My toe (update)

Well, my toe is pretty much healed.

About the time of my last post, I was told that it was a bad break. I mean, it was almost snapped clean off. X-rays were taken, and the Doc had another look at it. He said that everything was healing nicely, everything (ever-thang, as he says) was in place. I looked at the film, and was sure that it looked worse than it did the first time I had x-rays taken. He assured me that it takes 6-8 weeks to heal a broken bone. I said, "...but I'm supposed to heal fast, Doc, that's my thing." He looked up at me as if trying to figure out if I was still sneaking a Vicodin here or there, and said, "You broke your toe... and your over thirty..." He just left that last sentence hanging there...

Two weeks later (almost a month ago now), I go back and get some more of those magical pics taken of my foot. This time, when the Doc walks in, the film wasn't ready yet, so he just starts going over things. He asks if it hurts any more, so I tell him that it only hurts when I do something like drop a chair on it. He says, "Well DUH!" (I like this guy)

When the X-rays are ready, he takes a look and says, "Wow... that's purt near healed up, thar." I explain that I've been taking calcium suplements, eating a coupla cows worth of dairy, and that I heal fast. Now... I ain't no medical type doctor... I ain't trained to read no X-rays or nuthin'... but that bone looked fine to me. He points and says, "This part here's still got a little healin' to do, but you can start weanin' yerself off the boot."

This is what I've been wanting to hear.

My right calf is HUGE now. See, while wearing "The Boot" on my left foot, I had to use my right leg more for walking, balance, standing, etc. This means that the muscles in my right leg have been worked about three times as much as the ones in my left leg. Also, it's hot here.

Damn hot.

So hot I saw a little man in an orange robe burst into flames, it's that hot.

This means that while wearing an INSULATED boot on my left leg, I'm losing muscle mass simply to sweat.

I decided to wear "The Boot" for another week, but only made it four days before I started wearing shoes again. The weird part was getting used to using my ankle again. I had immobilized everything from my knee down for a month and a half. Now, it's physical therapy time...

Which, in Texas, means it's time to mow the lawn.

If I haven't mentioned it before, I live on an acre and a quarter. The house takes up about a quarter acre (yeah, you say small... I say 'cozy'). That means that there is an acre of yard. I have it sectioned into the Front, the Back, and then the North, East, and South points.... The South point is the biggest and is where the bluebonnets are in the spring.

I do not have a riding mower. I do not beleive that I should have a riding mower until I do not have legs. I have a self-propelled push mower that I walk around that whole damned yard, one section at a time. The South Point means about a 5 mile walk.

And that is how I got my ankle to work again.

The toe is healed, but since it was immobile for a month and a half, I'm still trying to get it to bend all the way again. Y'know, where you can pick a sock up off the floor? Yeah, I still can't do that yet.

... but I heal fast.

Comments

davintosh's picture

On the quick healing, that is.

I can't relate to the quick part. I broke my right ankle (fibula in two places, tibia in one, just above the joint) three weeks before my 41st birthday. Don't ask how. My doc had a decent sense of humor too; it happened on the Sunday before Labor Day, and after seeing the ER X-ray he said, "you'll be in here for three, four days. We'll have to order parts in from out of town." Made it sound like he was getting parts from Checker Auto. Gave me a laugh in spite of the pain. Two plates and about 20 screws.

I had surgery, was in a splint for two weeks and The Boot for six. Off my feet completely for a week, and on crutches for a lot longer than I care to remember. Built some great upper-body strength during that time, but my right leg atrophied terribly. The really weird thing is that all of the calluses on that foot just went away, and by the end of it all the bottom of my foot was softer than a baby's butt.

Even after The Boot I had trouble walking, as the screws & plates were still in there and just irritated things a lot. 9 months after the break I had surgery again to take them out. It was a year total before I was close to 95 percent recovered.

Here's to a good pair of legs. Feet too.