Parking lot prop

I drove to a shopping center today, and I was sorry I forgot my cane.

Actually, I don’t need the cane. About 10 days ago, I left another plateau in the process of healing after hip replacement. Two weeks before that, I had felt confident enough to go without the cane. Most of the time I was fine. The other five percent, just as I was rising from sitting at a desk, or getting out of the truck after driving, I was awful.

It didn’t take much inactivity for the hip to tighten up. I am in the middle third of a process of regrowth, of ligaments and muscle that secure the hip joint, both the original, and this new one, in place. The growth is steady, but slow. Right now, my hip feels very loose, and my leg actually wobbles as I walk, as if it had no sure moorings. Which it doesn’t. The ligament-muscle capsule provides that control, and the capsule is still being restored.

Three weeks ago, after inactivity, the knitting process was sensitive to stretching. Every time I stood up and tried to walk, it hurt. When I thought I could go without the cane, it was 10 steps before the structure was stretched enough to walk without pain. In the space of those 10 steps, considerable stress was placed on my right hip, and that side started to hurt.

So I went back on the cane. And I stayed on it awhile, on a plateau. One morning the week before last, I stood up out of bed and noticed a change. I was stronger. One step, or two, and I was good to go. I still used the cane, but I was not dependent on it. I went to Price Club one day, came out, loaded the truck, and was home in the carport before I missed the cane. Back to Price Club, where I found the cane still in the cart where I had left it.

The cane is now parked against a wall at home. I never remember it, and I don’t need it, except when I am going to a shopping center with the intention of parking in a handicapped zone. I have a red sticker, good until June, and I don’t feel bad about using it even though my strength is increasing.

I do feel bad about parking in a reserved space and getting out and walking as if I had two good legs beneath me. Today I wished I had the cane as a prop. If anyone ever challenges me, I will just have to show them my scar.