It might seem odd that I got a powerchair and now am walking a little better than before. This might be from the better seating angle and back support or maybe an overall improvement from my stricter approach to daily physical therapy. (Gentle tai chi, eccentric loading, gentle core strengthening, and some stretches as I try to re-condition from the summer of illness/surgery.) In any case, I tried walking a block and back on nearly (but not quite) level ground. I’ve been planning to do this for a while.
The hilly part at the end of the block was more difficult, and my “bad” leg started to feel very strange, wobbly, and painful in specific places, as I think the slope uses muscles that never get any use. By the time I was heading back I started leaning on the wall for support as well as my cane. So it was harder than I thought it would be. It seems best to take this slowly, maybe even keeping it to half a block and back for the first week. I’m also not adding it to my “must do this daily” list yet – it is on the “optional” list until I know if it’s something I can sustain. If willpower could do it I would be kicking so much ass right now, I lie here sometimes and dream of how I will walk the 1 block down the hill and sit on the bench by the bus stop in the sun, and back, which is nothing to anyone else but Mount Everest to me. Must not be goal driven, but try things anyway and see how it goes.
(And anyway no one should climb Mt. Everest it is a gross and exploitative and selfish imperialist endeavor. Go do some manual labor instead that contributes to society.)