I took the knee scooter to the mall.

I brought my husband.  Well, technically he brought me.  And he lugged the giant contraption down the stairs and into the back seat of our “big enough for most things, but not this thing” Sonata.

The screen on his iPhone had cracked and he needed to go to Apple.  I needed an outing worse than a puppy who has been crated too long.

He dropped me off at the door.  He rode the scooter through the parking lot to meet me.  Apparently, like so many other things, its a LOT more fun when you don’t need it.

I laughed in spite of myself at the sight of it.  I was also glad our teenager had decided to stay home.  The sight of it all would have likely been just too much.

People stare right at you, while simultaneously judging you as you drive this thing.  The local mall lacks the tolerance of Disney World.  In fairness, from face on, it looks like you’re using wheels for fun.  It’s not until I have passed, if they bother to look, that they would see the giant walking boot resting on the knee pad.

Today is 8 weeks and 1 day since I’ve been “booted” again. 57 days.

I have had more surgeries in my life than I can count.  Not a single one of them kept me down for 8 weeks. This foot has been messing with my life for over 8 months.

Double Mastectomy – back at work in 5 weeks.

Hysterectomy – back in 2 weeks.

I once had arthroscopic knee surgery over a long weekend, and was back on the 4th floor in my classroom the following Monday.

Vascular, over the February break…

Biopsies, a day tops…

We always say recovery pain is the best kind, because you know it’s going away.

And yet the answer to “Does your foot feel better?” still remains “Not really.”

My kind and compassionate local podiatrist, in a combination of frustration at the injury that won’t heal and my insurance company making it harder for him to treat me, has advised a visit to Hospital for Special Surgery.  I’m sitting.  Foot up, phone in hand, waiting to try to schedule.

I rode that knee scooter all over the mall.  I rode it into the grocery store too.  Quite simply, I’m tired of being locked in my house.  It is truly a ridiculous and ingenious contraption.

If you asked me 2 years ago if I would ever… the answer would have been “NO WAY!”

Except if I keep learning anything through these years of life with a rare disease, and also just life, it seems to be” never say never…”

I had a boatload of things I wasn’t going to do as a parent.  I’m pretty sure the first one was undone about three hours in… right after the anesthesia from that c section wore off…

Wasn’t going to… feed certain things, watch certain things, give certain things, etc. etc.  And then you find yourself learning that all the plans in the world are suddenly invalid as you just try not to damage the tiny human.

A great deal of my pride was left behind in the OR where she was delivered.

I lost a bunch more of it through a slew of breast biopsies prior to the double mastectomy in 2012.

The uterine biopsies, the hysterectomy, the “cancer screening” human exams took a bunch more.

And there are few things quite as humbling as a breast MRI of your silicone implants.

I was never “in fashion” but I used to take great care in what I wore.  Things were dry cleaned.  Stockings and heels were worn daily.

Then there was back pain that seemed only better in sneakers.  Coupled with a significant weight loss my wardrobe evolved into jeans, t shirts and sneakers.  May be a dig at my early judgment of “too casual” teachers…

Life, at it again…

If we are open, and able to be introspective, we are changing and growing all the time.

I am in a painstakingly slow process of relinquishing control.  

Control is really largely an illusion anyway.

Faith, trust, hope, and the ability to embrace what the future has in store, these are my current goals.

I’m a work in progress.

So if you see me and my knee scooter, be kind.  You may even see me up and down the block.  These are, after all, desperate times…

We’re done being caged up.  I need some fall air.  I am ready to get well.  Since my foot isn’t cooperating, I’ll start with my mind.

#beatingcowdens