Brreeeeeeaaaaakkkk

A good friend will let you drive their car. A great friend will let you drive their car post surgery, knowing full well this is part of a test/experiment to see how well you can drive now.

We had talked about it before, that one day maybe she would let me drive her car so I could practice and see how well I could drive. When we got together on Friday she surprised me by suggesting we give it a try. I was excited. Yes, I did try driving about 5 months ago. It had gone well but I wasn't confident enough in my abilities at that stage to drive anywhere other than the back roads by parents house. Not knowing if my improvements over the past months would translate into more functional driving, we opted to try out my skills in a small, quiet parking lot to start.

The first thing I decided was that I won't be able to wear my modified shoes while driving. My leg length discrepancy comes from the hip area, so the distance from my knee to foot hasn't changed. If I was to leave my modified shoes on it would be like driving with platform shoes on. Because those were the shoes I was wearing at the time, my friend and I switched shoes. Or rather I just took hers. Luckily we wear the same size.

I practiced moving my foot back and forth between the gas and break pedals several times before even starting the car. A couple times just to get the feel of it and go through the motions. Then a couple times as if I had to slam on the break quickly. Next was to give it a real try. My focus was on "foot work". I've been driving for 11 years and surgery didn't impact any other aspects of my ability to drive. We did one length of the parking lot coasting a bit and then breaking, coasting, then breaking. Typically this would be really boring but I was having fun. It's a little like being 16 all over again and learning to drive, but with so much more knowledge of how to actually drive. It was also quite entertaining because my friend and I would both yell out different things like STOP, pedestrian, kids, and I'd slam on the break. So we were laughing most of the time. I turned around, accelerated the length of the parking lot and stopped quickly at the end. Simulating a more realistic driving scenario.

It all felt very natural. After a little bit it wasn't really necessary for me to consciously think about my right leg and how it was moving. It felt similar to all the years I'd been driving before surgery. Over the last 5 months my control and ability to move my right leg has improved so much. It helps too that my lower leg (knee to foot) functions much better than actions lead by my quads. It's also very fortunate that driving doesn't require any real weight bearing.

I think it's safe to say driving will not be a problem for me. Living in the city it's not often I drive anymore, however, I am relieved to know it's not that I can't drive.

Thanks again for trusting me to drive your car! You know who you are :)