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| How I travel these days |
Just got back from some food shopping at my favorite local supermarket. Yep, I'm still being chauffeured to the store in the back seat of my car.
Bill drives up to the entrance to the store and lifts my injured left leg in the car as I back in the back seat. Then when we arrive at our destination, he holds my leg level while I scoot out of the back seat. I've been doing this for almost two months now. It's getting old folks, real old. But at least I can get out and shop. For that I am immensely thankful. I think of all those folks who are missing limbs or have more serious injuries than I have who cannot get out to the store. Harrison Ford comes to mind. The survivors of the Boston Marathon Bombing who lost limbs. I have no room to complain I know but this has been my reality for the past two months and probably will be for the next few weeks.
Last week at my followup appointment with my orthopedic doctor, he hinted that perhaps I could dispense with my leg brace after my visit with him next week. Oh what a wonderful thought! I still don't have the confidence to walk unaided without a cane but I felt that way last week when he told me to ditch my walker. In fact, when I'm in the kitchen preparing a meal for myself I find myself moving about without my cane. And last night when I got up for a nighttime visit to the bathroom, I forgot to bring my cane back with me!
The best time of the day for me is in the morning after I wake from a restful night. I sleep with my leg elevated. For six or seven hours there is no pressure on my leg. My foot isn't swollen from gravity. And the last couple of nights I notice that my leg brace is very loose when I wake up in the morning which means the swelling in my leg has gone down. For the past two months my left leg has been significantly larger than my right leg from the swelling. But once I'm up and about, defying gravity, the swelling comes back like it is now.
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| The left leg and foot after a restful night. The black on my big toe on my right leg is from a bad fitting shoe when I took a walk on the boardwalk months ago. It will take months for that black of the stubbed toe to disappear. If it's not one thing it's another isn't it? |
What gets me through the day is wearing a compression sock on my left foot. I still have a swollen left foot but it is significantly lower. My mind isn't on the throbbing pain of a swollen foot all day. I can actually concentrate on other things, like sitting at my computer and updating my Find a Grave account, iPhotos (which is now "Photo" and another whole story for another posting) and checking out my favorite blogs.
One day, not too far in the future now I feel, this episode in my life will just be another addition to my Medical War Story library to share and bore with friends, family, co-workers and neighbors in the future.
I'm coming back folks! I should be dancing and I will.