Cast-away I always thought that people who take off their own casts are crazy. I was right. Last night I was crazy. Gauze, 2 layers of stocking, ace wrap, plaster, and fiberglass--who wraps this much stuff around any part of their body in the 105o heat index of a Texas summer? Equation: all that stuff + heat index = heat rash (aka burning pain). Worse than the surgery. It had to go. Missed Kodak moment: 4:45 a.m. In response to my call, "Ken, I need help," my husband appears in the living room to find a pile of plaster and padding in front of my recliner chair. Missed home video opportunity: watching a sleepless crazed woman ripping a cast off her leg with her bare hands. Captured digital image: stitches, bruises, wires with round tops that look like small eyes sticking out of my foot. I'd post the image, but it's not for the faint of heart. Literary allusion(s): Call me....Frankenfoot. posted by Annie 9:48 PM | . . .
The wonders of modern medicine--making me wonder--- Why does one walk into a hospital, voluntarily and not under coercion, to have one's foot cut open? That question occurred to me a few weeks ago when I did just that walking and for just that purpose. Never mind that every step of the walk hurt--carefully disguised pain most of the time but steadily worsening. How dishonest that we disguise pain--of the body and even more, of the spirit. How ironic it takes pain to get our attention, that pain is the precursor to healing. How much more ironic that pain must become so much worse in order to get better. Post-surgical nerves scream in protest and the weight of a cast matches the one my spirit struggles against. We talk of walking by faith. This is non-walking by faith--trusting in healing, trusting that if, as doctor orders, I stay off of this foot for 4 weeks, the healed version will be better than the pre-surgical state and the process worth the pain. I wonder, will it work? posted by Annie 4:08 PM | . . .
clouds and sunsets Tonight I flew from Dallas to Salt Lake City. We flew just under a rift of dark, heavy clouds and were pummeled about by them a bit, but the view was beautiful. As we approached the valley and saw our first view of the Great Salt Lake, the sun was slinking down behind the mountains, leaving a red glow to mark its path. It was a moment of brilliance and beauty, the kind that is shrouded by earth's smog and best viewed from the sky. posted by Annie 12:51 AM | . . .
