Lucky Dog

It took five days after John broke his heel to get into to see the orthopedic surgeon.  But it turned out to be worth the wait.  In the those days of waiting with the foot elevated and confined in a half-cast the heel bone settled into a good position.

Another set of full X-rays by the orthopedist showed that the heel bone was intact, completely broke off but intact.  And it had moved itself into perfect position to heal naturally without having to be screwed together.  The orthopedist said I was one of the lucky few that this happens to as well over 90% of these fractures require the placement of multiple screws to pull the heel into proper alignment.  I'll take my luck and run with it.

Not having to have surgery was the end of the good luck.  I was still going to have to wear a cast and absolutely put no weight on my foot for a minimum of 10 weeks.  Being on crutches for almost 3 months doesn't exactly fit in the plans of an active fulltimer, but there is nothing that can be done about it, like I have said in many posts before, the one thing a fulltimer must be good at is flexibility in their plans.  We are going to get a chance to practice that in a big way now.

Traded in the old-school cast for this high-tech boot cast.
It has an air bladder that you pump up and it locks everything in place.

And another thing, the doctor said no driving for me.  I can understand that if I were medicated but I have not taken anything stronger than a Tylenol since they gave me a pain shot the day I broke my foot.  It is my right foot, I can just stick it across the transmission hump of the truck and drive left footed.  I've done it for 22 weeks combined on my last two stints on crutches, I can do it again.  Cyndee is not on board with that thinking.

Something I have not written about in previous posts is our research for a volunteer job in proximity to our daughter's new house.  We found, applied for and got a volunteer position at a day use area on the Etowah River just below the dam to Lake Alatoona.  It was only 30 minutes from our daughter's and was a very simple job, just opening and closing the gates each day and a few hours in an information booth on weekends.  We can move our rig into the host site near the end of February so that is why we had been looking for long term parking upon our arrival in Georgia in September.  John should be walking without crutches by then but the doctor did say that it would be a minimum of a year before the foot would be fully healed.

Now it is just a matter of John sitting with his foot elevated while bones mend.  It is going to be a long, boring winter.