It happened just as I was turning to go back into the house to get the keys that I had forgotten. As I started to slip, the left ankle buckled in and I heard and felt something snap. Visions of Fred Schenck flashed through my head as I went down. Fred had a similar fall on his way to church a couple years back and was in a cast for over a year. I also had visions of me hemorrhaging money in the waiting room of some orthopedic surgeon.
I crawled back into the house shouting, “Help me! Help me!” I knew no one had seen me fall. Inside they were getting ready for work and school. Mona got me a bag of ice and dropped the kid on her way to work. They were both running late. I was left to my own resources.
I didn’t think I had a fracture, but I thought I would know better after I had iced it for twenty minutes. I tested it when I was done. No shooting pains, but I couldn’t put weight on it. I needed a cane. I remembered a long broomstick we had in the laundry room. I crawled down the stairs and hopped across the laundry room to where I knew it was. It wasn’t the solution I had hoped it would be. It was awkward and hard to grip. I used it to get back upstairs. I called Angie Schenck to see if Fred was done with Jack Birch’s old cane. She dropped it off and suggested I see a doctor. By this time, I was pretty sure it was only a sprain. “Sprains can be worse than fractures,” she said. Oh boy, just what I needed to hear.
So here we are, almost a month later. I thought I’d be healed in two weeks. With daily heat treatments and ibuprofen, I’m almost better, but I keep doing stupid things to impede my recovery. A few days ago, I felt almost 100% cured. So I mowed the front lawn, which was rapidly becoming the neighborhood eyesore. That night the ankle was sore again. The next morning it was not so good. I babied it again for a couple days and got back to where it was pretty good again. Walter and I spent the morning in Springfield, where I walked all around Office Depot, Wal*mart and Mier. Then last night, Lucy wouldn’t go back in her cage to sleep and I had to chase her all over the house. This morning it is sore again.
In a few days we will be going to Florida, where I had hoped to get in a little tennis. A week after we get back, we are leaving for three weeks in Asia, where I will walk for miles and miles. Last week we went to the flea market, where I found this really neat made-in-China cane for five bucks. I told Mona it looks so cool, I might just continue to use it after I am better.
So here’s my question: Are they going to let me bring this cane on the plane?
-Harry
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