So - What About Summer?
See, I'm not kidding around this time. I'm here, and I gotta tell you - I spent 2/3rds of my summer in the boot!
I went to the national African violet convention at the end of May. A friend and I drove to Buffalo, New York for it. We got there Tuesday afternoon and got settled. I woke up on Wednesday morning early - around 5:30 - and proceeded to trip and lose my balance in the bathroom. I reached out to the wall to stabilize myself, only to realize that, while there would have been a wall there at home. There was no wall there in the hotel bathroom . . . I grabbed on to the edge of the tub on the way down so I didn't fall all the way over, but I smacked the outside of my right knee on the tile, and twisted my left foot. And on the way down I took out a large piece of my arm because the bathroom door didn't close properly. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had broken the fourth metatarsal in my left foot.
I hope you are not squeamish . . . but just in case, the injury photo is closer to the end of this post. I drove myself to the ER because Urgent Care was not open at that time of the morning, and my arm was bleeding and a substantial flap of skin was hanging off. My foot didn't start to hurt until later that evening and I initially thought it was "just inflammation," like pretty much any pain I have usually is. Not this time. I did end up walking on it for two weeks before I saw the doc, and then another week until the doc put me in a boot - the break was there but the doc initially read it as the modeling of my bone and the X-ray didn't definitely show the break for another week. I didn't need surgery, thankfully, but I did end up being in the boot for eight weeks.
I don't have a bedazzler, so a couple of Eloise stickers had to do! :-D
The first few days in it were tough. But I even did Tai Chi in it, which, unfortunately set me back a bit in my healing. The doc forgot to tell me not to do it . . . until I came back at six weeks and was still having a lot of pain. The verdict was two more weeks in the boot and I had to stop Tai Chi completely during that time.
Being in a boot slows you down - and not just in walking. Every area of my life slowed down - and I have to wonder if this was the Universe's way of making me slow down. There was a lot of work stress this summer and I was in the boot for a lot of it. Having to slow down also gave me more time to spend with J, which was nice. I could not move as much or as well, though, during those two months, and the scale - unfortunately - reflects that.
And finally, I was tired. A lot. Most days I didn't have much energy. It was all I could do to get back and forth to work because my office moved at the end of April and it's a couple more blocks added to my commute twice a day. I was wiped out pretty much every evening by the time I got home - my body was using what energy I had to heal the break in my bone and the wound on my arm.
And speaking of my arm. This is how the ER sent me on my way.
They said I needed to wash it with soap and water and re-bandage it daily until it scabbed over. I thought, "no problem - a few days." . . . like it was a skinned knee . . .
Oh HELL no . . .
It was a month or so until my body was able to scab over a wound this size.
They called it a bad abrasion. It was more like a burn, really, and that is how it has healed - kind of shiny and the new skin is pretty pinkish/red.
Thankfully, three of my friends who were also at convention are medical professionals: Two nurses and one nurse practitioner.
They fixed me right up because the bandage that the ER put on me would not stay in place and the tape they gave me to use on it - well, I taped it on my skin and let's just say that that was not a great thing. Here is how my friends got me set up:
And so, every evening, I would take all the CoBan tape off and the telfa pad - sometimes I had to use sterile saline to get it off. I would wash the wound with soap and water, and then rebandage it - I had quite an array of fashion colors of Coban tape. I figured I might as well rock it since I had to use it :-D
It wasn't much fun, but, all in all, I was very lucky. Seriously. I had my clogs on when I fell or the doc says the break in my foot would have been far worse; and I didn't hit my head; and I was able to participate in the rest of convention week. But it really was The No-Fun Plan.
Here is a more recent shot. My doctor and my nurse friends were all quite surprised by how well it has healed. It's a little crater-like, and occasionally a little tender, but, all in all, everything could have been so much worse.
It's Sunday and I've been doing a medical test this morning - one where I have to send the results in to a lab. It's finished now and as soon as FedEx opens I'm going to run over there and drop it off. Nothing major, and I won't get any results back for at least six weeks, but I hope everything is fine in what I am submitting because I had to drink a horrible - and I do mean horrible - shake-like drink that did not agree with me at all at either end, if you get my drift. Blech!!!
