Who would think that sitting on a stool weeding would be too much too soon? But, as I discovered last week, it can be -- and it was. I'm beginning to wonder if I will ever sit again without propping my foot on a chair. It didn't help that I stepped on a rock that was hidden under some weeds and bruised my arch. Crocs are roomy and waterproof, but their soft vinyl (?) isn't up to fighting off stealth rocks.
What a thrill it has been to take a shower standing up! I feel like a grown-up again, but the bench is staying where it is, at the back of the tub. Why try to balance on one foot to wash the other if you don't have to? Especially when that foot was sliced open and broken and put back together with titanium screws a month ago.
I've been pondering what strange creatures we humans are. Not only did I ask Dr. Le to do all of that to my foot, I paid him to do it! And I'll be paying him to do it again to my other foot in about three weeks. No other creature that we know of would actively seek out and reward another animal for causing it pain, but then, as far as we know, no other animal is as self-aware as humans, and as aware of the passage of time. Surgery of any kind is seldom only about the immediate benefits; it is almost always a strategy for making life more tolerable for the long-term. I am convinced that I am trading about 4 months of various levels of pain, discomfort and inconvenience for several decades of relief from the various symptoms that I've been experiencing. And I'm also convinced that those symptoms were going to continue to worsen if I did nothing.
But what a level of trust in complete strangers! I barely know Dr. Le, and I'd never met any of the medical staff at the surgery center, let alone their medical suppliers, but I let the nurses run the IV lines and the anesthetist inject her drugs. I don't know the pharmacists who fill the prescriptions, but I down the pills four or more times a day. For all of the rhetoric we see in the media and social networking sites, for all of the urban legends and the horror films and conspiracy theories, our society still functions in all its complexity.
And I just got the notice from the insurance company that they have covered Dr. Le's fees at 100%, and as far as I can tell, the same goes for the surgery center. Getting my money's worth this year!
