Nyel In The Driver’s Seat

I don’t think I’ve felt quite as unsettled in the passenger seat of my own car since my son Charlie had his learner’s permit back in 1971 or ’72.  It isn’t, of course, that Nyel isn’t an experienced and knowledgeable driver.  It’s just that pesky left leg and its attendant left shoe with its four-inch platform sole that’s slowing him down.

But… he had asked his surgeon at last week’s appointment if he was “okay to drive.”  The doctor paused a moment, looked at his leg again and then had an apparent epiphany.  “Oh!  It’s your left leg!  Of course you can drive.”  He didn’t ask if we had an automatic transmission (which we do) but then I guess that’s an old-fashioned question these days.  Or maybe he realized that Nyel wouldn’t be asking if we had a clutch.

Of course, there is still the difficulty of getting him into the car and situated — especially with his pesky wound-vac.  And, usually, the wheelchair needs to be wrestled with in order to stow it behind the passenger seat.  (Were I stronger, it could go in the trunk.  But I’m not.  So it can’t.)  This time though, we were headed for Ocean Beach Hospital where there is a goodly supply of “guest wheelchairs” so Nyel only took his walker along.  He was to have some blood work done for his cardiologist in Seattle.  (Another modern-day miracle — this instant communication between far-distant and unrelated  medical facilities!)

As it turned out, we got only as far as Nahcotta.  “I don’t think this is a good idea,” he said.  I responded with something like, “Say what?’  It seemed that his left leg was being recalcitrant and turning inward so that his foot with its gigantic shoe  was interfering with the brake pedal.  “It’s all right if I don’t have to stop suddenly…” he said.

He pulled in at the recycling center and we traded seats — which sounds a lot easier than it was, even with a walker.  I know Nyel was bummed out.  “But,” I kept telling him, “now you know what you need to work on with the PT crew.  As soon as those muscles get strong enough to hold your leg in position, we’ll try it again!”  One step at a time, as they say!