Boot Musings

Well, hopefully tomorrow is the day ... the day I get out of "the boot."  I have a doctor's appt first thing tomorrow morning and I am so HOPING that I get to ditch this glorious piece of footwear.


It is for sure not SATC worthy.  Hell, it's barely worthy to be worn in public at all.

A little history.  Late last year I noticed my left ankle was swollen, but it really didn't hurt so of course I just ignored it (smart huh?).  Then it started hurting so I went to my regular doctor.  They xrayed it - didn't find any broken bones, told me to wrap it and the swelling would go down.  Well, the swelling didn't go down and the pain increased.  So the first week of January I finally headed to my orthopedic docs.  They xrayed, didn't see anything major.  They put me in a soft boot, gave me a script for an anti-anflamitory and told me to come back in three weeks.  Three weeks later I was back, ankle was the same.  So I was put in the big, black beauty you see pictured here...and have been in it ever since!  MRI was done, PT was tried, etc.  Finally surgery was the answer to repair a torn tendon.  That happened about 7 weeks ago.  For two weeks after the surgery I was totally couch bound.  My foot was in a splint and I was on crutches.  Thank God for my mother who came up and took care of me and the fam while I was out of commission.  After that, yes, you guessed it, back in the boot.  As a side note, this is one of the most painful surgeries!  I thought I was going to die afterwards!  I took vicodin, percocet, demoral ... nothing even phased the pain.  It was horrid!

As you can see this boot looks like it has been through a war ...

Slighty worn as I have worn this ALL day for months ... I have litterally been in a boot since the first week of January ... and today is June 2nd!  I did get to take it off and put on a splint at night to sleep.  Joy.

If everything looks good tomorrow, I should get to change from this back to the soft boot and will be in that for FIVE more weeks.  This has been quite the ordeal for the year!  And just to gross y'all out ... here is a pic after surgery.

Yes.  Frankenstein would be jealous of these awesome stitches!

So, what will I miss about "the boot?"

* Only being able to wear two pairs of shoes ... both black sandals.

* Only being able to wear very selected pants ... again mainly black.  Just call me Johnny Cash.

* Sitting down to shower.  I have not been able to stand up and take a shower in 7 weeks!  I feel like an 80 year old woman sitting down in the shower.

* Not being able to take a bath or get in the pool due to the incision (see above).

* It taking me twice the amount of time to get around and do things.

* Being worn out by the end of the day dragging this thing around.

* Having people ask me, "What did you do to your foot?" and "How much longer in the boot?" ... my standard answer lately for the last question has been, "forever."  I just get blank stairs after that.

* Sleeping in a splint up to my knee each night with my leg wrapped up like a mummy.

I'm sure there's more - but that's all my mind can come up with for now.

So fingers crossed for tomorrow for the transition to the other boot ... although, I must admit, I'm a bit nervous to really walk on that foot.  It has been protected so long by the armor ...