Weekly Webness - Glycemic Index Online

Want to make a change in your diet? Want to know how much those carbohydrates you're going to have will affect your body? Check out the Glycemic Index Online. You can get information about the Glycemic Index: What it is, how it's calculated, and do an online search for the GI rating of any food.

It's obviously geared toward people who need to watch their Glycemic Intake, such as Diabetics, but it's handy information for everyone.

Monday Morning Musings

Okay, it's COLD outside. Not normal cold. Not something you can sing about. It's REALLY REALLY COLD. Nose-hair-freezing cold. Don't-go-outside-you-moron cold. So, of course, I went outside in it.
BUT, I have two - count 'em, TWO - lovely warm wool legwarmers that designatedknitter gave to me for my Robo-Leg so that my Metal Inserts don't get cold. And I gotta tell ya, after that looooong walk across the parking lots (about 1/3 mile or so) the ONLY thing that was warm was my right leg, between my knee and ankle. Coincidentally, that's the part that was covered by my two - count 'em, TWO - lovely wool legwarmers.

I also forgot my cane at home...so I'm having to be QUITE a bit more careful walking than I have had to be. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be good for me. Or something. Without the cane I do tend to "roll" from side to side, though, and i don't like doing that, so I'm working at not-rolling while walking. Which of course means I take a bit longer to walk anyway, so I'm out in the cold a bit longer. But at least RoboLeg isn't getting cold, because i have two - count 'em, TWO - lovely wool legwarmers.

Heard something incredibly stupid today on the radio. "Doctor Joel Wallick" was advertising for his new "energy pack". He's all about Colloidal Minerals and anti-doctor. Incidentally, the guy is a Veterinarian, not a people-doctor. And he's one I certainly wouldn't take my pets to see, I'll tell you what. This guy's new ad touts his energy pack that's made from "flower pollen." He even emphasizes that it's not made from BEE pollen - this is pollen that's taken right off the flowers! (Seriously, that's exactly what he says in the commercial. Just like that, too.)
Not bee pollen, flower pollen. News flash to the stupidpeople of the world: THIS GUY IS SNOWING YOU. Seriously. BEES DON'T MAKE pollen! They collect it from flowers. Right, just like "Doctor" Wallick. Only they're smaller. And probably smarter.

More Lessons

I've been learning something new lately. Permanent hardware in Surgical steel or whatever they used -- gets really cold, really fast. Even when implanted into one's body.
See, unfortunately, my leg-with-hardware is on the windward side of me when I'm walking INTO work - the colder of the two to-and-from trips - so it gets nailed with a LOT of cold wind. Which, I have found out, makes the plate and screws in my leg really cold. REALLY FAST. The first time it happened, it felt like someone had just stabbed me in the leg with an icicle. YOW.

I wonder if I can find a place that sells legwarmers. Man, those looked stupid when I wore them as a teenager. I'm pretty sure they'll look even stupider now, but I do not care. I bet it'll help...if I can find 'em in my size.

I Have Laryngitis.

And it's entirely my own fault. I knew I was engaging in Risky Behavior when I did it. But I went ahead and took the chance anyway. I figured, what the heck, I haven't had a problem in the last 3-4 years, so maybe I'll get lucky again. Maybe the whole "laryngitis in November / December" trend is over, yeah?
So, even though I knew I was courting laryngitis, I went ahead. I committed to Engaging In Risky Behavior. You'd think I'd learn, wouldn't you? I mean, really, this does fall into the category of I Should Have Known Better. But noooo, I went ahead and did it. After all, I felt fine. Not even a little sniffle, for pete's sake! What could happen? No problem! And then, Saturday. A little cough...a little sniffle....turned into a big cough and getting hoarse.
Well, I'll just be careful. SURELY this can't turn into laryngitis overnight. I'll just get some orange juice tomorrow morning on my way to church. Laryngitis doesn't hit me that fast, I should be OK.

Remember, though, I was Engaging In Risky Behavior. Sure enough, I woke up Sunday morning with a good case of "Laryngitis on the way". You'd think I'd learn. You'd think I'd know. It's not like i haven't SEEN the trend. It's not like I don't know what causes it. But I still persist in Engaging In Risky Behavior. I still keep hoping that maybe this time, it'll be different. It never is.
Maybe, someday, eventually, I will learn.

NEVER, EVER commit to singing a solo in November or December.
For this is Engaging in Risky Behavior, and is always guaranteed to bring on laryngitis for the day of the solo. ALWAYS.

