100 Words Per Mile: Father's Day and Free Toes

What's a running log when there's no running involved?

June 5, 2021
0.0 miles
0:00

My follow-up with the doctor was yesterday. It was the first time I’d seen my foot in almost three weeks, and it was not pretty. My skin was dehydrated and wrinkly, as if I’d been soaking it in a long tub—except it was very dry and flaky, too. The sutures came out fairly easily, but the scars were kind of gnarly. Eventually they covered them with steri-strips and informed me they would be rewrapping my foot.

I looked over to the bag I’d brought my second shoe in and let out solid, long-winded sigh.

I hadn’t done anything wrong, this was just part of the process. My toe needs to be held in place, and the bandage works as a splint. I can’t remove the wrapping from my foot until I reach the six-week mark, which meant I would be wearing this thing for three-and-a-half more weeks, which meant I would also be in this walking shoe for another three-and-a-half weeks. This is all a minimal inconvenience in the grand scheme of things—after all, I chose this—but I am really struggling with my new stationary setting.

They also informed me that when I do transition back to a shoe, I’m going to have to wear a spacer between my big toe and my pointer toe … which sounds bizarre. As someone who despises flip-flops, the idea of wearing a spacer makes me feel like I’ll be wearing a flip-flop inside of shoe. Essentially, a nightmare.

But I won’t know until I know.

Sometimes I can be a little arrogant. I thought to myself: I’ll just heal faster than they expect, and I’ll be running again by July. These doctors will see my progress and be amazed by how quickly I’ve recovered. This, of course, has not been the case and will probably continue to not be the case.

Alas, I can’t trick the doctors into rushing the process, no matter how good I feel.