These sticks are made for walking...

These sticks are made for walking...

We once had a dog to stay. We were looking after it for friends. When I took the dog out for walks all the dog owners in the neighbourhood, many I had never spoken to before, started talking to me. These new found friendships didn't last very long, when I returned the dog to it's owners the local dog-walkers instantly stopped talking to me! Walking with crutches had a similar effect.

Many of us, young or old, will at sometime become temporarily disabled while recovering from an accident, injury or operation. During this period you are not sick or ill but there are a whole lot of things you are not able to do and places you are not able to go. As you progress on the way to full recovery the restrictions become increasingly irritating and frustrating. Even the most patient people begin to get restless! On the positive side the news gets around and because you aren't actually ill, you will have a string of visitors including friends you haven't seen for ages. And you will learn how to overcome a large number of obstacles and deal with a whole lot of situations you never knew existed.

Some years ago Yvonne was confined to a wheel chair for several weeks due to an Achilles tendon operation. We learned how difficult some buildings were to access and how difficult it was to move around in some of them once we were inside. We learned how badly some roads and footpaths are maintained. How cold it gets sitting in a wheel chair and how hot it gets pushing it and a lot of other things. In a relatively short time we gained an insights into the lives of people with a handicap and their helpers, safe in the knowledge that our situation was not permanent.

Now it was my turn! Just a day or two after a hip operation my first solo walk with crutches was through the gardens of a nearby nursing home and after that I passed that home daily on the way to and from the supermarket. There are always elderly residents with wheel chairs, crutches, walking frames or rollators strolling around our neighbourhood. Now they greeted me cheerily and stopped to chat about the weather, my sticks and my progress. Walking to the shops was my daily exercise, part of my therapy.

Walking with crutches is much like having four legs,no big deal you may think, horses manage quite well without tripping over. However horses don't have to do the shopping! My first days at the supermarket were a complete shambles as I tried to deal with two sticks, a shopping basket and products on low shelves, high shelves, behind glass doors or under sliding tops. It took me a while to realise that it was easier to use a shopping trolley. Throwing the crutches into the trolley and then holding onto it I could delay most problems until the check out. At which point I would get into a complete muddle involving the shopping, my wallet, the trolley, the change, left and right crutches, yes they are different, and the backpack I used to carry the shopping. During this scramble I would invariably drop one or both of the crutches. I was under strict instructions from the doctors not to bend down so, it goes without saying,I suddenly seemed incapable of doing anything without dropping something! Not wanting to ask for help I developed a few interesting techniques for picking things up without bending, including using the crutches as giant chop sticks. I need not have bothered though, my sticks seemed to have some magical properties, on seeing the crutches unfit and overweight men, elderly ladies, school children, young mothers, hippies and hoodlums would go out of their way to help. It didn't stop there, walking through the crowded city centre just before Christmas people would move aside leaving me a clear passage. Even when I progressed to using just one crutch I had no trouble crossing roads, hells angels, lorry drivers, wannabe racers, hoodies on tuned up scooters and drivers of unmarked white vans would stop for me. I think even bank robbers in their getaways cars or James Bond with just four minutes to save the world would have stopped! All the time I was using crutches people of all ages, shapes,sizes and types were attentive, helpful and polite while much of the time I felt something of a fraud. I could, in fact, after quite a short time walk quite well unaided but it was not 'allowed'. A sudden movement, slip or fall, I was told, could have set back the healing process or even have dislocated the hip. 

Ah well – that's all behind me! I have been walking without crutches for a few weeks now and I certainly don't miss them. But people no longer hold doors open for me or pick up things I've dropped, crowds don't part for me and car drivers and motorcycle riders deliberately ignore me.

Yes, and all those old ladies with wheel chairs and walking frames have completely lost interest.