Fashion?

The news this morning had a feature about podiatrists treating people with foot pain - and specifically, heel pain. Overwhelmingly, these people were women who were suffering from chronic foot and heel pain because of their choices in footwear. High, narrow heels with teeny weeny toe-boxes ending in pointy-toed shoes are the culprit, one said.
One woman confessed she had endured years of daily pain - many days so bad she could hardly walk - and still kept right on buying and wearing those idiotic shoes. And now she's got to have special custom orthotics just to walk - in ANY shoe.

This....this is incomprehensible to me. Willingly putting yourself through that much pain just for some stupid fashion? There are perfectly nice-looking flats and low-heeled pumps available! It boggles my mind that people deliberately cripple themselves for fashion. It's not like they need to wear THOSE shoes or else they die - no, it's just to "look good". I don't get it.

Maybe I'd "get it" if my mom had given in to my begging and pleading when I was in my early teens. Oh, I wanted those fashionable shoes too, but she said, "No, your feet are still growing and developing. I'm not going to allow you to permanently deform your feet by buying you those shoes." I got the sensible flats, with lots of room in the toes, and that did not create malformed feet.
Thanks, mom. <3 I get it now. And boy, am I ever glad you didn't let me get those shoes.

Continuing Progress

All progress has its downside, apparently. My leg and ankle are continuing to improve - much more than I'd hoped, and faster, actually.
I can get around without the cane at all inside the house, and for short trips to places. I still need it for distances and for uneven ground, though, so I do take it with me everywhere. However, the habit of taking it everywhere, then parking it someplace so I can do whatever I needed to do tends to mean I leave it in random places around the house. This leads to a bit of frustration - you wouldn't think that canes could hide, would you - but you'd be wrong! Kev has heard "I wonder where I left it this time..." at least a dozen times now.

I'm moving faster too - just not as fast as I'd like, yet. (Of course). I'm just glad that things are getting back to "normal", whatever that may be.

Flying Solo

Well, so to speak. I'm back to work (week 2!) and, due to some things around home that need attending, Kev stayed home this week. So, I'm on my own. Considering that last week the only time I needed a driver was for the last hour or so on Thursday on the way home, I'm thinking I should be OK this week. I'm planning on using the pool at Tina's every night, and icing the ankle and stuff, so I should be good for all of Thursday.

Of course, this coming weekend is the MidWest GeoBash, and unfortunately NOTHING we're going to be doing is close to parking, so I'll be doing a LOT of walking this weekend - so I expect Kev'll have to come back downstate with me next week.
Oh well...one day at a time.
As it is, I'm getting back quite a bit of speed, which is nice. And I'll probably be making dinner tonight. Pasta and meat sauce and Texas Toast. Always a popular option.

Second Day of Work

Well, I'm back to work. I've found the handicap parking slots, and for now I'm definitely parking there. Couldn't find 'em yesterday (turns out they're in the Employee Parking Lot, not the Contractor Lot) so I parked in the Contractor Lot. Today my walk was about HALF what it was yesterday, and a good thing, too.

Not doing too badly, actually. Ankle's a little cranky this morning; we'll see how it goes.

More PT News

The Therapist was VERY pleased with my progress today. I've increased weights on all sides of my foot on the "foot-weighty-thingy" mentioned before. (Hey, I dunno what they call it. He calls it "The Machine".) He gave me more flexing exercises to do there, AND had me doing some stairs exercises without using my arms too much, and then a couple more strength exercises for at home.
The newest one involved standing at the kitchen counter or somewhere I can use for support, then going up on my tiptoes, then back down, then up on tiptoes again, and so on. Once that becomes easier, I can move to balancing on my right foot, and just going up on tiptoe on the RIGHT FOOT ONLY. Whoof. Considering my balance ain't the greatest at the best of times, this is gonna be tough to do. Which, I suppose, is rather the point.

Anyway, he was happy with the progress. Looks like I'll definitely be on track to going back to work on the 28th.
We did ask him about going to things like the local fairs, and he said sure, just don't overdo. Good thing, since I already went to the Noble County Fair, and he said that was a good one to go to and he said we were handling it properly - exercise and push as much as possible without overstressing it and injuring it more.

So...yay! More positive progress!

More updates

Another update on, guess what, yeah, my ankle. Oh come on, you can't pretend you're surprised. That's pretty much what's occupying my time lately, innit?

