I am free! Sort of. I took a risk on Wednesday evening and decided that crutches were just that. Crutches. Something to lean on. Something to give you support. Something that hinders your progress. Then again they also help you walk when you can't.

Wednesday evening I decided I would not start walking normally again if I kept using the crutches. I put the crutches aside and walked around the house. I do not think you can actually call what I did "walking". It was more like a combination between baby steps, shuffling, hobbling and spasms. But I made it around the house without collapsing in pain. After a bit of that I went back to the crutches.

Thursday morning I went to the doctor for a checkup. He changed my bandages and told me that I only need to use the crutches as much as I feel is necessary. That was the end. Despite the fact that I could not walk without them, and was hobbling in a way that was likely to throw out my back and destroy my other knee, I decided the sooner I start the quicker my walking will get back to normal.

No more crutches no matter how much my wife pleaded with me. I walked around all day without touching the crutches. And yes I had pain in my back and knee (other knee). But as the day went on, my walk got more and more back to normal and the awkwardness and discomfort went away more and more.

I am still not walking completely normal, but I am getting there.

There is a lesson in there somewhere. We all have our crutches we lean on in life and they make us feel comfortable, but they hinder our progress. We have to find them and wean ourselves off them (or go cold turkey which is the method I prefer when possible).