Walking

Today I was squeezed in for an appointment with Dr. Mohler, the crazy, but skilled, orthopedic surgeon. The point of the meeting would be to see about walking. Last time I met with him, my mom, dad, and sister were there. He was the doctor that ultimately put in the official request for my first CT-guided needle biopsy. He was also the doctor that moved my leg around very rough and I think my dad almost jumped out of his chair to give him a Texas-sized punch-in-the-face. My dad came with me to today's appointment too. Even though I had to keep him settled down, it was nice to have a body guard there...he is pretty protective. But Mohler eased up on me this time, and the only real negative was the fact that he had me put in these ridiculous blue shorts:

He never actually touched my leg, the blue shorts were of no use whatsoever...we just talked. But they sent me down to radiology to get an x-ray where there were tons of people. The shorts didn't fit right, I tucked the top of them into my undershorts so as to not provide a free show. The other odd observation (Mohler even picked this out) was that my shirt and sweatshirt actually matched the stupid shorts! I am sure the other people in the hospital wondered if that guy over there is actually wearing matching paper shorts on purpose, and they were pulling out their GQ magazines to see if paper shorts were becoming cool. Then, I am sure their next thought was, "Are his pants falling down? Children, run to the car!"

After the x-ray, I went back up with the images. Dr. Mohler reviewed them for about 30 seconds and showed us that the right hip has a spongy appearance, but that it should be solid enough to bear weight. He said that it looks to him that I could break my right hip (the hurt one), but that it would take a car accident or a fall from 6 feet or more. Basically, I have about the same odds of breaking my right hip as my left. Then he had me try out walking, I had forgotten how because I had not walked in 2 1/2 months. I did not feel pain, and my femur did not jam through my hip and stab me in the face, therefore Dr. Mohler said that I should just start walking. He said no competitive sports for 4 months and that I can try things as long as I experience no pain. In 4 months, I will get another x-ray, he will look at them for 30 seconds again, then he will decide if I can try jumping. He seems to think I may be able to play volleyball again. But right now, I am so relieved to be walking, and I'll be happy with what I get. Here is me holding my crutches and standing firmly on both of my feet:

Pretty good progress! We have destroyed many cancer cells and their children and their children's children and now I am walking. Right now, the only thing you would be able to tell about me that is wrong is that I walk like an old man and that my cancer-brain is a little spacey and that I am bald.