By Judy Reiss
I know that I wrote to you about my wonderful flowered cane and how much I not only enjoyed it but how much attention it brought me whenever I used it. And I do stand by that cane and how much I liked it. Unfortunately, my back and my knee didn’t enjoy using it as much as I did! For over a year, my doctor and my physical therapist kept telling me that I had to retire the cane and used a ”walker” instead. Well, I must tell you that I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I shuffled along with the cane instead, although it hurt and I couldn’t walk very far without whining. I liked that beautiful cane and for some reason I thought that it made me look a lot younger than a walker would. Need I tell you how stupid that thought was? Oh, and the other reason was the cost of a walker was really outrageous, I thought. We did go to the medical store in our area and the walker was $269.00, which was way out of our price range. And then guess what happened?

Malcolm looked “on line” and found the exact same walker that we had seen for $269 for $53, delivered! Now I don’t know about you, but to us that was a huge difference. So, I caved in and decided to buy one and give it a try.

No one was more surprised than I was. I could walk in a more upright position, I could walk faster and “better” and even my back felt better. And this is the best part for me, the walker that we picked has a pouch or bag under the seat. It is so easy to use and with little or no effort I keep all of the things that I use all the time, right at my finger tips, or whatever tips you want to call it! So, for $53 dollars, I have a walker that really does help me to get around quickly and easily. It also makes it extremely user-friendly to keep my cell phone and my Kindle very close at “hand”. And for someone who lost those items, at least, 10-20 times a day, this is a wonderful bonus.

I was trying to think whatever was a plus with my walker and I forgot to mention that it is very light and you can fold it up and put it in the car with little or no problem. Of course, I don’t do much of the folding but all of my good friends do it for me and take me both wherever they want to go and I want to go, too.

Is there any negative things about the walker? Well, of course, it does remind you and everyone else that you are no longer a teenager! And lots of little people are very interested in it and want to touch it and look closely at me and it. But so what?

Of course, I have a story about me and my walker that happened just about 10 days ago. My angel, McKinley (oldest grandson) had to report to Mass Maritime for two weeks of orientation for his freshman year. He was amazingly willing to let most of the family come and see him off and of course, his girlfriend was with us, too. When we got there, he was already there with his mother and had checked in and changed into his gear, like the rest of his class (486 youngies). Although we have a handicapped parking sticker, we still had to park quite far away from the action. So, Malcolm got out my walker (or rollator as he calls it) and I begin the trek to the field where everyone was. We saw Mac and his mother walking towards us and were thrilled how wonderful he looked! So now we all, that means Tobi and his wife and two boys, Sarah, girl friend Shannon, and mother Polly trudged our way to the food tent and to look around the campus, which was packed with other youngies and their families. And I must admit that I was starting to get a little tired. And we had to all go to the bleachers, which was across the campus. And Mac insisted that I sit on my “rollator” and he would push me.

“Absolutely, not,” I said. “This is your day not a time to push your old Nana on her dumb walker” And do you know what he said? He said, “Either you sit and let me push you or I will pick you up and throw you over my shoulder and carry you!” And he made a move to do so. Of course, I gave in and sat on the wonderfully comfortable seat and let him push me all the way to our seats in the stands. And I kid you not, I don’t think I could have made it myself but with his help it was possible for me to enjoy every single minute of that wonderful day! And did my walker/rollator help? Of course it did. I was able to walk a really long way and then sit and get pushed the rest. And for me, probably the best part of this story was that Mac wasn’t embarrassed at all to have his old Nana marching along with her walker and nor was he embarrassed to push her like a baby the rest of the way! He truly is an amazing guy!

Oh, I must tell you that the walker is not decorated with anything. No flowers, no lightening, no pictures. Nope, just a plain old walker. But the pouch/bag is great and I do think with a little imagination you could decorate it up. Just don’t make it too fancy or it would look like you had gone over the bend. I do plan on adding a couple of flowers but I just haven’t found the right ones yet. But for heavens sake, enjoy yourself and if you have to use a walker just think that it is easier to use as long as you can before you need a wheelchair!