Anyway. ANOTHER significant piece of progress today - I climbed the stairs to the balcony at church! All 17 of them! Yes, of course I counted. Did you really expect anything different? Anyway, I made it up with the help of the handrail and the cane. I practiced on the organ, and I figure I should be OK to play and back up to speed by the time August rolls around. AND I got to play my flute for service today! Yay!

The sermon today, by the way, was excellent. Pastor talked about the Parable of the Sower (it was the Gospel lesson.) He pointed out that there's always time for us to not only be the fertile soil, but to fall back into being the rocky, weed and thorn-choked soil. But Christ saves us from that! We have to be careful not to compare our "thorns" to someone else's, though. What seems easy to us (their thorns) is very difficult for them - and our very-difficult-to-deal-with-thorns are probably no big deal for someone else. I always appreciate his sermons; they get us to look just a little bit differently at the readings, and get us out of the "well, of course this is what that means because it's always meant just that."

Immerse yourself in the Word, and by the grace of God you will be fertile soil. Thanks be to God!

MUCH more progress!

I spent FAR more time in the pool yesterday than I have so far - and way more than I'd planned on. BUT, we had People Over (Hi Wade! Hi Rosemary! Hi Luke! Hi Naomi!) and so we had fun in the pool. I was very careful, and I still did my laps and stuff, though. Last night Kev started The Great Cane Search. He found one that we'd bought as sort of an "emergency just in case" cane that folds up, and set it up for me for "whenever".
Well, me being me, I had to try it out right away. It was rather hard going, and I had to hang on to him as well as the cane at first, but I found out I was Doing It Wrong. I had the cane on my right side - apparently the thing is supposed to be on the opposite side of the injured leg. Okay, whatever, seems counterintuitive but bygolly it works. I tried it out this morning the "right" way and OHMYGOSH it is sooooooooo much easier than using the walker!!!

Now I have to concentrate on "gait" and make sure my foot actually flexes and bends at the ball, pushing off the right way, instead of sorta sliding sideways and pushing off with the inside of my foot.
I'm so happy - if I can do the cane all day today without pain or problem, then I'll try it again tomorrow. And if I can use a CANE tomorrow, I can get up into the balcony (cane and handrail) where I belong, dangit. Of course, that's going to make going down to Communion problematic. One thing at a time. :D

PT, Round 2

I went to my second Physical Therapy session today. Today's started with an ankle strengthening machine. This thing is REALLY cool. First I put my foot in a metal thing that is rather reminiscent, actually, of the foot-measury things that are at the shoe store. You know, the one where you stick your foot on the metal thing, back your heel up to the heel-cup, and slide the metal levers around until you find out that you wear a size 6 or whatever? Like that, only without the metal levers and the foot measury number things. And it had straps that went around my shoe. And spots for weights at the front, back, and both sides.

So the first thing he did was to put a 5-lb weight on the front and see if I can flex and lift up the weight. Yep, no problem...20 reps. Same with each side. The one exercising the OUTSIDE muscle of my leg was the worst. He said that's normal - even on a "good" leg it's the weakest muscle of the ankle. Well...good, I guess.

Then he put it on the back. 5 lbs. was easy...and so was 10, so he put 15 lbs. on that one. No surprise, he said, because the calf muscle is so much larger and stronger than the other ones. Then on to a gait-exercise between two parallel bars. Walk between them, using them for support, frontways and backways. He said I'm not doing bad, but I do need some work yet. Then a stepping exercise, stepping up on the bad leg, and back down (again with the parallel bars for assistance if needed).
Then....a bike ride? Yep, 5 minutes on the stationary bike! Yay! I can go bike riding again! (Only, given the fact that MY bike has much greater resistance than that one does, I think I'll wait a bit longer before trying it.)

Then stopping for some additional flexy exercises that he did on my ankle, trying to increase the range-of-motion. Not bad, he was rather pleased with the ROM I had so far.

Kev mentioned "hey, you'll be able to drive in no time if you keep that up," and the Therapist said I could try it NOW, actually, if I felt comfortable with it! So we tried it in a relatively empty parking lot, and I tried all the usual things: accelerating, braking, and I even had Kev do a couple "emergency stop" sessions, where I'd be driving along and he'd say, randomly, "NOW" and I was supposed to slam on the brakes. Everything went well, so I got to drive home. Actually, I took over all the driving from Sam's Club (had to do some shopping) to the library, then to the grocery store, then home! Ankle's all swelly and stuff, but it doesn't HURT.

