My Knee Scooter Is the GOAT of Mobility Devices

I wanted to share hilarious tales from my ongoing recovery from foot surgery, as I am a firm believer in finding humor in any situation.

Even if I was drawing a blank, surely my family could be counted on to supply a humorous tale or two from their perspective as my caregivers over the past six weeks. So, one evening at the dinner table, I asked them for funny stories related to my foot surgery. Not only did they fail to deliver, but they looked at me like I had just sprouted tentacles from my forehead.

Grasping at straws, I asked, "What about the times I fell using my crutches?"

But neither my husband nor my son thought there was anything funny about those incidents where I tried to get something for myself rather than rely on them to fetch it for me, only to wind up on my derriere.

Alas, I am resigned to admit that there isn't anything funny about foot surgery. To put it frankly, it sucked.

In case you missed my Jan. 8 column, "Hobbling into 2024 with Newfound Optimism," I started the year off on the wrong foot after a misstep the morning of New Year's Eve sent me hurtling down the stairs, ending in a rather undignified encounter with a ceramic-tiled floor.

The initial x-rays didn't show any fractures but after a few weeks of little improvement in my foot, an MRI showed multiple broken bones in my mid-foot, and I ended up having Lisfranc fusion surgery in early February. I only just began the weight-bearing phase of recovery last week. Because my bedroom is on the second floor, I spent nearly all of my time, day and night, in a recliner for the first six weeks. I won't bore you with the details of how miserable that was. At least I had an excuse to buy a bunch of colorful Sharpies for the purposes of cast decoration.

My knee walker was the talk of the orthopedic center

One of the best decisions I made during this whole debacle was to get a Swivelmate Knee Walker. It wasn't long before I realized this is no ordinary knee scooter. Indeed, this is the Rolls Royce of knee scooters.

Manufactured by The Knee Walker Company, the Swivelmate features what the company calls BeltDrive steering, which is what separates it from the rest of the pack. Well, that and the five-wheel design.

Whereas most knee scooters are designed with two wheels in front and two in back, the Swivelmate is designed with three front wheels and two back wheels, which I've come to understand means it offers more stability while also offering unparalleled maneuverability. I had no trouble navigating tight spaces like my kitchen pantry.

I got compliments on my knee scooter everywhere I went (which was mostly just the orthopedic center for follow-up appointments), and other foot surgery patients weren't shy about expressing their jealousy. Several other knee scooter users wanted to know why mine was so much better than theirs, and where I got mine from. I delighted in telling them I got it from a website called www.rentakneewalker.com. Renting a knee walker from this company was a breeze. After using the mobility device for a couple weeks and realizing I would need it for longer than originally anticipated, a 30-second phone call was all it took to convert my rental to a purchase. If only every customer service transaction were that simple.

So, maybe there isn't anything funny about foot surgery. But at least I had a snazzy new set of wheels to help me roll with the punches.