Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

A Three-Pack-A-Day Sitter

9/8/2023

4 Comments

 
Picture
Picture

​​
​A Three-Pack-A-Day Sitter

       Yesterday, after a month of being mostly, in the medical lingo, non-ambulatory, I returned to my podiatrist for a checkup on my stress-fractured, moon-booted foot (see post from 8/19/2023, www.ailantha.com/blog/i-invalid-part-one-four-insults-and-an-injury).    
Picture
      Now, I had spent the past month sitting, around,    ​
Picture
...lying around, 
Picture
...and knee-wheeling around,
Picture
...while my beleaguered mate Tom took over the  housework, 
Picture
...shopping, cooking,
Picture
Picture
...and waiting on me, and I felt oh, so slothful, guilty, and not altogether sure that I really should be doing all this non-ambulating.
        It's just that it seemed so counterintuitive - I mean, is it not common knowledge that no matter what one's physical or medical condition, one needs to be up and around and moving, moving, moving? That everybody needs to be exercising all the time? That sitting is the new smoking? In which case I had become a three-pack-a-day sitter. 
         The more I sat, the less sure I felt that the doctor had meant that I should stay off my foot all the time. After two weeks of internal conflict and agita, I called the doctor's office to make sure I wasn't sitting around too much. I talked to the nurse, who assured me that, no, I wasn't supposed to be on the foot any more than barely necessary. 
           "You're using your knee scooter to get around, right?" the nurse asked me.
            I sheepishly replied that I didn't like the knee scooter so I'd sent it back. 
           "Well, then, you better not be walking around," she said. She then explained to me that the boot wasn't meant for walking as usual; it was just to stabilize my foot, and every step I took would cause the bone to separate, working against healing. "You do want to be using a knee scooter," she not-exactly-scolded me.
            I thanked the nurse, hung up the phone, got on Amazon and ordered myself another knee scooter.
         After another two weeks of sitting, being waited on, alternately thanking and apologizing to Tom (who suggested that I start calling him "Jeeves"),
Picture
...and, despite the nurse's assurances that being off my feet was the ticket, still feeling vaguely guilty and anxious, it was finally time to go back and see the podiatrist. I was re-x-rayed, and as the doctor studied my foot, gently probing here and there, I nervously yammered on about how I hadn't been out of the house in a month, how I'd spent every day sitting or lying around, how I used my knee scooter, all the while fearing that  he was either going to tell me that I'd taken a few steps too many and the foot wasn't healing or laugh and say, "Good Lord...you sat around all day? And you actually didn't leave your house for a month?!"
       
  But as it turned out, the doctor gave me snaps for being such a good patient. He said that because I'd stayed in the house, stayed off the foot, and used the knee scooter, my foot looked really good at this point in the healing process and he predicted that if I kept up this same regimen the foot would be all healed  and pain-free in another month.  
         And so, after having spent most of the past month feeling like I was doing something wrong and decidedly low on self-esteem, I suddenly felt like: 
     
Picture
       The doctor said that because my x-ray looked so good I could wean off the boot, wearing it for half a day for the next week, then the following week I could go back to wearing tennis shoes full time.
       "But I should still stay off my feet for the next month?" I asked him, just to make double sure.
        He nodded.
       Then I asked him one more time before he left the exam room. His reply didn't change.
         And so for the next few weeks I'll be sitting, lying, and, when necessary to get from the couch to the chair, wheeling around, reminding myself  that it's okay to be non-ambulatory, doctor's orders. I just hope I don't get addicted.    
​
Picture
4 Comments
Karla
9/8/2023 01:49:07 pm

So glad you’re well on the way to recovery, Patti!
Perhaps we can video chat or FaceTime during these next few weeks of continuing rest.

Reply
Patti
9/8/2023 01:50:35 pm

Oh, thank you, Karla. Yes, that would be great!

Reply
Alice Becton
9/8/2023 05:59:56 pm

Hi Patti…I’m so sorry to learn of your injury. It appears that you have all the necessary requirements for an excellent recovery. As a former govt employee, I can’t get that word “requirements” out of my head. 😂Tom looks very capable. Hi to him. Get Well Soon.

Reply
Patti
9/8/2023 07:40:04 pm

Aw, thank you, Alice! Yes, Tom's got me covered - and as a former Government employee, he would certainly understand LOL!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    July 2025
    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact