New Car

Sometime in August I think it was....I bought a new car. It's a Toyota and it's black. It's also a little used but that's fine with me because I could afford it and I really needed it. 

When I started driving it to work everyone kept asking me how do I like it and some asked me to show it to them. I still remain confused over these reactions to my car. I don't like or dislike the car...it runs fine; it saves me a lot of gas; it frees me to travel more. I have filled a need in my life, nothing more. It's no more impressive than buying a new stove as far as I am concerned. And when people at work want me to show it to them my reaction is to bring them to the closest window, point at all the numerous small compact cars that are in the parking lot and tell them it looks pretty much like any one of those only it's black. 

I'm not trying to be obnoxious, I just don't identify myself with my cars. I eventually will form some kind of affection for the vehicle when I've had it for a long time. I'm assuming it will feel somewhat like a friend some day. However at this point in time I am still very much aware that I was forced to trade down when I bought this car. It doesn't have the ride or the power that my Buick had and that's a pretty noticeable difference. So while I've bought a car that is practical and saves me money, I have had to let go of a car that I had a deep sentimental connection to and that protected my bum from every bump in the road. 

My Dad helped me buy my Buick (pictured above) and at the time I bought this car I had no idea how much my life would change by the time I bought another car. For one thing I had no idea that the car would outlast my Dad and therefore become more important to me than it normally would or should. 

But you can only hang on to things for just so long and no longer. I had to get a newer car because I intend to travel a hell of a lot more than I have been. 

I donated the Buick to a place that sells the cars and uses the money for Veteran services. Dad was a veteran of two wars and a purple heart recipient. I'd like to think that he'd approve of the car going to help veterans. 

Putting The Best Foot Forward

On October 10th I had foot surgery...bunion surgery to be more precise. I don't like that they call it bunion because that sounds like something that grows on the foot and is easily removed. Just lop it off and all is well. Bunion surgery is not really that simple and it's a hell of a lot more painful than I expected too. Bunion surgery usually involves cutting or shaving off whatever bone is sticking out from base of the big toe for starters. I was hoping the bones would just be kind of shoved back where they belong and pegs inserted in strategic areas would hold it in place. I was way off, although I still prefer my surgical ideas over the actual surgery.  With the actual surgery as I said, they cut off the offending protruding bone on the side and then make v-shaped cuts into the bone of the big toe area to insert pegs (2 in my case) into the bone to help keep it in place while it heals. The pegs are made of a very thick cat gut so it dissolves over time. 

That's a very nice incision picture right there by the way....doc said so.  The funny little white lines are bits of string that got caught on the tape when the dressing was removed. 

This is the best picture I could get of the colors that showed up all over my ankle and foot although it doesn't show much. I didn't think to take the picture until a lot of the bruising had gone away.  I don't know how they held my foot still during surgery but when I started to see the amount of bruising and swelling I was getting I started thinking they must have put the foot in some kind of a vice. 

This is another picture that was taken late. It's part of the old bruising I got when I ran over Bell on my scooter. My dogs do NOT get out of the way! I cut right; she cut left; I clipped her and she yelped...while the scooter fell over with me on it and it all was captured in slow motion in my mind. This was my 'good' leg until that day. The other spots that were bruised could not be photographed. 

This is the nifty surgical boot I got right after surgery. Unfortunately I am STILL wearing it. The swelling is way down from what it was and mostly all the bruising is gone now too. However, putting a normal shoe on is still difficult and something I can only do for a little while each day. If I do a lot of walking in a shoe the pain just intensifies to the point of no return so I wear a normal shoe every day for a little while and then after massage and ice I put the surgical boot back on.  I also do range of motion exercises every day. That's a ton of fun too and causes the foot to swell more but it's got to be done. 

This is how my foot looks when it's happy. Covered up to stay warm and not being walked on.....aaaaaahhhhhhh, that's much better!!