To Cane or Not to Cane, That is the Question

Have you ever seen a person at the mall or in a store walking with a cane and you think to yourself “why do they have a cane? They don’t look like they need one. They don’t even look like they’re using it really.” Well, that’s kind of how I feel about myself. After the testing the physical therapist did on me showed that I am in the range for “at risk for a fall” (my balance ability is 50% of what a person my ago should be), I am required to hold onto someone or something while walking. This means that, if I am outside of the house and I don’t have someone there with me to help keep my balance, I have to use a cane. Now, if I had just had knee surgery or something cool that required me to use a cane to help me walk, it wouldn’t be so bad; however, I feel like that one commercial where that lady has her arm in a sling and she’s at the grocery store and people ask her what happened and she gives each one a different story (skiing accident, motorcycle accident, etc), but the real reason she’s got an arm in a sling is because of the lime scum on her shower door. She has to use a sling for her arm because it’s so exhausted from scrubbing her bathroom; I’ve got to use a cane (or a person) because my balance is so horrible I could take a dive and end up REALLY needing that cane! It just seems so lame, you know?!

On the positive side, it did come in handy today when I went outside all by myself (I know, I’m getting to be such a big girl!) and let our dog Grace out of her pen. My body went on one of its kicks where, though I was saying lets go a little to the left to go around the front of these trucks, my brain/body had other ideas and tried to go right, so I was losing my balance; but, luckily, I had the cane and I was able to stay upright.

If I’m forced into having to keep the cane for a while, I think I’m going to trick that puppy out. I have one of my own at home, but it’s got purple flowers and stuff on it, WAY too girly for me, but the one I’m borrowing from physical therapy is black, so I’m going to see about keeping/buying it, so maybe I’ll have to add something fun to it…make zebra stripes on it or skulls…something that’s totally Christine and will make the fact that I have to use the blasted thing a little better!