Legs and hands...

LEGS.....
Where would we be without them..and hands. Four appendages that go through life with us and with the ability to do all sort of things for us. Nearly every operation, every movement of our bodies are governed by the use of either hands or legs.
Remove the power and strength of these four appendages and what do you have..a body that has been deprived of independence and no longer able to conform to ‘human’ standards.
Both legs and hands are taken so much for granted by us that when we start to loose the functionality of either of them we loose something in our belief to be able to be part of the family, part of society … but that need not be the case.
In the early stages of my condition walking was not so much a problem. It was a nuisance factor, a minor irritation . But as time moved forward it became obvious that I had to find out what was going on.
Still working (at that time ) just standing in one spot for an hour or more and my legs, specially my left, were becoming so very tired. It got to the point where I was sitting down more than standing and it went on like this for months. To sit and have all my body weight removed from my lower limbs was a feeling of extreme relief.
Unless you have experienced something of this nature you can not know what it was like.
Once we knew what the problem was it became clear that I would benefit from a walking aid. My first and only walking stick came into use. Now of course I use a walking frame ( Gutter Walker ) and the stick only for getting out to the car.
The problem with my hands started in the right one and is getting steadily worse. To complicate matters the left one is also starting to play up and so it goes on…
We are the ‘most’ advanced race on the planet ( well, we like to think so ) because on the ends of our hands we have ten wonderful digits. FINGERS….
When you consider how many times a day we use them to fulfil our daily needs and the fact that they are the key to whatever we do, be it just to hold a cup or drive a car, type a letter or wipe your nose, tie a shoelace, hold a baby and the thousands of social applications that we use them for, to loose the feeling and function of these amazing digits is maybe more upsetting than the loss of using ones legs…

When you look at all the things that can go wrong in the human body it’s a wonder it works at all but we are a tenacious species at the best of times and so we put our best foot forward ( I wish, lots of laughter ) ,gather our family and friends together and try to make the most of a situation that calls for informality, a degree of dignity, a lot of trust and a love for life.

Quote…We have enough people who tell it like it is - now we could use a few who tell it like it can be.
Robert Orben, B. 1927