Originally Posted by Erin524

I have an appointment to go for another session with the people who hand out the certifications for hand controls next week. When I did the first one, back in May, I wasn't driving at all.

I had to start driving a few days before my dad went into the hospital because his heart failure meds weren't working right (or he hadn't been taking them correctly). Reason I started driving is because my dad was more unsafe than I am. He had insomnia so bad that he hadn't slept for a week straight. And I actually think it had been longer than that. He was a step away from having a heart attack.

They managed to get him all stabilized, and they tweaked all the heart meds he's on. So he's doing better now.

I was driving fairly good when I started back. It just seems that as soon as I start doing ok. It'll stop, and I suddenly get worse. It's taken so freaking long to get anything done. Doctor's appointments all seem to be months out before I can see someone. The whole time I'm getting worse and worse. I totally blame that stuff on the health system being fiddled with by all the politicians. Before that, I never had problems seeing a doctor. Now it takes months to get appointments. (and I'm not trying to make this post political. Just kind of explaining things)

If they'll let me have my hand control certification next week. I'll be going directly to one of the hand control installers here in Omaha and getting my car converted the next day if I can.

Considering taking a taxi tomorrow to the PT place. Just in the past three or four days, my knee has been getting worse and worse. I don't want to risk my car. Hopefully my dad won't freak out when I tell him that I'm going to spend $30 each way ($60) to get to PT and back until I can get the hand controls installed.

My dad is currently "homebound" for insurance reasons or something after he came home from the week he stayed in the hospital. He's got home health aides visiting him tomorrow. Otherwise I might have asked him to drive me to PT.

I'm getting really angry at the first doctor who put this brace on my leg. If I had known that once I put it on, I probably wouldn't be taking it off. I would never have put it on. They didn't tell me that I'd have it forever. I thought I would be able to get rid of it someday. I only just found out from the new physiatrist (3rd one) that I would be stuck in it. Pretty sure it's wrecked my right knee.

This is the brace I have. It's articulated (has a hinge), and I'm allowed to drive with it. It's just been in the last week or so that my knee has started to feel like it's about to snap off. I've been trying to get into a PT program since last March. Kept getting sent to places that were not paying attention to me and what I needed. I pretty much had to use my neuro to get the new physiatrist. Explained to the neuro that I could tell I was about to have problems, and no one else seemed to be concerned about it. He watched me walk into his office, and told me that he agreed with me totally. Got me an appointment with the best physiatrist in town. At least I didn't have to wait an entire month or two to see this guy. It was maybe two weeks. Still took longer than I wanted to get in to see him. So glad he agreed with me too, and then actually listened to what I wanted.

[P
I'm pretty sure that if my knee wasn't hyperextending, I would not be having the problems that I'm having. I think I actually need a new style of AFO. Maybe one that supports the knee some. My right hip is starting to hurt because of the way I'm walking. I want to try to get things changed or fixed before it ruins my hips and back along with my knees.