I got to drive! I'm still not up to doing any marathon driving sessions - it did start to ache after about 15 minutes or so driving, and I had to take a break (fortunately, stopping at the library and the grocery allowed for that) and now I have a freezy pack on my ankle to try to get the swelling down a bit, but I got to drive. I'm so happy!

More Improvement

Well, today was my second day in the pool. I did a few laps around the pool in both stances, and concentrated on "good gait", taking it very slow and making sure I was walking properly with BOTH feet, bending at the ball of the foot and so on. LOTS of stretchy work, and lots of good exercise.

The outside-the-pool payoff today was that I got to take two full steps without any support from the walker whatsoever. Yes, they were quick little limpy steps, but they were full-weight-on-the-right-leg steps!

No sharp pains, but I'm aching a bit now, I can tell ya....
Still improving, little by little.

I've moved up to the "red" TheraBand from the "yellow" one, too. I have to work my way through green, blue and black too, but I'll take what improvement I can get.

First day of Pool! first day of Pool!

I felt like Nemo, bouncing on his dad. "First day of school! First day of school!" Only mine was "first day of pool! First day of pool!" I got approval from my Physical Therapist to go in the pool - in fact, he encouraged it, saying I'd be able to develop the proper gait in the pool before On Land, because obviously the water takes some of my weight off. :D Not mass, more's the pity. *snert*

However, I did, in fact, use the pool today. 2 or 3 full laps around the pool with no support whatsoever. Plus, I've discovered a new stretchy thingy I can do - scrunch down in the pool so my shoulders are just out of the water. Fold my legs under me, sort of half-kneeling, and it stretches the plantar and calf muscles beautifully. Which, of course, I need to do anyway! So I was very pleased with First Day Of Pool. I hope to go in the pool again each day this week, actually. It's a lot of work, but in the long run it'll help. Short run, too - I walked all the way back to the house without pain - and putting MORE weight on my right leg than I have been.
Being in the pool and walking on it is getting me to TRUST my right leg and ankle again, so it's having some immediate benefits too.

I expect I'll be hearing it later tonight when my ankle lodges its Official Protests, but for now I'm just REALLY happy that it worked so well.

First Day of Therapy

w00t! I had my first therapy session. Now I'm all therapized and stuff. :D

He did some range-of-motion and flexibility and strength tests on me. Apparently I did very well, because he was quite pleased with what I could do. I am starting to walk with the walker, and not just hop around. It's tough going, but I'm getting used to it, and I'm so happy he specified what kind of pain was "acceptable". (A bit of an ache is OK while I'm exercising, but a SHARP pain is not.) He explained what would hurt, and why, and how and where I'd feel the exercises.

He gave me exercises for at home, and definitely approved of me using the pool to exercise in! Yay, I can go in the pool again!

I tried actually walking with the walker, too. It's slow going, but it's overall easier than hopping with it, so I'll be doing THAT as much as possible.

Yay! I'm starting to use my right leg again! Hooray!

Looky! A real shoe!

My first Physical Therapy appointment is tomorrow, so we decided to make sure that my SHOES will actually fit, given the amount of edema still present in my foot and ankle.

Looky! We got it on my foot the first try, with NO pain, and NO problem! We decided I should wear it for a few hours to make sure that I won't have a problem with the shoe tomorrow. So far....2.75 hours and counting - and NO problems. No pain...and, in fact, it feels pretty dang good.

The Latest Report

Well, I got back from my latest Orthopedic appointment. The doc says I can lose The Boot and start walking as of Monday! Well...start trying to walk. I also start 3 weeks of Physical Therapy on Monday to get used to walking again.
He kept saying "gait training" and for some bizarre reason I thought he was saying GATE training and I couldn't figure out why they'd use a GATE. Anyway, at the end of it I should be OK to drive, and therefore OK to go back to work. Yay!

Great, fabulous people

So I've been going to FWO (Fort Wayne Orthopedic) for my ankle / leg...for The Catastrophe. These people have been great. Incredibly helpful, understanding, sympathetic...they've been handling all the interactions with my insurance company, have been explaining things all along as to what to expect, how to handle things, etc.
Yesterday I had to go back in for a consultation with the Physical Therapists about my RoboCast. I've been having some problems with pressure points, even though I'm not walking in it yet. She saw me without an appointment, (I'd say I was a "walk-in", but I was more like a "hop-in"), assessed and fixed the problem within a couple minutes, and told me if I had ANY more problems to call them right away and they'd fix it again. :)
The Physicians' side - well, I needed another note. I'm having too many problems with going to work, and they weren't real happy about me going back to work in the first place. The check in staff was extremely helpful, and when they learned I was expecting another note saying I should stay home, but that the nurse who had it was on lunch, they went back looking for her and the note so we didn't have to wait.
They explained exactly what I needed from them to file for Short-Term Disability, and all we had to do was bring in the paperwork. They're handling the rest, including filing it with my Insurance Company.
These people are the greatest. They're skilled, they're knowledgeable, and above all, they're compassionate.

