Shock treatment

My stroke-survivor fashion accessory: the cuff in my Bioness L300 foot-drop system

I am test driving a new kind of electrode for the Bioness L300 foot-drop system. The Bioness helps me walk in spite of the effects of a 2011 hemorrhagic stroke.

L300 large cloth electrode

My experience so far with the L300 large cloth electrode has been good. I am gradually increasing my time wearing the Bioness cuff with the new type of electrode.

It may well be the key to avoiding the skin irritation that had developed with the hydrogel electrodes and has plagued me off and on for about a year.

What I haven’t avoided are consequences of losing track of what comes next in tasks I may be involved in. And this time, Dear Hubby suffered the consequences.

He was in the bathroom thoroughly soaking the cloth electrode, a necessary step before snapping the electrode into place on the cuff. I already had my shoes on, including the left shoe with Bioness sensor and transmitter. I also had the control unit attached to a lanyard that I had just slipped around my neck. 

I failed to realize, however, that my husband had taken the cuff with him. And I had totally forgotten that the final step--my putting the cuff on just under my knee--had yet to occur.

I pressed the control unit’s “on” button. Hubby’s voice boomed from the bathroom, “Turn off your Bioness!”

My turning the unit on had delivered a jolt of electricity as my unsuspecting spouse was snapping the electrode into place on the cuff.

Now I check and check again to be sure the Bioness cuff is in place before I attempt to “turn my leg on.”

Sorry Babe!