My wounded valentines

Wheelchair, cane, walker? Until recently, they wouldn't have belonged in the same photo as my partner John and my friend Linda.

When we visited Linda on Monday, she showed us the new resistance band she's using to strengthen her muscles to help her get back on her feet. 

John has discovered various uses for my mother's old cane, including whacking a package of frozen peas to break them up before using them as an ice pack. One day the package will burst.

My partner John and my friend Linda are two of the healthiest people I know. At age 73, both heft weights and stretch regularly, eat real food, and John bikes and runs while Linda is a long-distance walker.

They are the last people I could imagine using walkers or canes, pain drugs or wheelchairs. Alas, things have changed.

Since Dec. 9, when she was hit by a car while walking (naturally) across an intersection, Linda has been learning about not just walkers and wheelchairs, but also the world of grab bars, bedside commodes, and bathtub seats.

John’s suffering has been shorter, but since a soccer injury a few weeks ago, he’s learned the language of physiotherapists, pain drugs and anti-inflammatories. He brought my mother’s old cane out of retirement. He discovered that frozen peas are more pliable for icing purposes than a regular ice pack. Also that hitting peas with a cane is a good way to break them up.

The good news is that both these healthy people are on the way to resuming their regular lives. I realized that when they were willing to be photographed on Monday with all the accoutrements they will soon be discarding.

One of the few pluses of being injured is sympathy flowers -- in this case to Linda from her nephew Matthew.

Another section of the big bouquet she got and rearranged into smaller ones.

The scene that awaits when Linda is finally back out on the False Creek seawall near her place. The weirdly shaped Vancouver House seems somehow appropriate for someone who has been toppled by a car.