Peg Leg

So I've had this cast on for nearly two weeks. This is the first cast I've ever had on in my life. I've only broken two bones in my life. A couple of years ago, I broke one of my pinkie toes, which of course only required taping. When I was in the 6th grade I was trying to do a long jump, but landed on my rear end, breaking my tail bone. Thank goodness no cast exists for that. As it was the kids at school laughed at me for bringing a pillow to sit on for a few days.

Though I have nothing broken now, in case you missed it, I am wearing a cast on my left foot to immobilize it to allow a tendon injury to heal. In some ways it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. After all, I've always heard they are hot and it is about 147 degrees here every afternoon. But as long as I stay inside it isn't too bad. If I am on my feet too much, my foot or ankle starts to hurt, so I am trying to stay off of it as much as possible. That's easier some days than others. Somehow, kids still need things and the house still needs to run.

Fortunately I haven't been completely housebound. I am so thankful for the many stores that have the motorized carts. That has been great, though I do get funny looks in them, until they glance down at the cast on my leg. I am about 50 years younger than most other people on those carts. (Not all, Cathi!)

It has been crazily itchy at times, but fortunately most of it has been towards the top where I can get fingers to and scratch. Getting used to sleeping with it definitely took a couple of nights, but it wasn't as bad as I thought.

It still feels funny to walk with it because I have been unable to find a shoe for my right foot that is the same height. Definitely gives my a funny, ungraceful gate. If I have my cast shoe off I thump around like a peg leg sailor.

The most interesting hurtle has been bathing. I obviously can't take a shower, and the garden tub in our bathroom is too tall for me to sit in it and be able to hang one leg off the side. So, though I am limiting my trips upstairs as much as possible, I have to go upstairs to one of the girls' tubs to bathe. They not only have shorter tubs, but have hand-held shower heads, which makes bathing easier in that regard. However, since I can't sit all the way up, and I can't lean against anything because of the angle of my leg, I make it as quick a process as I can. Then I come downstairs and sit on the side of my tall tub to shave my legs. Then I go to the kitchen sink to wash my hair. It's quite a process.

I go back on September 1st to get this cast off. The thing is, there is a good chance I could come home from that appointment with another cast on, if the injury needs more time to heal. So I plan to go to the doctors office with a razor and shaving cream in my purse. If they want to re-cast my leg, they're going to have to give me a 5 minute break in the bathroom first!