Busy Bee - three things

The first thing is, I've finally bitten the bullet and bought a new bike. The Apollo full suspension mountain bike I got from Halfords is just too heavy. So, a couple of the guys in the pub put me on to a really good bike shop in Edinburgh. They sell a select range of bikes, but the prices are very good, and were even better in the January Sales. We went down, and despite the huge queues and the crush of shoppers, they were more than happy to spend time advising me, and helping me to find the right bike. I'd been thinking of getting a hybrid, but the guy in the shop put me off, as they are really only any good for town, or maybe a very well maintained and cleared forest trail. As I wanted to cycle in the Pentland Hills, as well as on the road, he pointed me in the direction of a mountain bike with low-profile knobbly bits on the tyres, so they wouldn't offer too much rolling resistance. It's about two-thirds the weight of my Apollo bike, and handles much better. The front end of the Apollo was way too twitchy, and it was very hard to keep it going in a straight line, which is fine for hillside trails, but not so good if you're trying to keep tucked in when a lorry's going past you on the road.

The new bike is made by a company called Specialized, has a very light-weight frame, and has adjustable damping on the front fork suspension, so you can stiffen it up when riding on the road, and soften it for rough terrain. The rear has no suspension, like a normal bike. This keeps the weight down. It has 24 speeds, and a very well set up trigger gear shifting system. I've only been out on it once, but I really like it. It's so much easier to ride than the Apollo. So the Apollo's going in the local ad paper.

The second thing I've done this last week is to go swimming. After reading a load of posts on the UK Limb Loss Association's forum, I formed a plan as to how to get into the pool. The consensus appeared to be to pick a time when the pool's very quiet, then get changed, leaving the prosthesis on to walk out to the poolside with.

Well, with Denise's encouragement, I gave it a try. The pool was a bit busier than I'd hoped, but at least there were no kids or neds there that might run off with my leg if I left it by the poolside. It all worked out fine. I brought a chair up close to the pool steps, took my leg off, and slid down to the top of the steps. Of course, by the second step down, the water was starting to take my weight, so I could hop gently down and into the water.

Once in, I had a go at swimming. I can only do breast and backstroke, so I started with the breaststroke. You may guess what problem I had with this stroke, which relies on the frog, or scissor kick to help you move forward. Obviously, this was less than efficient with only one and a half legs, and I tended to drift off to the right, because my left leg was giving more of a push. After a bit of practise, I straightened out a bit, and I learned that I just needed to do a bit of a course-correction half way down the pool. I managed to do three or four lengths, but because of the lack of push from my stump, I did find it very tiring to make any progress, much as I have found with walking. Did you know that walking with a prosthetic leg requires 20% more effort than walking with two good legs. You don't get the push from your calf and toes, so the other leg has to make up the energy, or you have to slow down. You're still using more energy for any given pace, though. I imagine it's pretty much the same with swimming.

So I worked on getting in and out of the pool without using the steps, so I wouldn't have to draw the chair up next time - I'd be able to get in wherever the chair was, as long as it wasn't too far from the edge. To finish, I needed to make sure my stump was really dry before I put my leg back on. And that was it. Success!

And finally, the third thing I've done is had a job interview. Just the first of a two-stage process, but it went well, and I should hear whether I've got through to the second stage about the middle of this week. The job's in Livingston, which would be ideal, but even if I don't get it, it's given me the confidence that I can get through the selection process. There are more jobs about, which is good, so things are looking a little less gloomy on that front.