Oh Snap!

I have had my Oh Snap shirt for a few years now and I always pull it out at the holidays to wear it.  Because it is funny.

Well, funny until you are the one saying "Oh Snap!".  

Same leg too.  What are the odds?

I've found the shirt slightly less funny this season but hopefully will find it funny again for next season.

In the meantime, I had a checkup for my fractured fibula.

My bone was 90% healed and so the doctor decided I could switch to an ankle brace.  Turns out that I also sprained my ankle during the fall, and he said the soft tissue would be sore for another 2-3 months.  

Say what?!

Then he said that I needed to put as much weight as I could stand on my foot as possible, as soon as possible.  I could even go jogging if I was a jogger.  

Say what?!

I calmly explained that I had a pesky shooting pain run up my leg anytime I tried to put the slightest weight on it.

He said I would definitely have that for another month or so.  But that I needed to push through it.  (What kind of a person does he think I am?!)  He also explained that since I had been in the boot, my nerve endings were going to be a little finicky for a while.  And by finicky, he apparently meant that I would have a thousand little pinpricks of pain in my heel every time I put it close to a surface.

Then he told me that he might take my crutches away and make me walk on my foot.  (I think he could sense my reluctance to get on board with his plan.)  In the end he didn't take my crutches away - because at that point I would have just (in the most dignified manner possible) crawled out of the medical building - just to prove that my foot was not ready for pressure any time soon.  I may have a stubborn streak...    

He offered pt because my ankle joint was so stiff.  I declined but accepted the exercises he recommended.  I'm friends with a pt.  And I can hear her voice every time I resist.  Thanks for being in my head, Buffy!  I don't even know that you know that I got hurt and you are still in my head about the importance of following through on exercises!

Friends!

With all my shock and awe at the office, I have to say that he was a fantastic doctor.  He explained everything in such a way that I could remember it well after.  He was great.  

And a little more confident in my left appendage than I was.

I spent the next day cheating with crutches or crawling when necessary.  Because my foot really, really hurt when I put any pressure on it.

This might be a good time to digress and discuss my knees.

You may have noticed that I, unfortunately, am a little on the skeletal side.  I would prefer a more rounded frame.  (Botero is one of my favorite artists because everyone just looks so fat and happy). 

But, due to food allergies, I have a very restricted diet.  And it has left me all angles and edges.  In short, I am a little bony.

And that description aptly describes my knees.  I have very knobby knees.  They are pretty much bone and a thin ghost-like layer of skin.  No cushion or padding to speak of.  

Because I have had to crawl up and down stairs or across rooms, my knees are ready to kill me.

Seriously, if I end up dead, they should be your first suspects.  

They are sore, bruised, and chafed.  They've officially had it with me.  

Now that I have acknowledged their grievances, let's get back to my obstinate struggle.

So, on day two, (while hearing Buffy's voice in my head) I tried to put a little more weight on the foot and a little less reliance on the crutches.  

Day three was a touch more.  

And by today, I walked around church without crutches at all.  Sure, I hobble as fast as a ninety-seven year old.  But I am walking!  

And my hands are free.  

I took for the granted the idea that if you are on crutches, you can't actually carry anything from one point to another unless you put in a backpack on your back.       

Can I tell you how great this feels?

It feels amazing! 

I can pick up something and walk across a room with it.  It's like a Christmas miracle!

So, sure, I had a (literal) 'oh snap' moment.  But, now I am entering a new phase.  

"Oh sweet!"