If you ever need an Orthopedist, I recommend Fort Wayne Orthopedic. There aren't enough words to praise them highly enough. Their help and compassion has made a trying ordeal far, far easier on both Kev and me.

EWG.

I had my first visit to the Orthopedist yesterday. I got my old cast removed and a new one put on. This one's removable, and in fact I am encouraged - nay, required - to remove it several times a day and flex my ankle. I have never made so much effort for so little result in my life. After several flex-and-push sessions yesterday, my ankle has move approximately .0000000000001 mm. I think. Well, OK, I'm exaggerating but still.

I've been cleared to go back to work as long as I keep my leg elevated (duh). I also can't put any weight on it at all for another 4 weeks, which means that I'll be getting wheeled down the aisle for my best friend's wedding on June 28. :( Sorry, Kim. Oh well, like she said, we can always decorate the wheelchair. *snert*

My next appointment is on July 3, and I might possibly maybe kindasorta be allowed to perhaps eventually start to think about putting weight on the leg after that. Maybe.

But hey, at least I'm allowed to take a shower now, as long as we get one of those little shower stools and I take the cast off first.

Y'all, I almost passed out when they took the old cast off. Yikes. Pics below. There are 6 pics. The final 2 are of the actual incisions, so if you're kinda squeamish, don't look at those. They're nasty. I'll put in a squeam alert before them so you can close the window before you get there.

The New Cast

It's an Aircast! See the little nodule between the 2 straps on the leg? That's an air nozzle and I'm supposed to pump up the little airbags in the cast as the swelling on my leg goes down, so that my ankle doesn't jiggle around.

The X-Rays

Look at all those pins! They had to take 2 sets of X-rays because the first set didn't show everything. They hadn't realized it was that far up the leg. Well...neither did I, to be honest. No wonder the initial set at the Emergency room didn't show all the breaks!
Sigh. Sometimes I hate being "thorough and detail-oriented". Like when I apply my mad Thorough, Detail-Oriented skillz toward screwing myself up.

Take it off! Take it all off!

SQUEAM ALERT!
SQUEAM ALERT!
WARNING, WARNING WILL ROBINSON. ICKY PICTURES AHEAD. No, seriously.
Squeamish peoples close the window now.
Turn away from the post.
These are not the pictures you're looking for.
Move along.

OK, hey, if you're still here, don't blame me if you squick out.


The Inside Incision

The Outside Zipper...erm...incision

Nasty, innit? I think the long lines are medical ink, not sutures. Although they did remove those yesterday, too. The nurse did an excellent job - I hardly felt them at all except for about 3. Those hurt, but it wasn't her fault. Just real sensitive areas, I guess.

I been busy!

And not necessarily in a GOOD way. We HAD planned on a nice Memorial Weekend party. Unfortunately, when I jumped into the pool, I landed exactly wrong, for the first time EVER, and broke my ankle, but good. THAT was a rude and abrupt party welcome to Pastor, Lora and their kids!
Fortunately for me, Lora had the presence of mind to grab Kev's camera and take a couple pictures. Here's me getting loaded into the ambulance. Thanks, Lora! :D

Kev's got scans of my ankle X-ray's on his blog That first one is notated "14.5mm". The bone was over 1/2 inch out of location. Ewg. That explains why it hurt so bad!

Our friends have absolutely been great. Everyone took the abrupt end of the party graciously, and apparently they decided to take care of the food for us and put it away so it didn't go bad. Other friends rode in the ambulance with me and drove Kev down to the hospital, waited with us till my surgery was over, and then came back first thing the next day and sat with me in the room till I could leave.
We've had offers of food, errand-running, and any kind of help we might need. Thanks. We really appreciate it.

I'll probably post a pic of my foot later. It's all wrapped up in about forty miles of ACE bandages and plaster. Mentioning wrapping up, I'm watching a rerun of the Mummy Roadshow we taped earlier. Very cool. :)