Hi fellow bloggers! Sorry for not being active for a wile!
Today’s post is going to be all about my crutches, and the challenges I go through with them! I hope this motivates other people like me to follow their dreams!
The idea first became a reality about three years ago when I found out I was soon to be a Bridesmaid at my Aunt Helen’s wedding. I decided this would be an amazing surprise to Helen, and her husband Andy, but also to all the rest of our family.
Thanks to the Dorsal Rhizotomy surgery that I had done this was all made possible! Before this, all I had the option to use as a walking aid,was a reverse walker.
With the help of my Dad, lots of hard work, and determination, and also people believing in me, I was able to make this happen!
Even though reaching this goal may have been extremely hard, and frustrating, and made me feel like giving up at times, my Dad stayed by my side the whole time, which made me want to persevere, and keep going!
There were even times that I would loose the momentum, and yes I know this sounds silly, and it may be hard for you to understand, but I forget how to use them sometimes.
When this would happen, I would be upset, and think that it was all over, but oh boy, was I wrong, all it takes is PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) and in no time, I would be back on my feet working at it again. I had to dig deep down, and think of all the amazing times I’ve had whilst on my crutches, and put all the not so good times in the past.
With all the good, and not so good days put together, this took me about a year to practice in order to get ready for the day that everyone sees what I’ve been working on!
THE PRESSURE IS ON, ONLY HELEN, AND ANDY KNEW WHAT WAS COMING THEIR WAY!!!
Before I knew it, THE BIG DAY was here, I got to show off my hard work, the day that I had been waiting for forever, the day that meant everything to me, the day that meant NOW, or NEVER!!!
Eventually my time came to walk down the aisle with all the other Bridesmaids! My hands had been sweating just minutes before this, and my heart was literally coming out of my chest; I wanted to do a good job!!!
Whilst I was waking, I was still a little unsure on weather my walking was okay, and I was still nerves, so I wasn’t really paying attention, but once it was all done, and over with, I sat back in my seat, and everyone starting telling me how amazing what I had just done was, and how proud of me they were for doing it. Hearing people’s comments made me feel like I had just achieved exactly what I was hopping to, and at that point, I knew I could calm down a little!
After the wedding was all said and done, I lost confidence in my crutches for some reason, and I don’t know why, but I thought I couldn’t trust them anymore, and because of this, I stopped wanting to use them for quite some time. (I’m not exactly sure how long it was, but it was longer enough for me to not remember)
With that being said, I started using them again at the beginning of this year. (Once again motivated by my Mum and Dad) My Dad started recalling all the good times I’ve had on my crutches, and told me that there was no reason why I couldn’t do it again.
For a while I was in denial, and tried explaining to my Dad numerous times that I thought I was going to fall every time I used them, and that I had no trust in the crutch.
My Dad went through several nights where he would show me that even he was able to put all his weight through the Crutch, and trust that they would hold him up. I would then tell him that that’s because he has more balance than me, but my Dad would tell me that it would be the same for anyone who used them.
It wasn’t until I started thinking back to the wedding, and recalling how good it felt to walk down the isle, and to have actually accomplished something, that I agreed to give the crutches another try! Believe it or not, today I am stronger than ever, and doing the best I’ve EVER done!
My family, and I live in a Community that has a clubhouse, and in there is a gym, pool, and some classes that you are able to enroll in.
My daily routine consists of going down to the clubhouse, and using the pool that has a space to walk around using my crutches. My Dad always walks beside me, and holds on to either my belt loops, or the back of my shorts just to make sure that I don’t fall. It’s not my Dad that thinks I’m going to fall, it’s me, because I still, to this day, have no trust in the crutch itself, and think that my Dad holding on to me just that tiny bit, gives me that little bit of extra support that I need to feel comfortable.
I also have an Apple Watch, which has an application on it called activity, which allows you to track the amount of exercise you do. For example, it shows you how long you did that specific exercise for, the calories you burned whilst doing it, and so forth. You can also use the Apple Watch as a Stop Watch, so I use that feature as a way for me to time how long it takes me to walk the whole length of the pool. The last time I did this, my time was 10 minutes, and five seconds.
Each time I do this, I hope to lower my time at least by a couple seconds!
I will keek you updated. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and please keep checking in……. until the next post!