Bionic Leg

AP Standing

Well it’s been about 1.5 months now. The xray above shows what’s going on in my leg, did the zipper fool you? The majority of physical pain right now is related to muscles getting bruised during the impact, and also what had to get sliced through to get to the bone during the operation. Hardware is all titanium, and pretty much permanent. You can also feel the screw heads sticking out slightly, which is a weird feeling and I imagine will bring comic delight at my next TSA grope session.

Today I’m up and walking around, there’s a cane I use most of the time but can hobble (gimp like and all) without it just fine. The atrophy has been a little saddening, lost a bit of weight, too much for how skinny I am already. Waiting on a piece to show up in the mail that’ll allow me to hook up my Bike Friday to a bicycle trainer so I can get some physical pedal therapy inside the house without worrying that my right leg wont be able to support me when I come to a full stop. With all the pain and lack of support my standing body muscles I’m having to walk in particularly odd ways in order to stand up, sadly this is taking a toll on all my other muscles and ligaments in my right leg and the rest of my body. Sitting down for long periods of time doesn’t really help my back either (send massage therapists asap). But beyond all the constant pain, my leg’s beginning to feel fully functional and human again.

My mental state has been a different matter. It’s amazing how much of a drag going from a certain expected speed of mobility, down to almost nothing can do to your mood. Not to mention the suckage of going from getting around by bike to dealing with the failures of MUNI. As much as I cannot stop appreciating and thanks friends for lifts around town and to other places, it saddens me to see bikes zipping by enjoying life at a pace that seems right while I’m stuck in a cage of metal and glass and isolation. And as it turns out, coming off opiate based pain killers is a horrible thing, especially when it’s already hard to maintain focus on anything while on them (like writing this post). Mildly contemplating spinning off a new blog/domain to simply cross post about gruesome bike related injuries and fatalities that originate from a strong lack of helmet usage, just to stay focused on something. Luckily I see the doc tomorrow and that’ll help.

All and all to sum it up, I’m happy I’m alive and recovering so well, but long so much for my ability to get around San Francisco in a fun and quick manor , and above all else want to not feel mentally trapped in my head anymore.