It has been quite the week over here! I have 2 major developments that warrant blog posts (and celebratory wine) to share with you.
The first is in the title of the post - driving! I can no longer drive a 'regular' car as I can't pump or feel my feet enough to safely use pedals. Instead, I need to use hand controls. Like everything else there is a process for getting hand controls. I have been working with the driving occupational therapist to make it all official over the past few weeks. Step one was a cognitive assessment. Believe it or not my cognitive faculties are in order (or good enough anyway). Step two was a driving assessment using the controls. No practice runs or anything, cause why be comfortable or have a sense of what's coming? The assessment involved driving the OT's car with both the OT and a driving instructor in the car. Scott was not allowed to come along. This happened Tuesday.
I felt a little bit like I was 16 again. It's not that I'm worried about my driving ability but 1. I haven't driven in 2 years 2. hand controls - big unknown there 3. Different car than I'm used to 4. Two strangers judging and evaluating me... Not my idea of fun. Turns out it was though. I've missed driving. And hand controls are kind of fun! They have a lever that goes on the left side of the steering wheel and is connected with rods to the pedals (a metal plate covers the pedals so I don't accidentally press them). You brake by pushing and pull to accelerate. The tricky part is getting the feel for how much strength to use (you really don't need much). There is also a knob-thing that attaches to the steering wheel to give full control when steering with one hand. It didn't take me too long to get the hang of it, though I did want to use my feet. The assessment itself was not that stressful - no parallel parking! We tooled around town a bit then went on the highway. I was grinning the whole time.
Step three would normally be to get the controls installed. The nice thing is that it is easy to switch between hand controls and 'regular' controls, so Scott will still be able to drive the car (when I let him:D). Unfortunately the controls cannot be installed with a standard transmission, which brings us to step four - my new car! Yup I get a new car out of this deal. We pick it up Monday. Hopefully I can get the installation done in the next week or so. Finally (step 5) I need to let the DMV know about the controls and have a note added to my license.
Exciting development #2 - wheelchair not required
This may not be new to all of you as I couldn't help posting it on Facebook, but I went out without my wheelchair for the first time this week! That's right, I finally took Rosie (my rollator) out for a spin in the real world. We went for lunch, cause that's what I do. It went perfectly and felt great. In fact it went so well that I keep repeating it. I even took Rosie to a new 'regular' yoga class this morning. My legs and butt are kind of annoyed with me (I feel like the day after squat-day at the gym) but it is totally worth it! Now, this doesn't mean I can relegate my chair to a dark corner yet, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.
I feel like I have been on the cusp of this outing for ages. It's been both a physical and psychological battle to get here. Luckily my physiotherapist is very good at reading me in both ways and prepared me well. I'm still terrified of falling and breaking something so I like to try everything new in a controlled environment (i.e with my physiotherapist holding my safety belt) first. Our little walks outside the hospital over the past couple weeks were what finally gave me the confidence to do this. She wants me to try walking from the car to my next session (with Scott there in case) to see how I manage a slightly longer distance.
I'm going keep going out with the rollator as much as possible to build up my stamina and confidence.
There are times that the chair is still needed though and that's OK. Nothing about CIDP happens instantaneously. I'm sure I will be double-wielding these devices for months to come while I work on my cane-walking skills. I've certainly reached a milestone with this though, and am going to celebrate this evening.
Ciao ciao
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