This whole brace thing started when I was about ten years old ,and a girl a
couple grades ahead of me in school had polio and had to wear a afo mounted to
a sadle shoe (early fifties).when I asked her if I could try it on for size
,she agreed and took the brace and shoe off and handed it to me and I proceded
to put it on ,being nearly the same size as she was, made it a lot easier to do
.so when I was in the brace she asked me how it felt and I just said something
stupid ,I supposed and then she told me to run and jump and do a bunch of other
stunts, and most of them did nt work very well ,I then returned her brace to
her and asked if ,when she was done with it if ,and she stopped me right there
and said that she would have to wear it for the rest of her life ,now thats
something for a ten year old to try and comprehend.anyway I sort of forgot
about braces for the next few years , until my best friend Mary showed up for
school one monday wearing what she said was a "BlountMilwaukee spinal
hyperextension orthosis,or simply put a Milwaukee brace.this was the coolest
thing I had ever seen a heavy leather pelvic section and a stainless steel neck
ring and aluminum and stainless steel bars up the front and back
respectivly,and it was locked on so that she couldnt remove it even if she did
want to.well just like the last girl I,asked Mary if I could wear her brace for
a while ,just to see how it felt and what it was like and stuff.at this point
Mary looked at with an unusual look on her face and said that she could fix it
up for me to have my own brace if I wanted to.
I said sure ,but,what will I tell my folks about it when they see it and what
would we tell the school and my doc and all the rest . Mary said that her mom
Jan would take care of all of that and not to worry,well as it happened my
parents were leaving for New York for three weeks for a business trip ,and that
I was to stay with the Morgans until they returned .so that afternoon I arived
at the Morgans home and Mary showed me to my room and then took me downtown to
her moms office ..It looks closed Mary,and she agreed but said her mom said to
use the side door 'cause that was always open for the docs and and the
technicians and so forth.so that is what we did.once inside Mary shouted for
her mom and Jan came out of a small room and asked me to follow her back to it
.
As I followed her we walked past all kinds of junk and tools and plaster molds
of legs and arms and bodies and as I entered this small room Jan closed the
door behind herslef and asked me to get into a pair of casting shorts and sit
up on the table ,so I did and as she explained that she knew that I thought
that I was getting Marys old brace ,which may have fit me ,sort of poorly ,she
could not ,in good conscience allow that ,so instaed she decided to fabricate a
whole new brace just for me and my outtings with Mary I think she called it
"publiking "or something ,anyway while Mary and I were
"publiking in her creations ,we would cary some of her cards that would
tell people where they could get custom made recreational braces at a
reasonable cost and excellent quality ,and then she asked me if I had any
questions .As one might immagine ,I only had about a hundred.....thousand or so
,like what would I tell my parents when they noticed me in a Milwaukee brace
and the teachers at school and my dictor and,and,and....".Whoa
there"said Jan all of these things will be taken care of in due time
,first we have to get a cast made so that I can build the brace ,then we need
to fit it to you ,then find out if you can wear it for any length of time
before any otf that stuff becomes an issue .now about the cast ,if you will
follow me into the casting room we can get started .So we walked out of the
small room into a much larger room that had all souts of equipment in it some
hung from the rafters ,some bolted to the walls and some screwed to the floor
,so I asked her which one of those things she planned on using on me and Jan
said ,pointing to the one hanging from the rafters,this one .
