Prisoner

 Buen dia.

Here I am.

This is me.

The first photo is of my record keeping on the wall next to my side of the bed.

It requires a little explanation.

You will see that it has been 31 days that I have been in the condition you see in the 2nd photo.

However I actually broke my foot 2 weeks prior to getting plastered.

So it has been 45 days that I have been in this miserable situation.

For the last 3 years I have been walking every morning. 

I like to leave the house at dawn and I walk for 7 miles at a pace anywhere from 12  minutes to 15 minutes per mile.

I cover a lot of territory.

That works for me.

One morning after my walk I went back out to go visit a friend.

Walking up to El Barranca barrio there is a very small street with a very narrow little sidewalk. 

Even though I had my umbrella I noticed the little sidewalk was in the shade.

I decided to walk there and as I was walking I heard an unusual bird call.

When I looked up to see the bird my inside foot, the foot farthest away from the street, hit the edge of the curb, bent down and twisted. 

I hobbled on to my friends home and called Senor to come and get me.

I rested for a day or 2, and took some ibuprofen because my foot was very swollen.

I borrowed some crutches from someone and we proceeded to go on a planned trip to Tucson where I hobbled from store to store or sat in the car and made Senor run my errands.

Back home we went to eat shrimp tacos and while there a curandero (healer) was in town and he came to look at my foot.

He told me to bite down on my handkerchief, which I did while he pressed and pulled and jerked my foot.

I am a firm believer of alternative medicines and I still believe in the work of a curandero.

But it did not work for me.

I  bit a hole through my handkerchief and the next day went for an x-ray at the local Alamos General Hospital.

My foot was indeed broken, the outside bone of the right foot, but it was a spiral break and went around and around the bone.

They said I would need plates and screws and nails and that scared me to death.

We went for a 2nd opinion.

We have IMSS insurance and it pays for anything that happens to you, but honestly it takes a long time.

I did not want to wait another 2 weeks just to be seen by a doctor.

We opted for the pay out of your pocket hospital in Navojoa, San Jose.

I was able to get an appointment that very day and another x-ray confirmed the break.

But this doctor did not think I needed all that hardware and said that even though it was a bad break, it would heal.

So I got the cast.

The first week I stayed in bed.

The second week I went from bed to crutches and back to bed.

The third and fourth weeks I graduated to a wheelchair and crutches, but still, a lot of bed rest.

This week I am learning to use a walker.

I have at least one, maybe two more weeks in this cast and then, therapy.

Have you ever had a cast?

This is my first one.

Let me tell you how it goes:

#1

 It itches, but a long pencil with an eraser helps. Stick the pencil, eraser side down into the cast.

 That way you are not drawing weird designs all over your leg.  

#2 

 Your toes will wrinkle up and they will swell up and look like little piggies in a blanket.

 Use a lot of lotion and keep your foot elevated and just do not look at it.

#3

 You are not going to sleep at night. I have tried every position.

 I have tried big pillows. I have tried little pillows.

 I have tried scooting far down in the bed and while lying on my stomach, hang my foot off the end of the bed.

 This does not work if your spouse gets up in the night.

 You are at high risk of getting your foot re injured.

#4 

You have to wrap a plastic bag around the cast when you shower.

 Of course, you can decide to just not shower, who cares?

 If you do shower make sure the whole top of the bag is taped down or it will fill with water and when you get back to the bed to remove the bag the water will spill out and someone (you know who in my case) will have to come and clean it all up.

#5

 DO NOT go on Facebook.

 You will only see fun photos of what everyone else is getting to do.

 You will make yourself even more miserable.

#6

 Leave the bathroom light on, not matter how aggravating it is to your partner. 

You might be mistaken if you think you can make it to and from the bathroom in the dark.

#7 Go slow on your crutches.

 A cast is like a pendulum.

#8 Do not try and kill scorpions or ants or any other kinds of insects with one of your crutches.

 I will repeat, a cast on your leg is like a pendulum and that combined with a serious kill instinct does not mix well.

#9

Don't think, well, this is a great time to finish some of those projects I started because while you work on those projects you will just be thinking about how utterly miserable you are.

 Instead start a series on Netflix and plan to watch as many episodes as you can handle in one day.           

#10

 Ignore your spouse when he tries to cheer you up by saying he will cement in the end of the cast after it is removed and turn it into a flower vase for you.

I can't say I am completely imprisoned.

One day a lady wheeled me down to the Palacio to pay the water bill and we discovered you can really not push a wheelchair on cobblestones.

Another time, on Dia de La Independencia, a lady wheeled me to the parade and left me at the Plaza while she went and visited with her friends. I thought I might never see home again.

Twice Senor has taken me out of the house for tacos, and we visit the doctor every Tuesday in Navojoa, that's a nice drive.

I think I feel like a prisoner because I am not leaving the house at dawn, not making that 4 or 5 mph walk I am used to.

So I am crossing my fat little piggy toes in a blanket that this, like all the other little problems we humans have to put up with, too shall pass........soon.

Que le vaya bien!

Linda Lou