Good morning. How is everyone doing this morning? It's a dark, rainy day here, but I'm hoping it will clear up after while.
It was a quiet week here until yesterday. I'd worked on a refinishing project on Friday and yesterday morning, I got to a point at which I needed some paint, so right after lunch, I took off to the store. I went to one store that didn't have what I wanted, so on to the next one... It had just rained, so everything was wet. As I was walking into the store, I slipped on that white paint they use to mark crosswalks, etc. Of course, I felt like a major clutz and as we usually do, I glanced around to see if anyone had seen my clumsiness. Yep, there were a couple of ladies walking into the store behind me - both stopped to see if I was okay and I sheepishly said I thought so. About that time, a store employee came out the door and I stopped to tell him that they need to do something about that pain because it's very slippery, especially, when wet. I proceeded to tell him I'd just slipped on it and fallen.
One of the ladies going into the store asked the employee if there was someplace I could sit down for a while because my foot seemed to be hurt. I realized then that I couldn't put much weight on it so the employee directed me to one of those scooter things they have to ride around in. I sat there for a few minutes as we watched my foot swell. He went to get a manager, who came out to talk to me. I told her that I thought it was going to be okay, but she took my name, address and phone number just in case. I used the shopping cart to lean on while I went ahead and got my paint, still thinking my foot was just twisted a bit and would be fine.
Although it was very painful, I drove on home and by the time I got here, I could put no weight at all on my foot. I told my husband I thought I needed to go to the ER so off we went. The NP that first looked at my foot didn't think it was broken because I could feel her touch my toes, but they did x-rays anyway. She came back a short time later and to both our surprise, she said my foot is broken... It's fractured at the base of # 2 and 3 toes... who'd have thought something like that would happen just by slipping on paint??
Apparently, all they do now for a broken foot is put a splint on, which they did and told me to follow up with an orthopedic doctor on Monday. They were even kind enough to give the name of one they sent me home with a brand new pair of crutches...
Now - I've had crutches a lot of times and although it's been a lot of years since the last time, I thought I'd do okay with them, but they're giving me fits. Just from getting around to do "necessary" things last night, the muscles in my arms are "so" sore this morning, I can hardly propel myself around on the crutches. I'm trying to figure out an easier way to get around. Our dining room chairs do have rollers on them, so if I'm in the main part of the house I can roll around with one of those, but still have to carry my crutches in case I have to get out of the chair. I looked last night to see if I could buy one of those knee scooters, but it seems that the only places that have them in stock are medical supply stores, which happen to be closed on weekends. We'll see what we can do about getting one tomorrow.
Anyway, needless to say carrying around extra weight isn't helping the situation at all - yep, I know it's making it worse. Add the fact that I haven't been exercising so my muscles are weaker than they should be. It all pretty much spells disaster!!
Of course, I haven't been able to weigh this morning and probably won't be able to stand on the scale for a while (until I can put weight on my foot) - not that I want to since the splint and all it's coverings, etc will only add extra weight. When I weighed the other day, I was about the same as last week, so that indicates that I've been able to check the gain, anyway.
I can promise the one thing this has done is make me determined that when I'm able, I will start exercising to gain back strength in my arms, legs and back. I'm grateful that it was foot that broke instead of a hip, back or something that might have required immediate surgery.
So, that's my saga... how was your week? I hope you managed to accomplish whatever goals you set for yourself.
~~Wishing everyone a wonderful successful week~~
**Stay safe and wash your hands**