This walking thang is a breeze! Isn't it?

Hi everybody,
So you may ask what's happening in the Encinitas hood on this glorious sunny spring day? Well, for sure Dedan is becoming a local fixture and has added several taglines to his name: a) 'the guy that rides the bike with one leg...fast!', b) he is also 'the guy with the big grin from ear to ear', c) 'the guy with the prosthetic leg', d) 'the guy who used to be on crutches', e) 'the guy at the jeans shop', f) 'the Kenyan guy staying with Chris and Janet' and now another tag line can be added g) 'the guy walking around the neighborhood'.

New tagline for Dedan:
So what's the big deal with the last tagline? Why did it make the list? I'll tell you why. Yesterday was day 7 with the new walking socket and leg. Dedan walked from our studio on Vulcan Avenue to our house on Arden Drive, with his new leg and without assistance from a crutch. OK...hmmm you may be thinking but get this.


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From the studio to our house is just over 1/2 a mile (.59 to be exact) and if you follow the direct way as seen on the map, it is a flat walk along Vulcan (but there is no footpath) and then a hill up 'I' Street which joins Melba and down to Arden Drive. Dedan chose to go up McNeil Avenue which is a decent hill, along Cornish Drive which has two minor inclines - rollers, down Melba to Arden Drive and then up an incline at the beginning of our driveway. Piece of cake you may say...but wait for it there is a story!!

Walking on the flat and swinging the arms in a correct gait pattern is a breeze for Dedan. Going down hill - sweet as, going up hill...hmm gets tricky and sometimes it all goes postal!! Uphill has yet to be mastered and so it wasn't the distance to our house that was the issue it was them hills!! You also realise in situations like this that the human knee joint is a brilliant piece of mechanical engineering (side note: so look after the ones you have ok!)and whoever designed it was a genius....real smart!!

Dedan will be going back to live in Kenya and so after consultations with SCOPE and the head honcho Kel Bergman, it was decided that a basic solid prosthetic leg which could take a lot of wear and tear would be the best option. Dedan won't have the luxury of 'popping' in to see Kel for alterations should anything happen to the socket/leg. If it was a fancy, bells and whistle model then it just wouldn't work and so the model he has can be altered to work as a walking knee and a cycling knee just with the turn of a hex key. So, when he heel strikes in gait, the knee locks allowing him to transfer his bodyweight onto, over and past the leg and when he toes off in gait the knee bends allowing for the swing through. Great for flat stuff and down hills but not for uphills.

New tagline for Janet:
So with anything that Chris and I do and especially in our line of work..if there is a problem..what do ya do? Yes..you go about fixing it..anyway you can, right? I was determined to sort this uphill walking thang out and decided that Dedan and I needed to have an outside walking lesson.

HHHHHMMMMMMMM.....memo to self:...in future make sure the Kenyan guy is wearing shorts so then people in cars who are parked at the stop sign and who are all watching you with absolute horror on their faces, can see that the tall kiwi woman is NOT beating the hell out of the poor mans leg as he attempts to walk. Oh my word she is not satisfied to do it once but she is now walking along side him and whacking him as she yells 'toe' at the top of her voice!!!

I was in the middle of 'helping Dedan unlock his knee' when I got the intense feeling that I was being watched. Picture this: I am on Dedan's right side, bent down walking sideways, using the back of my right hand in a karate chop motion to unlock the knee. I look up and see a line of drivers with looks of sheer disgust on their collective faces just staring gobsmacked at me. I instantly pulled Dedan's tracksuit pant leg up and pointed at his prosthetic leg, as one of the drivers wound his car window down and all the other faces changed to a mixture of relief. It was another funny moment as he yelled, 'You had me wondering for a moment'. I grinned and replied that he didn't need to call social services and continued walking. I bet if we were in New York no one would have given us so much as a look! You have to love little 'ol Encinitas BUT I do wonder what my new tagline is??? I hate to think..may have to lay low for a few days!Enough stories from me.

We had lunch with a delightful reporter yesterday who will be doing a real story on Dedan, about his life and cycling and so we'll let you know when that is coming out. We all have the Devil Dog Duathlon this weekend so it is a taper week before the race and easy training.Yeehaa.

The sun is out, Dedan is having a strength training session with Chris at the moment and then he is hitting the beach for some R and R before another massage with Wes Boyce at Encinitas Acupuncture and Massage on Second Street. Wes generously gave Dedan some massage gift vouchers and we are putting them to good use.
A great massage sounds like a plan!!!
OK, I have to love and leave you. It's back to the studio for me to put Dan the golfing man through his paces.
Cheers