I definitely have a "plateau fracture" of the tibia on my left leg. I went to see the orthopedic surgeon yesterday, and he said that it may require surgery (the immediate care physician was pretty sure it would not), but a CT scan would reveal more than an x-ray would reveal. So there you go. So I got right in to have a CT scan that took maybe five minutes. That was fun and easy, and I definitely like the way the Samaritan people handled me better than the Corvallis Clinic (although I really liked the people in Immediate Care, but the x-ray person was not very good and gave me some unnecessary pain in the process of doing the x-rays).
This immobilizing brace is also better than the one they gave me at the clinic. Sort of makes me wish I had just skipped immediate care, but I didn't want to have until MONDAY knowing what was going on with my leg, and it was nice to have some direction and some pain killer for those first three nights.
So, it is at a minimum of six weeks, but he did say I could start physical therapy right away which will be really nice. I need to learn how to protect my back during this time and keep my already weak left side strong through this whole process.
My biggest sadness is not being able to teach in the fall. I am so sad. I love my students.
The good news is that I do love to read. So there you go, I will get lots of reading done this fall. We will also maybe be able to take a trip this fall after the summer rush and before the weather gets bad. SO that is also a blessing.
So there you go. Today I plan on reading a biography on Saint-Exupery, the author of the Little Prince and one of my favorite quotes that is quoted on this blog. It will be interesting to learn about him. That is, if I can read the print in the book since my new prescription glasses were lost in the lake right before I fractured my tibia.
If you cannot laugh at the humor of the situation, you will cry. I really don't think I am stuffing it. "Life is full of little disappointments we must take with stride." I have NO IDEA where I learned that quote, but I have been saying it since high school, and it really does bear out. One can really bear most things, and I just want to say that I have such lovely people in my life to BEAR MY BURDENS, and that has been so nice. People from the church are bringing me meals (responding within an hour of me telling Facebook my plight), Katherine is taking me to the doctor tomorrow, Paul is applying my ice every hour, George is the man who took two days off of work to help me with everything.
My only fear is that my back will go out like it did when I had another surgery ten years ago! That was something that broke me, and it took a year to climb out of the whole that was dug due to that injury to my right big two tendon. So I do have that fear and the fear of inactivity and gaining a bunch of weight as a result. I have been trying to eat lots of veggies. I always eat more when I am on medication and cardio really curbs my appetite, and I am obviously not getting any cardio (the doctor even ruled out water walking because of getting in and out of the pool and the difficulty of that). So there you go. I am not worried about my cardiovascular fitness being diminished because I can build that up no problem. But just the strength that Pilates and weight training and SMR rolling and stretching does for my back care. That is why I am grateful for being able to do physical therapy because I think Jennifer (who I had for my upper hamstring tendinitis last year) will be really helpful in doing adapted moves to keep my core strong.
Well, I am about due to ice, but I have five more minutes of freewrite to go. It is a beautiful day. I hope to be able to sit out on my deck soon. I think I should be able to do more of that when I don't have to ice and elevate and can sit in a chair more. I should be elevating now. The swelling has gone down a lot, but it has a ways to go before it is really better.
So, today's agenda was already to submit my work hours, contact Marty and Sandy about missing the first Spiritual Direction Cohort Training on September 6/7 (the earliest I would get the brace off is August 29th, and then I will be quite weak, but I might be able to make it over there), emailing my boss at Timberhill to tell her I would not be able to sub this summer (I already emailed Drew about not teaching in the fall, and he has me on the schedule for winter term. I also notified Nicole about not being able to come to anymore of her Cardio Weight Training Classes).
I think my biggest sadness is not being able to dance on my 60th birthday, but that is a minor thing. I am good. I really and truly am good.
So now it is about one minute to go, and I need to go and ice and elevate my leg and get on to reading the book of the day. It is long. So I am not sure I will be able to read it in a day. But I can try.
BYE! No proofreading just sending to the blogosphere!
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