I can walk!!

Well, the doctor gave me the green light on Monday to start walking without my crutches. Hallelujah! This means that my foot has progressed from the very clear black line of fracture to a more fuzzy space, which apparently means that it's healing on its own. So, no surgery for me!

After eight weeks of walking on crutches, though, it was surprisingly hard to give them up! I know that may sound counter-intuitive, but I actually walked back to my car from the appointment and then into my house using crutches. It's a strange thing to build up trust again with an out-of-use appendage. besides that all the muscle in my foot and calf have completely atrophied, it's a little bit of a mental hurdle to tell myself I can walk again after not having walked for two months.

In memoriam, here is a picture of my nasty broken foot back at the beginning. The swelling is kind of out of control, you'll notice my ankle is gone and my toes look like sausages. You don't really get a good feel for the lovely bruising, so just imagine.

My kids noticed immediately when I stopped walking around with crutches. Romney kept looking at me quizzically and saying, "Mommy crutches? Mommy crutches?" and Lainey said, "MOM! Where are your crutches??" and when I explained that the doctor had told me I didn't need to use them anymore, her eyes got really wide and she kind of whispered, "does that mean you don't have to do surgery?" and then cheered.

Here's the post-crutch breakdown: I get to the phone slower hobbling in the boot than on crutches. And the door. I can't chase my kids as fast, either. BUT once I catch them, I can actually hold on to them now that I don't have crutches! AND they don't run away as often, since I can hold on to them in the first place! Big bonus. I feel like I'm walking like Grandpa Curtis (who had polio) now, especially when I don't have a shoe on my non-booted foot, which makes me smile. I can now carry my own drink of water all the way across the kitchen, without having to set it down in between steps. I don't have to balance on one foot in the shower anymore. And probably the best thing so far: I get to hold hands with my kids again! I can hold Romney's hand while he's going down steps and help him get straight to the car without being sidetracked by our neighbor's giant dirt pile. And I got to hold Lainey's hand on the way to preschool for the first time yesterday, which was very fun. (you moms who don't have crutches - don't take this little thing for granted! it's too good to not really appreciate.) I didn't realize it at first, and then all of a sudden, it dawned on me that it's been such a long time since I've been able to hold her hand! Anyway, it was one of those great "I really love my kids" moments, and she looked up and smiled at me, unknowingly buying herself a little more patience the next time she is completely out of control and making me crazy.

quirky side note of the day: I like blogging because I can start as many sentences as I want with words that I never could when I was writing papers in college (and, but, so, well...) and by the way, I don't really know about that pink headband on Romney's head. Laine's subliminal efforts towards procuring a baby sister for herself? all I'm saying is that it wasn't me. Jim?