The second challenge in November was a fractured ankle. Spending Sunday afternoon planting pansies seemed like a harmless occupation - at least it should have been. I misjudged a hole that my son had been digging to remove a basketball post and twisted my ankle. I knew it was there and had commented several times that if he didn’t finish digging it out and filling in the hole we would lose the mail man one day but I was distracted and with an armful of pansies and tulip bulbs - I tripped and fell on the driveway. I looked up hoping no one had seen my ungainly fall thinking I could cover it up by pretending to make snow angels but we have had a warm winter so far and at 70 degrees there was no snow and I wasn’t looking particularly like an angel.
After a visit to the Bone and Joint clinic in Fort Worth I was given an oversized black boot to wear for three weeks which brought with it a whole set of new problems. Things I have learned from wearing a big black boot with Velcro straps:
1. If you have to take it off to drive, make sure you have the correct shoe to put on. Picking up a right shoe on your way out doesn’t fit on a left foot.
2. When putting the boot on in the WalMart parking lot don’t drop the boot on your toe. The boot is heavy and it’s hard to explain to the doctor that your ankle is healing but you now have a broken toe.
3. When getting up in the middle of the night make sure you attach the Velcro in the correct places. It’s hard work walking around a bed with a blanket and most of the bed clothes attached to the side of your boot.
4. Allow several inches when judging distances, the toe of the boot clinks loudly when you walk into filing cabinets. I have found this can provide endless hours of amusement for co-workers.
5. If your computer CPU is on the floor and the flash drive is sticking out, don’t step on it. But if you do and break the drive, there are nifty extension cords you can get from Best Buy that connect to the USB port in the back of your computer (it’s practically impossible to crawl under a desk with the big black boot).
The good news is the boot comes off next week. Yea.
