Walking in the Cold

I took a walk at Silver Springs today. Probably the last time before I receive my DRG stimulator.

This morning my dog and I took a 3-mile hike at Silver Springs in Yorkville, IL. We do this often and since the new year began I've tried to at least walk two miles a day. It's not an unattainable goal for most, but it's quite difficult for me. Cooler temperatures make my right foot feel real tight and bound up, like as if it were in a cast after having just sprained my ankle. The colder it is the worst it gets. Also, I forgot to mention in my first post that I also developed foot drop on top of the CRPS due to the accident. It's like walking while wearing a flipper on my right foot...always.

From Wikipedia:
Foot drop is a gait abnormality in which the dropping of the forefoot happens due to weakness, irritation or damage to the common fibular nerve including the sciatic nerve, or paralysis of the muscles in the anterior portion of the lower leg. 

Walking in the snow is like walking in sand for me. For a normal person it'd be like walking in molasses. A while back I was left behind on a Lake Superior beach when biting flies started attacking our party. I told the group to go on ahead, because I just couldn't go any faster. If we are ever invaded and I have to be left behind I'll be happy to slow down the enemies with a grenade. I need to start working on a cool action movie catch phrase I could use while removing the pin. Something like, "this is gonna blow your mind!" Or "don't go to pieces!"

So why do I walk? Why not just stay home? Before my accident I weighed 168 pounds. I could eat 3,500 calories a day easy and gain no weight, because I was always moving. During my rehabilitation stay when my brain rebooted to version 2.0 I weighed in at 127 pounds. I couldn't believe it. I decided I was going to bulk up like Mac from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." The weight came back and then some. Turns out if you can't move, then you can't burn calories.

Now, I could get one of those fancy exercise bikes and have some instructor yell at me to go faster and harder from a hip New York fitness studio like in the television commercials, but I already hate being home as much as I am and I really just miss being outside and experiencing life. That's why I go on my walks. With a beautiful state park like Silver Springs only ten minutes away there's no reason not to go.

During the walk we came across a bird's nest in the snow, rabbit, a flock of ducks, squirrels and a group of three deer. Luckily my dog didn't spot the deer, because although he's a coonhound, he's also a deerhound and UPShound. An instinctual switch will flip in his acorn brain and there's no turning back. He spotted a UPS delivery truck at Glacier National Park last June and he wanted blood. He was probably wondering how had that truck tracked him for over a thousand miles?

The walk was wonderful as usual. Except for one man on a snowmobile, who also ticked off my dog, we had the whole place to ourselves. This is also good for me, because the scent hound likes to stop and sniff everything and when I pull him to go he starts bucking like a bronco and that's when I start with the curses. It probably sounds like I hate my dog, but he's a real son-of-a-bitch. Literally. He's not my son and we are just real good friends. Stop calling yourself a dog parent you weirdos.

Just before we made it back to the car I decided to have a closer look at the Farnsworth House that sits on the opposite side of the icy Fox River. Most of the year it's quite hard to see the architectural masterpiece through the foliage, but in the winter it's easily spotted through the barren trees. It's good to be outside and experience the seasons. I really hope this treatment increases my quality of life. If not, I'll probably keep trying to find something that'll help.