Convalescent Note:
Greatly Reduced
15 February 2019
¶ Having taken the podiatrist’s stern commands to heart, I was gratified this morning to see that the swelling at the base of my big toe was greatly reduced. Reading between the flurries of partial information that I get from the doctors, I gather that the foot is no longer infected. The wound has to heal, though, and that’s entirely up to me: stay off your foot. I find myself almost limping, as if in pain. As if, by pretending that my foot hurt, I might hasten the healing.
Mere hours after Monday’s terrifying appointment, I ordered a few items to help me stay off my foot, among them a wheeled stool, which Ray Soleil assembled this morning, and which turned out to be something of a bust. My visions of whizzing from the bedroom to the bookroom, and around the bookroom — tiny distances all — were obviated by my weight, which, will also greatly reduced, remains excessive. While the stool supports me, its plastic casters revolve only grudglingly. I decided to use it as a footstool. It was not very expensive, considering the panicked state in which I chose it. I am still waiting for a “knee walker” to arrive, a more substantial piece of equipment that, for my purposes, will allow me to do things in the kitchen (stirring pots, mixing ingredients) while staying off my foot.
I try to spend two hours each afternoon in bed (instead of sitting in my reading chair with my foot up), because it gives me the feeling that I am doing my Utmost to — you know. It is also very relaxing (a new experience), and I usually fall asleep over whatever I’m reading. All the better. Sleep makes the foot happy — I can tell somehow.
Meanwhile, it’s Ray, and not I, who hangs up the old bedspread and the thermal blanket in the attic closet. The bedspread, which went off to the laundry a disgrace, has come back brilliantly white. But the miracle cost plenty.