Last night, as I was preparing to head out to a rehearsal almost an hour’s drive away, I stepped onto a toy, wrapped in a blanket, and shrouded in laundry. It was a sharp and pointy gem of some sort, and I have lightly stepped onto one of them before to my great pain and horror. This time was different. I didn’t see it at all, and I brought the full force of my fat self down onto the point of the plastic jewel, driving it up into my foot and cutting a chunk out of my heel.
Roaring in pain, I hopped up the stairs to the bathroom, where I could asses the damage, disinfect myself, bandage my heel, but mostly pound the counter and shout things that I did not want my children to hear. There was a sizable piece gone from my heel, about the size of a stack of a couple of quarters, and the bleeding…oh, the bleeding.
I did not have time for all of this bleeding. I covered my foot with Band-Aids, grabbed my rehearsal items, and then limped out the door to the car. I had to get to my practice! And yet, I did not have the use of my foot. Now, luckily it was my left foot, and not my driving foot, so I could still operate the car. Thank goodness we recently switched to an automatic transmission! But there was still a problem. This bleeding thing did not appear to feel like stopping, so I was going to have to elevate my foot.
Swinging my left foot up into my lap and crossing my legs, I began the 50 minutes of uncomfortable driving that lay between me and my rehearsal. The things I do for my craft. It actually wasn’t so bad, once I got used to the weirdness of it. I don’t use my left foot for driving anyway. The biggest downside was that, due to the constant pressure on my right leg, I now have a significant bruise above my right knee that makes walking slightly painful, so I kind of don’t have much use of either leg today.
The other problem was that, once I got out of the car to walk up to the rehearsal on the third floor, the temporarily non-elevated foot decided to get the blood flowing again. I put my foot back up on my lap as soon as I got to the room and sat down, but now there is a splotchy stain on the leg of my shorts. Gross. I changed bandages with the first aid kit that we found, and that did me okay until I got home again. Then I had to change them again. And again before I went to bed. And then again this morning.
I have a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. I want to make sure my foot doesn’t get infected, turn green, and then fall off. I mean, as appealing as not having my current foot sounds right now, I am fairly certain that I will want it again in the future. So maybe I need some antibiotics. Or, better yet, something with codeine in it. And then, when I wake up and can walk again, I am throwing away all the toys.