Foot stuff:
I really haven’t updated on this subject for a bit. My podiatric surgeon has been working on me weekly with a type of skin graft on my foot - called Dermagraft “Re-epithelialization - assists in the restoration of the dermal bed, allowing wounds to heal” is what the website says it’s doing, and the more I’m not putting any pressure on my left (wounded) foot, the better it will heal.
The problem has been in making it possible to truly be off my foot; it’s easy to say, harder to do. It has meant a major revision of how things are done here, in more ways than you would think.
First off: for getting around, I’m on crutches or my kneeling scooter almost all the time. I can lumber over to the John from our bed - about 15 steps, being careful not to walk on any part of my left foot aside of the heel. There’s a couple of other exception like that, but not many.
This is a gigantic PITA, for obvious reasons. If you are on crutches, you really can’t carry things around in your hands. This means I have to ask for help on a lot of things, which gets old for everyone after a while. Otherwise, I have had to improvise all sorts of carry bags that work like backpacks or can be improvised to get a long shoulder strap to hang on via the shoulder and around the neck.
It also means that I can’t move fast, so bolting for a phone in the other room is a near-impossibility. I have to make sure I have essentials with me in a carry bag all the time, making sure that the items stick with me - searches for keys or wallet or whatever become much more of a hassle.
On the big plus side, it’s working to heal my foot, after nearly four and a half years of wretchedness. The podiatrist- surgeon thinks that at this rate, it will be healed within 2 to 4 weeks. I don’t trust that estimate, because my healing is so erratic (due to the underlying leukemia) and I’m guessing twice that…but nobody knows for certain.
I have decided, however, to make sure that once my foot heals, my first priority will be to take a trip back to family and friends in Ohio. More on that on another rock.