This catches us up in the health area. I'll be posting some plant photos from National soon!
An oldie for your Sunday . . .
Enjoy!
I went to the national African violet convention at the end of May. A friend and I drove to Buffalo, New York for it. We got there Tuesday afternoon and got settled. I woke up on Wednesday morning early - around 5:30 - and proceeded to trip and lose my balance in the bathroom. I reached out to the wall to stabilize myself, only to realize that, while there would have been a wall there at home. There was no wall there in the hotel bathroom . . . I grabbed on to the edge of the tub on the way down so I didn't fall all the way over, but I smacked the outside of my right knee on the tile, and twisted my left foot. And on the way down I took out a large piece of my arm because the bathroom door didn't close properly. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had broken the fourth metatarsal in my left foot.
I hope you are not squeamish . . . but just in case, the injury photo is closer to the end of this post. I drove myself to the ER because Urgent Care was not open at that time of the morning, and my arm was bleeding and a substantial flap of skin was hanging off. My foot didn't start to hurt until later that evening and I initially thought it was "just inflammation," like pretty much any pain I have usually is. Not this time. I did end up walking on it for two weeks before I saw the doc, and then another week until the doc put me in a boot - the break was there but the doc initially read it as the modeling of my bone and the X-ray didn't definitely show the break for another week. I didn't need surgery, thankfully, but I did end up being in the boot for eight weeks.
The first few days in it were tough. But I even did Tai Chi in it, which, unfortunately set me back a bit in my healing. The doc forgot to tell me not to do it . . . until I came back at six weeks and was still having a lot of pain. The verdict was two more weeks in the boot and I had to stop Tai Chi completely during that time.
Being in a boot slows you down - and not just in walking. Every area of my life slowed down - and I have to wonder if this was the Universe's way of making me slow down. There was a lot of work stress this summer and I was in the boot for a lot of it. Having to slow down also gave me more time to spend with J, which was nice. I could not move as much or as well, though, during those two months, and the scale - unfortunately - reflects that.
And finally, I was tired. A lot. Most days I didn't have much energy. It was all I could do to get back and forth to work because my office moved at the end of April and it's a couple more blocks added to my commute twice a day. I was wiped out pretty much every evening by the time I got home - my body was using what energy I had to heal the break in my bone and the wound on my arm.
And speaking of my arm. This is how the ER sent me on my way.
They said I needed to wash it with soap and water and re-bandage it daily until it scabbed over. I thought, "no problem - a few days." . . . like it was a skinned knee . . .
Oh HELL no . . .
It was a month or so until my body was able to scab over a wound this size.
They called it a bad abrasion. It was more like a burn, really, and that is how it has healed - kind of shiny and the new skin is pretty pinkish/red.
Thankfully, three of my friends who were also at convention are medical professionals: Two nurses and one nurse practitioner.
They fixed me right up because the bandage that the ER put on me would not stay in place and the tape they gave me to use on it - well, I taped it on my skin and let's just say that that was not a great thing. Here is how my friends got me set up:
And so, every evening, I would take all the CoBan tape off and the telfa pad - sometimes I had to use sterile saline to get it off. I would wash the wound with soap and water, and then rebandage it - I had quite an array of fashion colors of Coban tape. I figured I might as well rock it since I had to use it :-D
It wasn't much fun, but, all in all, I was very lucky. Seriously. I had my clogs on when I fell or the doc says the break in my foot would have been far worse; and I didn't hit my head; and I was able to participate in the rest of convention week. But it really was The No-Fun Plan.
Here is a more recent shot. My doctor and my nurse friends were all quite surprised by how well it has healed. It's a little crater-like, and occasionally a little tender, but, all in all, everything could have been so much worse.
It's Sunday and I've been doing a medical test this morning - one where I have to send the results in to a lab. It's finished now and as soon as FedEx opens I'm going to run over there and drop it off. Nothing major, and I won't get any results back for at least six weeks, but I hope everything is fine in what I am submitting because I had to drink a horrible - and I do mean horrible - shake-like drink that did not agree with me at all at either end, if you get my drift. Blech!!!
This catches us up in the health area. I'll be posting some plant photos from National soon!
An oldie for your Sunday . . .
Enjoy!
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