[nagdu] out and about

[Julie J.]

Today was the first day since I broke my foot that I've been able to 
leave my home without human assistance!  Yea! I put Monty in his 
mobility harness and headed out the front door.  We made it to the 
corner and back without any problems. This is about a block and a half 
of total actual walking distance.  I've been working on building up the 
distance I can walk without the crutches.  Up until now, though, I've 
always had a family member along just in case I would fall or go too far 
and not be able to make it back.

For now I'm using the mobility harness because the fixed in place handle 
helps me a lot to feel more secure on my feet. I can follow his 
movements well enough using this harness at the speed I am moving.  Also 
if I bobble a bit this harness along with Monty's ability to brace keeps 
me from falling.   He's doing great at stopping for every change in the 
walking surface.  This was not something that I needed before.  For 
example Monty will now stop when we get to the alley where we change 
from cement to dirt.  Before I never bothered with teaching him to stop 
at this sort of change because I just kept on walking with no 
difficulty.  Now I need to know we are at the alley because the dirt is 
slightly uneven, but enough that I could misstep.

Anyway I'm super excited!  Being able to walk this far with Monty means 
that I will be able to take a cab or have a driver  drop me off at the 
curb and I'll be able to get into the building on my own.  Well as soon 
as I figure out how to manage those big heavy doors.  Or I need to teach 
Monty to find the automatic door opener buttons or something.

Julie