First Steps

Last Tuesday I had an appointment with my doctor and he told me that the rate I was healing was amazing (yes, that's almost a direct quote) and that if I would like I can begin to wear tennis shoes instead of the surgical boot. I was excited about it but also extremely nervous. Since I am teaching school now and on my feet all day, I did not feel comfortable trying to walk in normal shoes. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up with the kids at school and that undoubtably the first few times I try walking on my foot, it would most likely be painful.

Today is Saturday, and so I decided to be brave. It was hard to put my shoe on this morning. I never realized it until now, but a foot has to bend considerably in order to get inside of a shoe. My foot is not exactly very flexible right now, so that was extremely uncomfortable to say the least. Also, there is so much swelling in my foot that we had to loosen the laces to the point that we almost had to take them out. Even though we managed to cram my foot into the shoe successfully, there is no way that we are ever going to get the laces tied!

I have to walk very slowly and carefully, but I'm doing it. Yesterday I took a shower for the first time since the surgery because I was finally able to stand up in the shower without wearing my boot. Even though I'm moving around alright for now, I'll still wear my boot when I go to school and church. I don't want anyone to accidentally step on it. Besides, I can't walk very fast and there's no way I could keep up with the fast pace at school without the added help of my boot.