About all it looked like was a cage with open front and back and minimal sides
and a couple of hooks .so I went over to it and stood there while she got some
stuff together and drew a bucket of warm water and as she walked over to where
i was standing she started to explian the procedure and handed me a big piece
of stockinetteand asked me to pull it on from the feet upwards,which I did and
then she made some marks with an indelable pencil by wetting it first and then
drawing on the stockinette ,explaining what all the marks were for ,when she
was done with that she took out a head halter and fastened it around my head
and chin and adjusted it ,she then hooked it up to the hooks on the frame and
went over to the wall and pushed a button .a motor started to whir and the
halter started to lift me off the floor,when I made a noise she stopped it and
inserted a bite block into my mouth and went over and pushed that button once
again and this time i came right off the floor and after about fifteen minutes
my feet were touching the floor again and she pushed the button yet a third
time and lifted me off by about a foot ,where i stayed for about a half hour
.then she unwrapped a large wide roll of plaster coated cloth and dipped it
into the water ,squeezed out the excess water and started to wrap it around my
ankles ,then my knees and on up to my thighs and she did both legs that way ,so
I asked her why she was wrapping my legs for a back brace ,and she told me
"that as long as we have you here we might as well do the whole wrap in
case we needed to do the legs at some future date and then she continued to
wrap the rest of my upper torso and arms and neck and head .
I remember that it took a good two hours for the plaster to set and just about
dry,so here I am suspended for about three hours .at first it was painfull but
as I hung there it hurt less and less and when she let me back down it was
really strange for my legs to bear weight again .after the plaster was hard
enough she pulled out a small machine she called a stryker,and I wondered if
she was going to stryke me with it ,and she replied that a stryker was a saw to
remove the plaster,and some times it vibrates so much that it tickles ,but soon
the plaster was all off and it was set aside to finish drying and to get sealed
together so that it could be filled with more plaster in order to make a
positive mold of my entire body, and Jan said that it would take about a day
for the plaster to set and dry ,so Mary and I could go home . We stopped for
pizza on the way home but my jaws were still stiff from the casting session ,so
I couldn't eat much.We watched tv for a while and I finaly got to try Marys
brace on ,while we waited for her mom to get home and it felt really good ,but
Mary said that my brace would feel even better because of the custom fit ,so I
thought to my self ,"if this brace feels this good ,my new one should feel
like a dream"
When Marys mom got home she found me sleeping on the couch in front of the
t.v. still wearing Marys brace and asked how it felt and I explained that I
just wanted to see what it was like ,but that it felt very comfortable and
really quite good all in all .With that Jan told me to go to bed and sleep well
,and to wear Marys brace so that I would have something to compare the new
brace to because the brace I was getting was a little different style than
Mary's.I went right to sleep and dreamed about this new brace and what it was
going to be like wearing it and explaining it to my friends and family and what
ever.
Time raced by until it was ten a.m. and Mary woke me by shaking the brace and
asked me to take it off so she could put it on ,then we would go down to the
office to get me fitted for my brace .Well it was a Saturday and Jan was the
only one around the lab ,so we went right in ,and back to that first little
room and sat down to wait for Jan to come in to take some measurements ,but
instead when she came in she had the finished brace in her hand and announced
that she did most of the work on it last night after we left and then came in
early this morning to finish it up ,because she knew that I was anxious to get
into it .so here I was standing in a brace lab just about to be put into the
neatest brace ever built and it was going to be all mine ,so with out anymore
delay Jan started to thread my arms through the front of the brace and then she
attached the front panel with screws and then the back panel and the sides and
finaly the neckring .She then made a few adjustments and said that was it and I
was now wearing a brand new Lyon spinal orthosis.She then asked me to walk
around the lab for a few minutes to get used to it and then tightened all of
the screws and said that we should be back at about 4:30 for re-evaluation of
the fit and so forth ,and asked me how it felt and if there were any bites
et.c. .then she explained the differences between my brace and Mary's,
indiacting that Marys brace had a posterior opening and that the Lyon had no
opening and that the only way I was going to be able to remove it was with a
special tool that fit into the screws that held it together,and that I would
need a partner to help me remove it anyway. This Lyon brace was the coolest
brace I ever saw and I could move around better in it than in Mary's brace I
could even bend over somewhat ,try that in a Milwaukee brace.
