You remember two weeks ago, when I hurt my foot? Remember? It was a torn Achilles tendon, according to the first doctor I saw.
Yeah, that’s right. I said the first doctor I saw.
A week after I saw that first doctor, I got a referral to a physical therapist. The physical therapist took one look at my foot and said “That’s not tendonitis.”
You can see why he was concerned, no?
(Ignore the dirty looking feet. They aren’t dirty, I swear. It’s the lighting. And also my second toe isn’t longer than my big toe; that’s the angle of the picture. Really. No really. Err…wow….maybe it is. I’ve never noticed. I’m a freak?)
After three hours in the hospital, many x-rays, an unfilled prescription for antibiotics, and three days of sitting on my patootie, I’m feeling better.
Believe it or not, I took this picture on Sunday. After RICE-ing for three days. After the swelling went down considerably.
It isn’t my Achilles tendon. It’s my Peroneal tendon, the lesser-known ankle tendon. Regardless, the treatment is the same. RICE. Rice, Ice, compression, and elevation.
Rest.
I’m not saying I’m the most active person out there by any means, but when I have to sit on my bee-hind all weekend long, I just….can’t do it.
I mean, I did, but my couch-sitting was interspersed with short bouts of actually doing one thing or another.
Things like cleaning, cooking, and inoculating my new grow-it-yourself mushroom kit.
Yeah!! I have mushrooms growing in my house. Enoki mushrooms!
Let’s repeat that: I have enoki mushrooms growing in my house!!!
It was super easy, and it only required me being on my feet for 15 minutes.
Mix the sawdust pellets with water and peroxide, add coffee grounds, sterilize everything, pour mushroom spores into sawdust, and mix. Close and tape up the bag and set it into a a cold-ish room for 5-6 weeks.
I think I have to do a few things in these next few weeks, but for now? I am leaving the bag in my cold laundry room, next to my dwindling winter squash stash to fester.
I mean, to culture. To grow. To…do whatever it is that mushroom spores do when left to their own devices and mixed with coffee grounds.
But that’s all I did all weekend. That, and I finished a book, finished all my grading, knit a scarf for my sister’s birthday present, and taught myself how to crochet while watching more agriculture documentaries (and maybe a Gilmore Girls episode or eight) for school.
Unfortunately, I didn’t paint my bedroom. (I’m painting it the lighter blue on the right.)
I didn’t trim the perennials that I’ve been meaning to trim for months. I didn’t sew the blanket I was going to make for my niece.
Have I mentioned how much I suck at sitting still?
Do you have any recommendations for thing to do….from the couch? Have you had to deal with an injury and not been able to do what you love doing? It’s killing me. Slowly.
Eeek on that foot and still being on bedrest, so to speak! I am glad the swelling is going down but to be inactive, not by choice, is like the hardest thing ever for me! I hope at least you’re not in tons of pain from it, too!
Oh man! I’m so sorry–that looks and sounds awful. When I was stuck on a couch for a month after a bad car accident, I became a professional Lifetime movie watcher. And while I have yet to draw upon those skills again, it did keep me semi-entertained at the time. Hang in there!
oh no!! yes, rest up. And i know you will sit, but rest? Ya right. I’m thinking you will start like 10 other different projects, knit, and then attempt to get on a recumbent bike. heck that’s what i’d do. LOL!
I had complications with back surgery when I was in high school, and was on the living room floor for a few weeks (couldn’t sit). I did a lot of cross-stitch and reading. Then when I was able to stand, I took over the kitchen (and the baking hasn’t stopped!).
Hope you feel better soon!
Oh wow! That is one swollen ankle. Glad to see it has started to go down.
I have no recommendations for what to do when forced to sit/sit still. I’m terrible at winding down.
Oh wow- that looks really painful! I wish I had some good advice about dealing with sitting still, but I am with you in that I am terrible at it. (I sit on an exercise ball at my desk just for that very reason…)
….I need another coder so I can establish some intercoder reliability…
You have a really good idea of teaching yourself to crochet! I used to bead some when I was laid up… You can help me collect data for my Pinterest citizen science article…eh?
Hang in there.
meditate! headspace app seriously! ouch that is some serious swelling!
you can work on your manuscripts?
Ahahaha *snort*, I’m hilarious. No, medically-required couch time is for goofing off, work on your reading list!
I was going to recommend learning to meditate but The Delicate Place beat me to it. It’s good for your brain! I think when you are first learning it’s actually easier if you are forced by some outside circumstance to sit still. So now is the perfect time!
You could also watch all the episodes of The Walking Dead on Netflix. Or Modern Family…
Oh man, so sorry to hear this but glad you got a non-bacterial infection diagnosis!!
That sitting thing is definitely no fun. I’d probably do tons of suduko!
I know! Watch some Gilmore Girls! Oh. You already did that. Have you been watching Go On? “Lorelai” was a guest star yesterday, which means that two of my favorite characters in the history of TV (Chandler Bing and Lorelai Gilmore) were on the same TV show together! I know they were being different characters, but it was still pretty awesome.
Ugh sorry about your foot. I hope it’s feeling better. I’m sure you have plenty of crafts you could work on!