A Step Forward

Everything comes to she who waits. I think what that really means is that if you stick around long enough, everything, especially things you didn’t anticipate, will happen to you. What happened to me today turned out to be a blessing, but disguised as a walker. You know, those things that make people look away as quick as they can. Those things that shout: “It’s all downhill from here!”

Still, it was a blessing.

Doctors have been telling me … well not just doctors … cab drivers, waiters, strangers on the street (not really, but it sometimes feels like that) … that if I don’t walk more I will lose more and more of the use of my legs until finally … well you get the message. But walking is difficult for me … I have bad bone pains in my feet, poor circulation in my legs that makes them ache except when I’m sitting or lying down, balance problems caused by numbness in my lower legs, yada yada yada.

So I’ve been thinking more and more about a walker … and when I saw the have these things called “upright walkers” I was intrigued. The last few weeks I’ve been looking online, reading customer reviews and consumer guide-type guides. I’d narrowed it down to one that looks a lot like the picture below, and I decided on a brand called Elenka.

Notice how nice the lady looks – standing up straight, not all bent over like the lower walkers are. She looks more or less normal — she could almost be pushing a baby carriage or a shopping cart!

Now, New York City is secretly just a lot of small neighborhoods. When asked where you live by a fellow New Yorker, you answer with your neighborhood. During the pandemic, little local groups and newsletters have appeared to help connect people to others in their neighborhood for all kind of things.

Mine local newsletter is called Patch, and it has a classified section. Yesterday, I saw an upright rollator (4 wheels) like the ones I’ve been checking out. It seemed like a legit ad and the price was very reasonable. It was advertised by a man who was older than I am.

Still, I would never have called about it — caveat emptor and all that, except that I haven’t been walking. Not even a little. And I’ve been getting desperate. But no more, because I bought the walker! I went down to his apartment building, an upscale residential hotel in the Columbus Circle area not far from Lincoln Center. It’s a part of the city that just seems to shine and it was an especially sparkly day. The signs were auspicious.

He was with his partner, and they greeted me and then brought the walker down. Lo and behold (who says that anymore??) it was the brand I’d selected to buy, an Elenka! He’s selling it because at 92, his arms are all muscle and bone, and the same arm rests that help my arms hurt his.

We all liked each other right away. Here they are. Nice faces, no? They both keep themselves in great shape, as you can see, going for walks, dancing, exercising. I tried the rollator out inside their fancy lobby and out on the street; they watched, giving me lots of good information about curbs, inclines, etc.

Using it felt wonderful. I felt free for the first time in ages. I I could stand straight and walk naturally. In New York, people don’t tend to stare, but I also just looked fairly normal because I was standing up straight instead of all bent over.

Tomorrow at home, I’ll take it out for its first spin. I’m meeting a friend at a restaurant about 8 city blocks away. Without this new walker, I’d use my cane and get tired every few steps and have to stop. My new upright rollator has a seat, so I can sit down any time I need to. But I don’t think I’m gonna need to sit down as much. And maybe, just maybe, this will be the thing that gets me out of the house every day. He said he walks a mile and a half every day.

I’ll settle for one fourth of that. Wish me luck.