The Next Step

Or not.

Pretty in Purple

My scooter, with snacks

The side of my right foot had been bothering me for awhile, often when I hit it against something or stepped on it too much.  I tried my plantar fascitis boot, rest, muscle relaxers, etc.  And then one day I was at the barn with Sis and our pony Patience and I stepped on a rock funny--and almost fell over.  Not good.  That afternoon I went to the speedy orthopedic walk-in--it isn't broken or fractured, but something is in spasm, so they put me in a boot.  I wore the boot for two weeks, intermittently based on if I needed to drive and how much of a hassle it was, and no surprise, it wasn't better.  I'm not really sure wearing the boot constantly would have helped, though.  It wasn't any better.  Anyway, I went to see a podiatrist on Friday and they put me in a big purple hard fiberglass cast!  Non weight-bearing.  For four weeks.  Very annoying.  Especially because I'm not balanced or coordinated under the best of conditions.  I have crutches and a kneeling scooter, which I like very much but which isn't very practical for certain spaces.  And I have a temporary handicapped parking placard, which will help when we go to the movies, the BTS concert, school events, etc.  Stairs are scary and I avoided them the first 36 hours, but now I can go up on one crutch and clutching the bannister and go down on my butt.  Showering is harder--can't get the cast wet but also can't balance completely on one leg long enough to shower.  So right now, we're winging it.  Last night, it started itching furiously and Mama held the fan to blow it into the cast for some relief.  Better today.  I crocheted a toe sock to get my piggies clean and Sis decorated my toes with gold-flecked polish. It's entertaining at least.

My rainy-day look

It's boring.  And annoying. And uncomfortable. But not particularly painful or even scary, so much better than emergency abdominal surgery or my back injury.  Just have to pass time. 

My homemade toe sock

So I'm reading, Zentangling, crocheting, taking my Bird Academy feeder bird class (ugh, I bombed telling all those "little brown jobs" apart today), blogging,  and watching "Agents of SHIELD."  I've culled magazines.  Fiddled with my music playlists.  Three full days down, only about 25 days left to go.  Maybe I'll be better at Feeder Birds by then!