Those are Expensive Shoes!

After brain tumor or spinal cord tumor surgery, they don't just send you on your merry way like you had an ingrown toenail removed. It often takes a great deal of time to be ready for the real world. I spent 27 days in inpatient rehab after a brain tumor resection and could not have done it any other way. I was a hot mess and needed all the help I could get.

While the early days are plenty hazy and I mean purple haze hazy, I clearly remember my Physical Therapist taking off with my left shoe just a day after I began intense rehab. I loved those shoes, excellent walking shoes, high end, comfy and relatively new. I had no idea what she was up to but I wasn't too concerned. I couldn't walk anyway. I was only beginning to stand.

The next morning she showed up, shoe in hand, with a modification. The front quarter of the sole had been cut away and replaced with smooth leather. Needless to say I was more than mildly irritated in the most ignorant fashion.

“Those were expensive shoes.”

“Yep.”

She helped me dress, put my new custom shoes on my feet, plopped me into a wheelchair and off we went to the rehab center where I was about to take my first steps since brain tumor surgery. I quickly learned to appreciate my “special” new shoe.

I will never take walking for granted again. If not for that piece of leather on my left shoe, I would have been far more frustrated by the process of learning to walk again. The surgery had effected my left side. To lift my leg to take a step was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Each step. Every step. That simple leather allowed me to drag my foot without nearly as much danger of falling until I got stronger.

Today, I still catch myself dragging that foot a little and am reminded of that smooth leather sole. I often wonder what brilliant mind thought of something so simple that made such a huge difference for me and who knows how many others. Thank you, whoever you are.