It’s amazing what not doing anything and sitting on your arse does for the healing process. Last Monday and Tuesday I went to work and worked full days. At work i do try and stay seated most of the time but yes I do get up for the copy or fax machine or to go the bathroom which now seems about 10 miles away from my office. Plus I can’t really elevate my leg properly so it does get swollen. Plus my knee actually gets torqued under my desk trying to keep my leg elevated so it’s just a giant painful mess.
So by Tuesday night, my leg hurt. I think there is the pain/ache from the break and all of the associated swelling and bruising and healing going on all around it. But then there is the weight of this boot on my leg. It’s dang heavy. Plus I have to keep it on tight so my calf is just really over it. Then I think my other leg is just sore & tired from having to do all of the work! And when it hurts this much going to bed, I know I won’t sleep well. I sleep with the boot on since if I move my ankle the wrong way (which is any way really) during the night – OWWWWW! F***!!!!! (happened once, don’t need another lesson!) So I have a blanket on top of my bedspread to put my booted leg on and then just sleep on my back. Super comfy (no, not really.)
Sure enough, Wednesday AM I was exhausted and in pain. So I stayed home from work. Laid on the couch with my leg up and icing it throughout the day. Felt a bit better. But I still didn’t seem to sleep all that well. Woke up exhausted on Thursday. So stayed home again. I knew I had a LOT to do that had to be done ON Friday so rest up and work all day Friday. Again, stayed on the couch mostly except for when our accountant called with a gazillion questions about things that are downstairs in my home office (way to not wait until the last minute dude…grrr.)
And then I heard a ruckus outside. Lots of kid noise. So I hobbled over to the window and see 2 little boys in the street (one of them being our neighbor) poking something in the street, throwing pine cones at it. I think “if they are killing a critter I am going to go down and beat those serial killer in-training little bastards with my cane!” So I hobble down and out my driveway and down my street to the corner. They had already walked away and by the time I near the middle of the street, I see them coming back so I shout “Hey – you” and they look at me like the crazy lady I’m sure I looked like. “Yeah – you” I say. “Did you kill something out there in the street?” The one who is my neighbor comes right over “No, no – it was dead already and I was trying to move it out of the street.” Dead already huh? What is it I asked. He said it was a headless mole – wanna see? Umm. No. Thanks. He said maybe a cat got it? Sure – plausible. I do come across them on occasion (or more exactly – the huskies are sure to find them for me on our walks.) I did believe him because my neighbor’s kids (well, the boys) are the most polite, well mannered little kids that I have ever met. I call them the Stepford children. They call us the Huskies so it’s fair.
He starts walking back with me and asks “did you come all the way out here like that for an animal?” and points to my boot and cane? Yes I sure did. I wanted to make sure there wasn’t something suffering out here. “Oh…wow” he says. Then he starts chatting about the headless bunny they found in the park by the school. Umm..thanks kid for that pleasant visual. I say perhaps a mountain lion or coyote. He says we don’t have those here. Yes we do I say. No I don’t think so he says. So then I say “Vampire maybe?” He just looks at me like I just told him there are indeed ghosts. And then turns around to go back to his friend who is waiting for him. He turns around and yells “BYE!” They really are well mannered children. Meanwhile, Angelus was looking at me from the yard with a look of “Mom, I could have told you it wasn’t alive if you asked…”
I hobble back upstairs and collapse on the couch. My leg hurts now. You can feel the swelling against the boot. So ice time again. But if I didn’t go out there and check, I would have been inside wondering about it and not able to get it out my head that a critter was out in the street suffering in pain. I couldn’t deal with that.
But Friday AM I woke up after a decent night’s sleep and my leg felt as OK as it can. So 2 days of arse-sitting (new Olympic sport??) with my leg elevated correctly and icing it was good for it. So off to work I went and got a lot done. By around 2pm, my leg was hurting but I needed to finish some stuff. I left a little after 5pm in a decent amount of pain. Brilliant timing on my part – 5pm on a Friday. Just me and everyone else going home. Doh. When I got to the Safeway by my house, traffic was stopped on Highway 1 so I swung in to get a few things. I was tired and grumpy but wanted to do it now while I was right here and it beat sitting in traffic.
Motoring down one of the aisles was a guy on the motorized Safeway cart. Dang i think – I should have looked for that! And this guy was grumpy. And taking up the entire aisle and not caring or even looking around. Bumped his cart into a woman. What a jerk I think. When I drove my cart at Costco – I paid attention to not run into other people’s carts! He turned down the wine aisle and and I’m thinking “you already drive so poorly….” But then I saw he was missing a leg. OK – he trumps me for sure. Because no matter how annoyed or grumpy I get with my immobility right now, I know it will heal. So while I will still get annoyed and grumpy about it, I do keep it in perspective.
So I continued my store trip which takes forever since I move so slowly. I see another lady in there wearing my same boot! And it’s not nearly as horrifying as someone wearing your same dress :) We chuckle and point at each other while I think “it’s clearly gimpy day at Safeway today”. Also, I have to say, there were a fair amount of rude people in there. All older men with glasses. Weird. Like it was Grumpy Old Man with Glasses field trip day. Just leave their carts in the middle of the aisle so you can’t get around. When you ask politely “excuse me can you please move your cart?” Mean looks back! Ok, I’ll move your cart for you ass-clown. Using mine to ram it into yours and then into you! Thankfully a younger guy moved the cart for me (on 2 occasions in 2 different aisles. So maybe there is hope for good manners in youth.)
Finally I’m done. Awesomely I find a line with only 1 person in it! Oh wait, it’s because the guy is arguing with the cashier over the proper use of coupon. Sadly, I don’t actually get this until I take my stuff out my cart. They need the manager to come and explain the coupon, point out which items don’t qualify, etc. Seriously, dude? I’ll give you the $2 if you just GO! Finally he does go – to put his non-couponable items away. Wow. Oh guess what? Older guy…with glasses. W.T.H.?
They help me out to the car and I am so happy to be able to sit down but then remember I need dog food. OK. In I go. They saw me hobbling in and immediately ask what I need, they get it for me, one person is already ringing me up and they help me to the car with it. Very nice and efficient customer service! Love that place.
I swung by the bank and the mailbox and then home. I figured this way I did not have to leave the house at all Saturday. Got the dogs out of the car, groceries in the house and fed the dogs dinner. Then I officially collapsed. I was so tired and so swollen I could feel my leg just pressing on all side of the boot. So I got my ice pack and sat there for 2 hours. Sure enough, did not sleep well. But a Saturday of mostly couch patrol (a couple loads of laundry done plus I baked those easy bake Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies!) and I slept much better last night!
Lesson from this week is a full day of work causes pain. As do too many errands or chores. The doctor said stay off of it for the first month. He seems to be right. Who knew all those years of pre-med, medical school, internships and practice would actually be right. Damn it.
So, now I have a wedding to go to today. I have a feeling I will be in pain by this evening. But I need to go to this wedding. A very nice guy who I’ve known for over 10 years, and who lost his wife to cancer a few years ago, found someone to again share his life with. How can you not celebrate that? I’ll be the gimpy in pink not dancing but hopefully with a champagne glass in her hand :)
