Friday 28 January 2011

28 January 2011

Yet again it's been too long since I wrote here, and once again it's a kind of momentous event that brings me back. Today I had my assessment for FES (Functional Electrical Stimulation, since you ask).

It's an amazing thing. A couple of electodes on my leg and, as if by magic (well, ok, with quite a bit of fiddling by an extraodinarily patient physio) I could walk, pretty normally. Sure, my balance is still shot to buggery, but I found myself walking almost like a normal person.

There are a couple of drawbacks. One, it's not funded by the NHS, and costs £650. Not insurmountable, but not insignificant either. And two, they don't recommend it for driving. Which is a bit of a bigger problem. I mean, I can unplug it when driving, but it's not so easy to take off my shoes and put the orthosis back on. Perhaps I could wear both?

I feel that the timing of my next trip to see the MS Nurse next week is fortuitous. We shall see what we shall see.