Progress?

Now that I have the post-surgical boot, I think my expectations of how much easier it would make my life were greatly exaggerated. Even while my doctor was checking the healing of my foot -- before I got the boot -- I was asking if I could take walks. He said something that seemed curious at the time: "First you need to practice getting around your house, to the bathroom and the kitchen, then you can think about exercise." Of course, I was all ready to go, thinking that once I had the boot it would be smooth sailing. I thought I would suddenly regain all the independence I had lost, and would be able to drive myself places and do my own shopping. I guess at some point I had thought that it might not be so easy to start walking again after not doing so for five weeks, or that it might hurt a little to put pressure on my surgery sites. Now that I've used the boot, I can say that I seriously underestimated how difficult and painful it would actually be.

My young associate escorted me to my doctor's appointment and the grocery store, and we went out to lunch. When we got back to my house, I put on the boot. That was around five o'clock, and I just took it off. I wasn't on my feet the entire time (four hours), but I walked around enough to know that it's no picnic. My doctor was very vague when I asked how much I should use the boot at first. What I was able to gather was that I need to use it, probably the more the better, but I should gradually increase the time I wear it. That's not very precise. I'm still supposed to use the scooter some of the time and ice my foot at the end of each day. It would be so easy to keep using the scooter instead of wearing the boot, but if I did that my foot would never be able to support me. So while it's quite unpleasant, I know it's what I need to do. I'm telling myself that my foot will get stronger every day, and although I'm not good with "gradual", that's just how it's got to be. It might not feel like progress, but I'm pretty sure it is.