2023 52 Card Project: Week 27: Grounded

[pegkerr]

This is embarrassing to admit:

I broke a toe this week.

I've never broken a bone before, but I managed to snap this one (second toe on the left foot) bringing laundry up from the basement. I couldn't see the steps because of the laundry basket I was carrying, and I didn't raise my foot up quite enough and...ouch!

I'm embarrassed about this because it is yet another data point in my ongoing campaign to apparently prove to everyone that I cannot walk like a normal person. I've had, what, four or five falls in the past several years. I didn't talk about the last one (again, embarrassed) but I managed to clobber myself when I was out buying a pride flag. Stumbled over a speed bump in a crumbling, decrepit parking lot and landed on my shoulder and forehead. The shoulder took the brunt of it so I didn't get another concussion, but still, ow.

I've been thinking about my trouble walking. Is this a normal part of aging, or am I just clumsy, or is there something going on with my walk that needs to be addressed? I didn't bother to go to the emergency room because of the toe (a clean break, and I know that they can't do much more than tape it, which I've done), but I'll be talking with my doctor today--should I perhaps see a physical therapist to get my gait evaluated? What on earth is going on?

Walking on a broken toe reminds me of something I learned many years ago when I had foot surgery: you use your toes a LOT to walk. And thinking of walking, of being rooted, of being grounded, reminded me of a poem I wrote back in 2008 when I found an acorn wedged in a hole in my shoe:



I wrote:

the holy tree grows hidden within the heart
the seed lies nestled in secret within the shoe
a reminder of the earth beneath me
the yogi says, while doing Tree Pose,
find your balance
and if at first you start to sway, don't give up
trees sway
get more grounded
I turn my shabby sandal over in my hand
place it on the floor
and slip it over my foot
my walking root
I stride away, swaying,
tree in my heart
toes spread wide
seed in my shoe kissing the earth with every step

All these thoughts came together to make this card. I did not use the most unpleasant picture of the foot I have (behind the tape, the toe is grossly technicolor) to spare your sensibilities.

Image description: Background: a large tree in the forest with exposed roots (pointillism filter over the photo). Hovering over the roots, center, is an injured foot with tape over the first and second toe and a bruised surface. Superimposed over the foot is a germinating seed. Above the foot, top center, is the sole of a black sandal. An acorn is wedged in a hole of the sole.

Grounded



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Comments

Ouch

[lsanderson]

Broken toes are no fun. Speedy recovery. I'm blank to negative on what asking for that kind of evaluation can lead to, but good luck.

[silverceri]

You might want your gait evaluated, but I'd recommend seeing your eye doctor and getting your depth perception evaluated. My mom has had several walking related falls and it's because her depth perception went the way of the dodo.

Hope the toe gets better quickly.

[redbird]

I have no medical advice, but want to note the my partner Cattitude broke a toe in his late 20s or early 30s, tripping over a phone wire that a previous tenant had left tacked to a stair. Yes, talking to your doctor sounds like a good idea, but they may give you advice, or refer you to a specialist, or look at it and say that there's nothing you need to do, but coming to have it checked was a good idea.

[pameladean]

This is a really great card, but I'm sure you could have done one without breaking your toe. My profoundest sympathies. I've broken both my big toes, so that neither bends under any longer (I gather this isn't that common an aftereffect) and it's ridiculously painful. And feels like a ridiculous injury, even though it's just as serious as less apparently risible ones.

I just had a checkup, and I'm at the age where I'm asked both in preliminary online forms and by both the physician's assistant and my doctor in person whether I've had any falls recently. You're younger, but I hope they will take you seriously.

P.

[pegkerr]

Just got the phone with my doctor, and yes, she is taking it seriously and is referring me to a physical therapist.

[ndrosen]

I hope that physical therapy can help!

[pameladean]

Oh, good! I hope the physical therapy is useful. It seems to be for a very wide variety of difficulties.

P.

[princessofgeeks]

So sorry about your toe! It could happen to anyone!