Take Up Your Bed and Walk

Sometimes you just gotta move ahead on faith. Last weekend, on my kayak trip in Black Canyon, I was able to canyon hike for several sandy miles, scramble over boulders, and do a bit of ladder and rope climbing to get up to some of the hot springs. I was also able to work the rudder in the kayak without ill effect. I was overjoyed!

After doing so well on the river trip, I’m quite hopeful that I will someday completely conquer the residual nerve damage in my legs. I’ve discovered some new factors that make things easier and the long-term improvements continue, as well. (Related posts: “The Fibroid From Hell” and “From a Flabby Forty-Nine to a Fit Fifty“)

What seem to be making the most difference are warmth, lighter footwear, no pack weight, and being more cognizant of the alignment of my feet. I’m also doing some regular visualization of my legs being completely healed.

Going back and forth between Flagstaff and Phoenix is teaching me the role of warmth in my recovery. The warmer I can keep my legs, the better I seem to do. It was quite warm on the Colorado for late October, so my legs never got cold. The hot springs in Black Canyon were an added bonus.

I also wore much lighter footwear than I usually do in the backcountry. My river sandals weigh a small fraction of what my wildland boots do and I had no pack weight as all I carried was a liter of water on the hikes. I think this was a big factor in how well I did.

By the end of the day, back in camp, I noticed that I was getting some drop in my right foot (not unusual when I get tired or sore) but I deliberately worked to align my feet while walking or in the boat, and that seemed to help. I’ve since added some of the old leg and foot alignment exercises from my post-surgical PT into my FF2FF workout program in the hopes that those will keep this process moving along.

I’m still going very light on my core workouts, but I’m walking everyday and I’ve tried a little exercise biking and stepper work in the last week without any problem. I’m just about ready to try my rollerblades and the mountain bike again.

My weight is stable. I haven’t lost any weight in the last three weeks, which I attribute to all the miles I’ve been racking up between the river trip and going back and forth between Flagstaff and Phoenix every week–too much road food. That will change soon. The last twenty will disappear with more exercise.