Three weeks after the full knee replacement operation I’m now walking freely without any aids, such as my Gettysburg oak walking staff. The knee is still stiff and range of motion is still limited. My range of motion on the left knee is 110° if the doctor or therapist is pushing, 90° or so if I’m sitting in a chair and moving it myself. My left leg is flexible enough that I can now put a sock and shoe on that foot. Going out in the car still requires that my wife drive. We both go into the store, and I’m still using an electric cart to move around the store while shopping for items. Next time I go out I should be able to dispense with the cart and walk behind a push cart. I have five more in-home physical therapy sessions before they’re done and I’m on my own. When the physical therapist isn’t here I have a selection of exercises I perform to increase flexibility and strength. So far both the surgeon and the PT person are happy with my progress.

This period has been an eye-opener to the issues that the physically impaired have to deal with. The biggest is a how the unimpaired seemingly go out of their way to ignore me and will do everything possible to rush around me and get in front, because to them I’m a moving obstacle to overcome. God forbid I should impede whatever vitally important task they’re intent on completing. A classic example of this was yesterday at my local Costco. I make it a habit to return my electric cart back to the front of the store for someone else to use. While I was driving the cart to its parking spot a regular healthy shopper was leaving the store. She did her dead level best to try and beat me, to run in front of me, but she couldn’t judge neither the distance nor speed I was moving at. Instead she stopped within inches of hitting me and just glared daggers while I pulled into the cart’s designated parking spot and stopped. The Costco greater at the entrance saw all of this little drama play out and went out of his way to thank me. I always try to return those carts to get them out of the Florida summer sun so that the cart’s battery won’t prematurely discharge due to the heat.

I’ve seen a lot of this discrimination towards the handicapped with my wife, who is herself partially handicapped. But I’ve now personally experienced it. The older, white and rich in this country feel a level of entitlement they have absolutely no right to indulge in.