Well we went downtown and then out to the mall and I was getting used to it
pretty well when I decided that I needed to hit the john ,all of a sudden
things got dificult ,but I managed to overcome the problems .I was putting my
shirt back when this guy came over to me and commented on the beautiful brace
and asked if it was for need or for fun I told him it was for fun and he got
all excited and asked where he could get one ,so I gave him a card and told him
that the woman makes the most beautiful braces and he agreed as we were leaving
the restrooms area ,on the way out he saw one of his buddies and explained what
had just happened and the buddy wanted a card as well,and when we went back to
the lab I told Jan all about my first day in a recreational brace and about the
two guys and all the rest of it and then asked Jan when I would be able to
remove my new brace she looked at me and said "remove"? not for at
least another three to five weeks minimum and then we will make some changes
At the end of the second week, I was still staying with the Morgan's and Jan
asked me to come into the lab with her this morning ,so I said o.k. and away we
went ,now this was the first time i was going to be in the lab while there was
anyone else there so Jan told me to let her do all the talking and I complied .
When we arrived she had me wait in the reception area while she got set up
.soon the nurse came out for me and we went back to a different small room and
I hoisted myself onto the table as the nurse set up a pillow for my head ,so
that I could recline ,then she asked if i would like a warm blanket and I
thought that would be nice so she brought it in and drapped over me so that i
would be comfortable ,and I was .
About twenty minutes later Jan wheeled in a cart with some items under a white
cloth and closed the door .i asked what that stuff was and she replied that it
was the second phase of my new brace and reminded me about the bolts sticking
out of the sides of the Lyon brace .these bolts are for ...and she held up a
bi-lat h.k.a.f.o complete with new shoes and started putting them on me and
afixing them to the brace .she made a few adjustments and helped me off of the
table and asked me to walk around for a while so she could observe gait
analysis.she also told me not to straighten my legs out completely as there
were these drop locks that would fall and make walking impossible with out
crutches .before I was to leave for the bus stop she fited me with those
crutches that have the arm cuffs instead of the under arm ones and said that
these were better because they would give me better support and control,she
also showed me where the lifts were for the drop locks so that when I got on
the bus I could at least sit down.the address she sent me to was a place where
they do custom fitted wheelchairs and they were already waiting for me when I
arrived .
So these folks had a power chair all ready for me when i got there and all I
had to do was just sit there while they made the adjustments and corrections
,then they told me all about this new power cahir and all of the features and
so forth and especialy about the battery level gauge and that when it changed
from green to red I had only about another forty-five minutes of battery
left,but not to worry because there was a small engine that turned a generator
that would charge the batteries in about an hour and that would give me a full
charge so i could go again .then they opened the door and sent me on my way .
So here I sat with these new leg braces a new power wheel chair a new back
brace and no clue as to how to get back home again,but I was extremely pleased
that I had all of these goodies and was going to make an adventure out of
getting home and it would be an adventure at that
Well I got my bearings ,and discovered that I was in the southern part of
the city and the transportation system I needed was about thirty six blocks
from where I sat .Perplexing at the least ,not to mention rather overwhelming
,here i sat ,totally new at this gimp business,and not knowing exactly how to
handle any encounters that are bound to come up ,an I assumed that there would
be a bunch of them .
little did I know .....Well anyway I started to follow my nose ,more or less
and got headed in the right direction and was making fairly good time ,getting
across intersections and all, and most of the sidewalks in that part of town
were A.D.A. compliant ,so that wasn"t much of a problem.Most of the people
that I rolled by were unaffected by a man in a powered wheelchair wearing
braces all over the place and didn't even give it a second thought ,there was
this group of rather young kids,however that posed a bit of a dilemma for me
and this is about where the adventure began.The largest of them was about
5'5" and maybe 125 pounds ,and I correctly assumed that HE was the
"leader" as I was rolling by the place where they were sitting and
drinking what I assumed to be sodas and smoking cigarettes ,this "leader
type " walks over to the sidewalk and stands right in front of me ,so i
stopped ,unfamiliar with the surroundings and less familiar with the power of
this chair ,let alone the traction it had ,and said" well lookie here guys
,we got us an electrogymp on wheels ,whaddya spose we outta do wif im, and I
suggested that he let me pass lest he become injured ,this caused quite a laugh
amongst these kids and the large boy asked me if i was "gonna hit him wif
my crutches ",I told him that I would not want whatever it was that he was
made of splattered all over my crutches ,this caused another laugh ,until he
glared at the others and they all stopped laughing.I simply stated that if he
chose to remain there I would run over him to which his reply was something
like "O.K. see what happens if you do " ......so I did, and was very
surprised to learn that this chair had some balls ,and although I didn't run
completely over this baboon I did put a new sense of respect into and otherwise
disrespectful little brat ,and when I backed up he got up and summoned his pals
to run away with him and they just sat there. He took off anyway,then one of
the other kids came up to me and said" I don't apologize for nobody ,but
I'M gonna apologize for this guy cause he don't know no better ,and he was a
looser" then this kid said "me an' my buddies will walk you through
the next seven blocks, cause it gets kinda tough through here" I thanked
him .As we "walked" they all opened up and started the same questions
that I would have asked ,given a similar set of circumstances,like what was it
like to wear a brace and so on ,and I tried to explain as best I could given my
somewhat meager knowledge of the subject ,but I got through it all o.k..Well we
were at that point where they had to go one way and I the other and as we
parted they all thanked me for talking to them even after the way it all
started ,and I got the impression that there were some potential
"wannabes" in that group ,the more the merrier I thought ,but they
would have to wait a few years .
Anyway I was rolling through a better part of town now and as I rolled by a bar
I was thinking how good a beer would taste right about now ,but all of the bars
had steps ,in the past this would not have been a problem, but in this chair
,well you know the A.D.A. hadn't gotten to this side of town yet ,so much for
the beer ,and I thought it was all right just the same as I didn't have my I.d.
that says that I twenty-one on me at this point so I just rolled on towards the
bus station ,then I started to hear another chair rolling up behind me ,and
when I had to stop for the light he caught up with me and we started to talk
and sat through the next four changes .He admired my braces and my chair and we
talked about all of the pitfalls of being a gymp,then he told me that he was
only a gimp on the weekends and I looked at him and said that I was new to this
whole deal too ,so I gave him one of Jan's cards and then we went to this place
that didn't have any steps and he ordered two mugs of dark beer ,then he told
me that during the week he was an orthopedic assistant ,and that he had access
to all sorts of braces and casting supplies .I said that I thought we should
get together and talk it over after I was done with my initial wear in time ,at
that he asked what I meant by that and I told him the whole thing ,he just sat
there with his mouth open ,hanging on every word and when I was done he just
said "unbelievable" "a wannabe's dream scene".Well we
finished our beers and he asked how I planned on getting home and I told him
that I was planning to take the bus ,with that he asked just how was it that I
planned to get into the bus,what with the chair and all ,and I just sat there
and looked stupid for a few minutes and as I thought about it said that I
hadn't figured that part out yet .He told me that the milk route drivers don't
take freight on weekends and the chair is considered freight to them and even
if I could board the bus,I would have to leave the chair and that if I did
that,even in storage for the weekend ,there wouldn't be anything left of it by
Monday because the thieves would strip it for drug money ."Oh" i said
,and you have a better plan? "Sure do", he said ,and here it is ,we
had stopped next to a hi-cube van with the name of the company that he worked
for emblazoned all along the side of the box ,and all I had to say was
"oh","now what?".well he pushed a button on what looked
like a garage door opener,and the tail end of the van started to drop ,when it
hit the ground he rolled onto the ramp and motioned for me to do the same thing
,and although I was a bit apprehensive ,I rolled onto the ramp along side
him,and up we went .Once inside with the door closed he noticed that I was
looking a bit nervous and said "I could bail,if I wanted to " and I
told him that I would go along for the ride just to see where it went .
bracecabst@hotmail.com for e-mail or
comments
| New Stuff | Stories | CD's DVD's | Videos | Message Board | Home | Monthly Specials | Links | Members Only | Ads | Bulletin Board |
NBAK |