(The Bledsoe competition post-op crossover sport utility G3 brace with “dial-a-matic” flex control and sport black-out matte styling.)

I have had the privilege to share with you up-close and personal reviews of some of the most exciting cross-over vehicles on the road today. Caddies, Mercedes, Grand Cherokees and several other dogs have been flogged along the highway to the Northland and I kept meticulous notes on just how those astonishing cross-over vehicles performed.

Designed for one thing, they accomplished, to better and lesser degrees, something else altogether. I found myself at that sort of cross-roads yesterday morning, with the dread summons from Walter Reed to appear before the team of Baby Doc, The Marine, and Paa Doc for the first evaluation of the reconstructed leg.

It was Day Eight of the recovery, and I had not ventured further than the kitchen from the security and privacy of my bedchamber. It was a big deal. I could review the Bluesmobile, but you know how I feel about the lofty and imposing majesty of the police cruiser. I can report that the back-seat is splendid for the casual storage of the supplemental wheels.

As a competitive rehabilitation candidate, I prefer the Top End® Crossfire Titanium Ultra Lightweight Active Performance Rigid Wheelchair and its specific performance on highly polished surfaces like the new America Building 19 at Walter Reed.

(I will have to trade up to the TopEnd Transformer model competition chair with Dillon Presicison Products webgear. Photo InvaCare.)

Easily converting from casual transport to full out competition mode, the Crossfire combines lightweight high efficiency with instantaneous acceleration and lighting braking, if your hands work that way and the crutches slung across your shoulder do not get in the way. Tactical web-gear for equipment hauling can be found at Dillon Precision Products
We will review lines of competition half-gloves with Kevlar to minimize scarring incurred in jamming the chair thought the narrow kitchen door to get at the morning’s Dazbog-brand competition coffee.

But I digress, first things first. When shopping for my recuperative equipment, I prefer elegance and utility of application. The brace is paramount, since sudden motion out of the vertical will pop those staples in a heartbeat, and dislodge the fragile connection between the remaining deltoid tendons and the holes drilled in the patella.

Baby Doc directed the brace be unstrapped and the surgical bandages removed to assess progress. I was giddy with the idea that the leg might collapse- I mean, shaking. I like the weakness of a Spring leaf against the thunderstorms of the changing season.

For crutches? Naturally, I went with SideStix, a product line devoted to “specialized forearm crutches for hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, Lacrosse and assorted outdoors activities.”

(SideStix with attachments. Photo SideStix.)

SideStix is the “first shock absorbent sports crutch” with attachable ‘feet’ for a variety of terrains. I think they have a model with extended clip ammunition for Biathlon applications, but that can be problematic on military reservations these days. My SideStix are optimized for the difficult transitional movement from driver’s seat to the swivel to dismount the chair from the back seat of the police cruiser.

Did I mention the Ford Crown Vic Panther body-on-frame construction accommodates a brace with the formidable dimensions of the Bledsoe Post Op-G3?

You bet. The steering wheel flips up almost to the horizontal to accommodate any competition post-op appliance. As discerning professionals know, “Even if you go down, the Bledsoe Post-Op G3 will still be standing!”

Circumstances being what they are, I established a series of metrics to baseline the efficiencies of the equipment. The Bledsoe Post Op G3 is the Cadillac of braces- personally endorsed by Papa Doc Anderson and his world-class team of reconstructive Orthopods. When I awoke to discover that I would be Borg-like

The features are impressive and as functional as they are lean and elegant in design. The brace features “quick release” ski-boot tabs…sleek matt black finish…EZ-quick reposition Velcro patches for “on the go” adjustments…

Even better, the G3 is an AWD- excellent traction for that first lurch upright out of bed in the morning after that critical first decision- pee here in the plastic jug, or lurch to the bathroom?

The G3 is fully adjustable, with precision angle-control for that critical compliance with “limited to 30-degree flex” Doctor’s order. For the daring, you can go as far and adjustable for that “leaning in” 30-degree assault on “your personal best!”

So, this reviewer has to give the G3 a “five star rating.” It is a great brace, and beats the crap out of the one they gave me the first time at the ER. That would be the one that enabled me to heal wrong.

My fault entirely, not that of the surgical team. But of course, that is the nature of the single-payer military medical system. There are simply not enough Papa Docs in the system and they have to be protected from the mob who needs to get at them, some of whom as you well know deserve full attention a lot more than geezers like me.

By the way, did you ever see the Michelangelo video of his fall and recovery with pins and screws?

No metal here yet, at least not unless I screw this up. Baby Doc says I get the staples removed next week. All I have to do is pilot the G3 with the grace and delicacy of an outstanding design.

Less than a week to that, time to work on the hospital dis-mount from the Bluesmobile, and seventy-three days to Extreme Rehabilitation!

Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com