Give it the Boot!

Or more correctly I didn't give it the boot. I booted the boot. Bootless in Hillsboro. Boot Free! Free from the shoewear...

Okay, I'll stop.

Yesterday was the first day I went without the boot. I cannot even tell you how much I was looking forward to that. I know that I'm very lucky in that I only had to wear it for about a week and half. If it had been a broken foot or ankle it would have been closer to a few months instead of barely over a week. But I was still very excited to be out of it.

And by Monday it was the boot that was the issue. Like we went to a soccer match over the weekend and it was a cold evening. The boot is a giant plastic frame and once that plastic got fully chilled it made my whole leg ache. The ankle being the worst of it, but the whole shebang from knee to toe was just throbbing to the point where Brent and I left early even though it was tied and we were putting a push on and...I just couldn't anymore.

Once I got in the car and started to warm the boot up it got better. When we got home and I took it off it was well on its way to fine.

Which is what was happening during the day as well. I didn't have to wear the boot overnight or when I was just going to be sitting. So 8 hours overnight no boot. Then the alarm would go off, Brent would bring me the torture device, I mean boot, and I would have to flex my foot to settle it into the shoe and...yeah, not great. But then it would loosen up enough to not be that terrible. After wearing the boot for a few hours it would start to aggravate my foot, take the boot off, relieve the pressure from the boot and ahhh...just fine.

So I was expecting to take the boot off and feel great.

(Ron Howard: It was not great.)

The first part was kind of funny. See the boot is big. So it was like wearing a heel on my right foot and flats on my left. I walked with a decided limp. Tuesday morning no boot but... My brain had adjusted to that height difference and going back to both legs being the same took a bit to adjust to. I had to walk with a hand on the wall for a bit. Sea legs without the cruise.

Then the ache started. Then the ache got worse.

I spent more time sitting yesterday than I have since maybe the second day after the procedure. Just because walking was not okay. I gave the first sign of this is not going to be a good day to Brent by like 9 am when I told him I was going to need help changing the litter boxes out. Asking for help for a chore I normally do is not normal for me. But I could already tell that I wasn't going to be able to lift the litter boxes and walk with them on that ankle. No way.

It was the right call. By the end of the day yesterday I was tempted to ask Brent to carry me to bed.

It makes sense. Basically the tendon was damaged more to encourage it to heal better. Lay down some new tissue. The whole reason for the boot was so I wouldn't rupture it completely while it was its weakest right after the procedure. But it's only been a week and a half since it was done. It's not completely healed yet. He told me to take stock of it at 5 weeks and see if it's improving. Five weeks is not ten days. So yeah, being sore yesterday because it was the first day without the complete support of the boot is understandable. The boot was doing a lot more than just bugging me.

Do I miss the boot?

No, not really. I mean just being able to shower without having my knee on the bench is worth it. And it's better today than it was yesterday. Though I am walking very very carefully and not much. I'm still on limited duty. Which is not at all where I expected to be. I mean I was so cocky last week that at my PT appointment I asked if I'd be able to use the rowing machine once the boot came off. I really expected to be back to working out this week with only a slight hiccup.

(Ron Howard: There were massive hiccups.)

But I'm hopeful that this procedure works and it's just a temporary bump in the road. I mean when I got my elbow done last year I was ready to cut my arm off and leave it by the side of the road at two weeks in to recovery. And if it doesn't work he's got one more idea to try.

Now, I know when I got it done and I wrote about it (while on painkillers) I made that first day a bit of a metaphor about what it's like living under the Trump administration so...

Let's be positive and assume we are going to get out of this current political season with a country and a democracy, it's still going to be weakened. The damage that is being done right now is massive and even if we figure out ways to prop ourselves up during it, it's still going to take time to recover. And we are going to have to be really careful during that time not to completely destroy what is left.

So continue to be the support for each other that you need to be. Even if it's a little annoying to have to need it.

And fingers crossed we give them all the boot sooner rather than later.