Kaiser finally bought me my Bioness devices!
I got the confirmation just shy of 2 years after having found out about their existence. It was a long process of finding the right person to prescribe it, renting them, getting my PT to document the improvements, and finally having her write her referral.
When I first put them on all that time ago, it seemed to dial back the degradation of my gait by about 8 months!
they are what is known as FES (functional electrical stimulation). I like to think of it as what Star Trek calls a neuro-stimulator. They sit on top of my nerves, and when the accelerometers in them detect the correct part of my gait, they stimulate the nerves to lift up my toes.
They aren’t cheap. That’s why Kaiser want you to use braces instead, that wrap around the calf, and hold the foot bed up. They never worked too well for me, and even if they did, it just seemed to me that it would cause the muscles to atrophy. In this case the muscle is actually being used!
Even with them, I’m not back to where I was before the treatment. But my hope is that with their help I’ll get there.