Legs weakness with Idiopathic Feet Neuropathy

Good morning, Barb (@bjk3)

I hadn’t heard about additional Medicare cuts. I happen to be in Medicare limbo at the moment––if not ‘in,’ then on the threshold: tomorrow is the final day of the coverage that I’ve been receiving that’s paid for in-patient rehab (4/17–5/2), and home health, both physical and occupational therapy, 5/3–9/3. I have requested an extension for the very reason you mention: the need to continue with PT, whether physical or occupational (ideally both), chiefly to build and maintain leg strength. I’m pretty good at doing my own stretching, isometrics, etc., but I’m also like most people: my motivation increases tenfold when a therapist puts me through the paces.

Thank you for asking about my sepsis improvement. I’ve better days and less-than-better days. Improving? yes, but hardly by leaps and bounds. However, neuropathy taught me the power of patience; I apply it to my sepsis recovery, and, as with neuropathy recovery, patience works wonders.

My partner and I have also had to be patient with our Colorado weather, but recently, considering the super-hot days we’ve had, patience is beginning to work wonders. Days are still toasty, but the evenings have grown tolerable. I hope you can do the same for where you are.

Cheers!
Ray (@ray666)

I have found some relief from foot and leg neuropathy by doing exercises in a pool; and by stimulating the bottoms of my feet and my leg muscles in the hot tub using the stream of water gushing into the hot tub. It is delightful to exercise in water because it is so much easier to move in water than in the air. BB

I so hope you will be able to continue with PT & OT. In my case, I would be eligible for coverage for PT every week but my therapist, who owns her own practice and in whose large office space are other providers (OT, chiro, podiatrist, specialty post-op clothing, and a couple more) has had to increase her number of non-Medicare clients whose insurance pays better. That was a long sentence - sorry about that 😉. I really appreciate that she talks openly about the compensatory end of things, and I know she's giving me the real facts since I get "statements" of the billing and coverage provided from my secondary insurance. All this to say, you and others in the Neuropathy group here are absolutely correct when you advise that we all collect as much education about our conditions as we can, and to keep moving.
Patience? Oh, yes ~ much wisdom wrapped up in that little word. On a simple day-to-day basis, keeping at the front of the mind not to be in a hurry for anything - phone, doorbell, any movement that requires swiveling at a 180* angle (or even 90*!).
Good to hear you are doing well, and even the weather is improving -- here, too! Stay safe!
~ Barb

Ray
- I am leaving Denver today after a long weekend visit.. What a beautiful state. My stepson said it was hot, but for us easterners, there’s the “but there’s no humidity!” But I’ll tell you that I felt the impact of the altitude difference not only in breathing, but in leg weight and muscles. Of course, some of it could be psychological, fear of change, or the extra extra extra activity my legs got traipsing along with my walker through the Denver and other airports, as well as the Rockies stadium.

I am afraid to check if any insurance changes that Barb mentions impact me for my occasional PT. You put things so perfectly- the guidance the therapists give us builds confidence and security which is a good part of our need to get through this. I know your sepsis threw you a big monkey wrench, and I hope our insurance companies don’t make it harder on us, when the effort we’re putting in this should only help reduce costs of medical care we’d need from terrible falls if we didn’t do our best to stay strong!

Hello, Debbie! (@dbeshears1)

I’m glad you enjoyed your time in Denver. As an unreconstructed, on-and-off seriously homesick New Yorker, I know what you mean about Rocky Mountain weather and its lack of coastal humidity. I doubt I’ll ever forget what it was like when I was a child growing up in a second-floor walk-up without a.c. ––I can’t even recall if there was a fan in my alley-side bedroom––spread-eagled on a wet sheet and sweating like a pig who’d just finished running a 10K. Sweet memories, not. 🙂

As we speak (figuratively speaking?), I’m waiting for a phone call to tell me yes or no about an insurance extension, so I might get some coaching on learning how to walk in shoes. It’s been 156 (or 158?) days since I last wore shoes. I need a trained PT person to guide me through the fundamentals. Lesson No. 1: How to Tie Your Shoelaces. 🙂

Cheers!
Ray (@ray666)

I'm loving my new OrthoFeet Hands Free shoes. I hate tying shoes!

Hi, John, Debbie (@dbeshears1)

Feeling optimistic, trusting that my wound care doctor will green light my wearing shoes again, I ordered and received (yesterday) a pair of Sketchers Slip-Ins. They look wonderful, although I'm not yet able to tell if Slip-Ins really means 'slip-ins.' So here I sit, chock full of optimism, looking down from my power recliner at my new Sketchers Slip-Ins and my old Brooks Addictions, imagining each pair crying out, 'Choose me! Choose me!'

Cheers!
Ray (@ray666)

Well Ray, I will honestly tell you that as much as I’ve always promoted these Skechers Slip-ins, I have never once actually been able to just step into them! I’ve always still needed as much snugness as possible along the upper foot near ankle. Perhaps they should be called pull-ons, because even though you don’t have to tie any laces, I have to use my finger as a shoe horn 🤪

Debbie, are you able to walk shoeless? I am shaking my head considering how you, @ray666, and I all suffer with PN but are either able or made to manage our footwear in such different ways.
I would in no way be able to walk a step without shoes ~ and require extra support and inside cushioning plus a really roomy fit. Been wanting to go try some Skecher Slip-ins all summer and just haven't made the effort because it IS such an effort. I wear Skecher mules all the time in the house as slippers, and my Sauconys & Brooks stay tied at all times for out-of-home trips. They are Wide and a size and a half too big but need to be, as I just cannot abide pressure on my feet. Tripping is always a hazard. Such a dilemma but no wonder trying on shoes (for me) is the lowest of the low in shopping expeditions.
Glad you had some time in Colorado. Those altitudes do make the rest of us pay attention (but I love it)!
All the best to you!
Barb

Good morning, Barb (@bjk3)

The home health nurse who changes the dressing on my foot was just here and told me that a request will go in today to my insurance begging for a fresh ‘episode’ ( I guess that’s what they’re calling it), chiefly so I might some short-term PT to show me how one goes about walking in shoes again. Today is Day 158 since I’ve worn shoes. (Whenever I quote numbers of days like that, I imagine myself a prisoner who scratches the passing days on the wall of his cell with a rusty nail.)

Patience? Ah, yes, patience! I do believe that patience is the key. I’m no paragon of patience. I did a so-so job of being patient when all I had was my PN, but then when my sepsis came along, between my PN symptoms and my sepsis symptoms … Oh, boy, that proved to be a real challenge!

I have to keep this short. I have a deadline breathing down my neck. The deadline is 9/26. 9/26 may sound like that’s a long time from now, but … but … I may not be a paragon of patience, but I am a paragon of procrastination. 🙂

Cheers!
Ray (@ray666)