By this time, approximately four months had passed. My gait had improved but I was still noticeably limping. My therapist was not satisfied with our rate of progress and was frustrated that I had not stopped limping in spite of months of therapy. At one session, she strapped a device onto my thigh that would deliver a stimulating electrical shock to my quadricep muscle in the middle of a step. She explained that my thigh muscle was not still "firing" at the right time. The device forced the muscle to fire at the right time, thus reducing the limp. I recall a slight dizziness each time I took a step, as if my brain was re-programming itself. For the next several sessions, I walked with the device and tolerated the dizzy spells. My brain and thigh muscles eventually learned how to work together normally once again.

It was around this time (month four of the program) that a very encouraging phenomenon began to occur. For a few seconds the burning, aching, unbearable pain in my foot would completely stop! Sometimes, bursts of warm blood into my foot would accompany this "pain intermission". The relief would last for only a few seconds but it was a sign to me that something positive was occurring. Could it be that my nervous system was slowly normalizing itself?

The pain intermissions did become more frequent and began to last several seconds. Around this time, my husband noted during the nightly massages that the skin color was looking healthier. We could now see the veins protruding a tiny bit in my foot just below the skin, a sign that had long been absent.