Unfortunately, through a chain of circumstances and probably due to some negligence on my part, my huge boot has rubbed a hole in the foot, and the foot has become infected. I paged my doc as soon as I noticed the problem a couple of hours ago, and will be in his office Friday morning. Will I lose the foot? I'm not certain at this point; the results of the examination will probably determine that. Anyway, don't expect much posting tomorrow morning.
UPDATE Fri. evening 8/24: No news (good news?) while I wait for the results of lab tests and interpretation of an X-ray. The medical imaging service formerly in my PCP's building closed, so obtaining the X-ray itself required a trip of several miles and the negotiation of one of those "can't-get-there-from-here" passages in an office park. I'm tired now! :-) Treatment begins immediately with a strong antibiotic (that's two strong antibiotics I'm taking now) and some messy topical medicine. It is good to get old; it isn't so good to get crippled... and infected.
Damn...these golden years are hellish at times. Sending you healing vibs and hopefully good news about healing possibilities.
ReplyDeleteThe gold in these years is fool's gold, and the joy of living is almost completely behind me. It's a tragedy to outlive the years in which liberal/progressive thought was appreciated on the national stage and political battles were fought with some sense of honesty on the part of our opponents. No more. All that's left to us politically is perpetual loss to dishonest, self-serving GOP politicians. It's not fun anymore.
ReplyDeleteI do not want to lose my foot. And I don't actively want to die now. But if I did lose my foot, and if I died in surgery, I would not regret it much.
I don't want you to die either--- very much! Not just for selfish reasons ...kindred spirits are hard to come by these days, but for quality of your life and history. And, I understand the despair of illness these days. There are days...... but the moments of joy that may pop into a day constantly uplift me with a sense of wonder that is still very vibrant. May the music still play you. Peace, my friend.
ReplyDeleteSteve,
ReplyDeleteCourage and patience and I believe that all will go well.
Wishing you not to lose your foot.
And you will not die, because those who love you need you, including my(virtual)self!
Best wishes for recovery and healing!
Good health is wasted on the young - they don't appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteWe need as many people as possible who still remember the truth about this country from 1950 on, because there are so many trying to re-write it to suit their purposes.
I understand your frustration, Steve, but hang in there for your friends, because we need witnesses willing to testify to the facts.
karmanot, Enfant, Bryan - Thank you all for your kind concerns; your support really helps. These are tough times for me, again, after a too-brief break following my wheelchair days. Now that big boot weighs as heavily on my mind as on my foot. I suppose it was inevitable that an appendage that doesn't get much circulation would eventually have problems of various sorts, but I'm still reluctant to part with it.
ReplyDeleteBryan, I'm wondering who wants to hear what we liberal/progressive seniors have to say... not the media, for certain; not the GOPers, selfish bastards that most of them are; not the great apolitical masses who are saturated since Citizens United with GOP ads seven days a week, probably several hours a day, on every channel. Can the truth survive if so few people are invested in it?
"Can the truth survive if so few people are invested in it?" We keep telling the stories. True is always truth, while reality is only sometimes true. If we continue to tell the stories of truth, then someone, most likely very young, will hear the call as we did and follow the course as it unfolds. Our time is almost over, but not our experience and the direction it took us.
ReplyDeleteesus Steve. I hope the antibiotics come through. Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteHang tough there old boy. Never easy getting older but I feel pretty sure you will be around to bother the wingnuts for a while longer. Just lose the negative thoughts. They do nothing for you and sap your strength. Think good things.
ReplyDeleteFallenmonk, I am settling into an old routine from 2-3 years ago, a routine I thought I might have been rid of permanently, but no such luck. It is exTREMEly important to me not to lose the foot, for reasons I'll be happy to explain to you in an email if necessary.
ReplyDeleteI've recovered enough to resume reading Dawkins's The Selfish Gene (30th Anniversary Edition), and that's keeping my mind off the problem some of the time. I'll do what I can, but I won't take on any new responsibilities if I can possibly help it. Hey, it's not as if I could prevent Rmoney and his billionaire buddies from buying up the airwaves anyway...
Dammit. Sending good thoughts to tell your foot to behave itself and stop being stupid. I'm sorry you're having to cope with such tiresome problems, Steve, and I hope things heal and patch well.
ReplyDeleteThanks to your blogging (and to your encouragement in my blogging) I have felt comforted in finding like minds in this crazy Era of Stupidity. So know that we all are cheering for you and appreciate and need your voice.
*Hugs*
ellroon, thank you; it is clear we are kindred spirits, and I am grateful for your web presence.
ReplyDeleteOld age is truly not for sissies, and I believe I'm confronting it with better grace than I might have a couple of decades ago. And as I look around me, I see folks with problems far worse than mine. Yesterday, in the X-rat waiting room, there was a friendly, late middle-aged man in a power wheelchair; he seemed cheerful despite his obvious loss of his ability to walk. I think I can learn a lesson from people like him.