk swinging my arms in an exaggerated manner. I would start fine, but after a few steps my arm synchronisation would get screwed up. He asked if I was ever in the military, and I said "Yes.". He then said it was just like marching and I should be keeping my arms stiff. When my hands go forward, they should be even with my shoulders. He said that I must not have been a very good soldier if I couldn't even march. I told him I had been a Nuclear Reactor Operator on submarines, and we didn't march much.
He said I was concentrating too much on the prosthetic leg, and didn't have spare mental capacity to dedicate to controlling arm movement. I agree 100% with that.
He said that I was so far from understanding and performing the basics of prosthetic use, that the loan of the Bionic knee was a waste of time, and I should come back when I was able to walk much better. He suggested I do a hundred hour with his physiotherapist. He then rebuilt my leg with all my previous components, and I left.
I got the feeling that he was trying to tell me that I am a 68 year old, one legged guy with cancer, and I should not be wasting his time, or my time, by trying to do a ParkRun faster.
He may be right.
I wore the fancy Bionic knee for 4 days. I was supposed to have it for two weeks. One of the bad things about the Bionic knee was that it didn't bend far enough to allow kneeling. It also was not very smooth. Lots of clunking. The energy required to walk was much more.
The knee is programmed with a special computer that the Prosthetist has, and I am sure that the Prosthetist had set the knee up electronically with many limitations. This means I have to get an appointment to get any adjustments made, and instead of paying for added features, I must pay to have the disabled features activated. I hate the way the "New World" works.
On the way home I had a flat tire on my car, and spent the next half hour kneeling by the side of the road, changing the tire. If I had still had the fancy Bionic knee on, I would have had to remove the entire leg to be able to change the tire.
Sometimes things work out for the best.
This week I bought some walking poles. The physio lady said they would force me to use my arms in sync with my legs better, and I do need to do that. I haven't walked with them yet.
I need to re-think what my goals are. Being healthy is a good goal. Being able to go shopping with the leg is a good goal. But is doing a ParkRun faster, a sensible goal for someone like me???
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