My New Cane Arrived Today

Ain't she purty? The flames will make me appear much faster than I'm actually moving. This was a Christmas gift from my parents.

But my dad didn't want to just give me a card with a note saying "Pick out a cane you like and we'll buy it for you." That would have been far too easy and not nearly as much fun as what he did.

I did get a "coupon" for the purchase of a real cane in a Christmas card too, but the cane pictured at left was wrapped and leaning against the wall behind the Christmas tree.

Dad fabricated it in the shop and wrapped it so that I could open it. He also sanded it really well in case my nieces wanted to play with it, but they were pretty occupied with the gifts they got (go figure). It is not strong enough to use as an actual cane, but it is in my umbrella stand with my others and makes for a nice reaching stick when the dog looses a ball behind the desk or something along those lines.

I've never watched the show, but apparently the cane with the flames on it is sometimes used by the lead character on the show House. The web site where I order the cane, Fashionable Canes and Walking Sticks markets it as an exact replica of the cane used by Dr. Gregory House. Although from the pictures his is a "tourist" or shepherd's crook style top and I much prefer the "derby" handle.

I'm able to use it, but my leg is not quite used to that much weight yet so I'm still using the crutches most of the time. I use both whenever I leave home and for any prolonged time I'm going to spend standing and walking. I use one crutch around the house and at the office when I've been there. Having a hand free makes such a huge difference in my independence.

The physical therapist was glad to hear that I can move to full weight bearing and has added several new exercises to my routine to achieve that goal. She said she is shooting for February 1st to have me off of the crutches. That gives me a little more than two weeks to build up the strength and get my leg used to having weight on it again. I'm not making huge improvements in my range of motion, but we did get it to 60 degrees last night.