Boot Update: Now Featuring a Scooter

I guess Monday's have turned into my "weekly boot update." Two weeks ago, I thought the boot was helping! But then last week once the drugs wore off, I realized it wasn't the boot - it was the drugs.

So I'm starting my 4th week in the boot, and I think the only thing that's helping is that it's "forcing" me to be off my feet more.

Last Wednesday, I saw the podiatrist again. He said because it DOES feel a bit better, we're going to keep with it. And again, it's really NOT the boot - it's the fact that the boot isn't fun to wear, so I don't walk as much. I told him that, and he kind of admitted that THAT is part of the goal of the boot - just to keep me off my legs as much as possible. (My concern here is that it's NOT getting better, and that I'm simply staying off my feet more. So it's "20% better" because I've been off my feet 20% more. Is that "better?")

On Thursday and Friday, I was "camping" with my boys up north in Jay Cooke State Park, but that requires a lot of time on my feet: loading the car, unloading at the campsite, getting set up, taking down, loading the car, unloading at home, and putting lots of stuff away. The boys helped a BIT, but not much. And at least I WAS able to stay in a boot pretty much the entire trip. (See my weekend post for some pics!)

Then on Saturday, we spent the afternoon and evening at my wife's aunt's house for our annual "winter party."

Their rink on the lake in their backyard.
(Yes, we're in the western suburbs... how'd you guess?)


Henry and his cousin on the left, and then lots of my wife's cousins and an uncle in there.


A selfie during the 20 minutes I was out there in my boot.

I mainly stayed in the house (which I was totally fine with), but I still was on my feet more than I should have been. I maybe should have just stayed home.

Yesterday, 2 big things happened:

FIRST, I started using my scooter. Yep, my wife got me a scooter. One of these things to help me stay off my foot:

Not me. Pic from what we ordered on Amazon.

It came while my boys and I were in Jay Cooke, we set it up on Friday, didn't use it Saturday at the "winter party" (as it wouldn't have helped in their house), but then started using it a lot yesterday. I took it to the gym, which was an experience. It's QUITE HELPFUL in keeping me off my feet, but still "clunky" to use around the tight spaces (and trying to move weights) at our gym. I was roughly keeping track, and I think I took about 100 steps while I was there lifting weights for over an hour - that's versus normally taking 100 steps over the course of a 2 minute break while walking to get some water. (Related: I've been lifting with a water bottle for the last few weeks as a way to NOT have to walk to the fountain every few minutes.) Then I "rode" the scooter into church as well.

And SECOND, (and THIS ONE IS STUPID) I had a big revolution yesterday afternoon. I had just clipped Charlie's fingernails and toenails, and Henry and I were clipping our nails together at the moment. And I had a random revelation: "WAIT... when I was in the boot for my 'stress reaction' 4 years ago, wasn't there a rigid 'face plate' to my boot?... that probably would relieve the painful pressure I've been having under the straps on my shins?!?"

Sure enough, I went downstairs to the shelf the boot had been stored on, and from ACROSS THE BASEMENT, I could make out the thin plastic piece sticking out a bit from the spot on the floor where it had fallen behind the shelf. I took out all the towels I had been using to relieve the pressure, put that thing on, and said "OH THAT FEELS SO MUCH BETTER!"

The boots with the PROPER THIN PLASTIC piece in the front. Sheesh. Idiot.

It still was a bit sore just in front of my ankle (just below the middle buckle), but it still feels so much better. (Which in a dumb way is a bad thing because now I'll feel OK walking a bit more...)

So it's at least another 2.5 weeks in the boot (that'd be 5.5 weeks total) before seeing the podiatrist again. And he mentioned what I was thinking: then we maybe try ANOTHER MRI. To see if we can see anything else in there. Cause we've got nothin' yet.