When I woke up this morning, I felt great.  Then I stretched like I always do.  The pain in my foot shot up to my knee and made my eyes water.  Okay, it made me cry …. And out loud.  Tufts jumped off the bed and hid under the table in the kitchen.  I laid still for a few moments, remembered what had happened, and wiggled to the other side of the bed so I had less distance to my robe; The robe that was a few feet away from the warmth of the blankets. Do I really have to get out of bed??? Crap!

The other two times I had hurt that ankle, I don’t remember it hurting this bad.  Had I broken it?  I gingerly moved my legs from under the covers and set my feet on the floor.  Leaning heavily on my right foot I reached for my robe.  Damn the air was cold!  I wrapped the robe around me and sat back down to put the sweat pants on that are always by the bed.  Why did this feel like such a project? Crap!

My foot really, really hurts. Double crap.  I used the wall to support myself until I got to the kitchen where I could lean on the counters.  This was so NOT good. I paused at the gas stove; I had set a kettle of water last night.  The stove burners will light with a match; I pulled the grill lighter out of the drawer and lit the burner to heat the water for my tea.  I really needed that tea, it was cold in here!  Leaning against anything in my way, I hobbled toward the wood stove, when I noticed mom’s walking staff leaning in the corner… it sure helped to take the pressure off my foot.  I opened the ash door and the grate, first steps to starting a new fire.  Then I noticed Jacobs’s favorite chair.

One of my clients at the resort had given me a “bungee” office chair; super comfortable to sit in, with awesome high-tech rolling coasters.  Jacob loves “getting a ride” on the chair, where I would spin him around and around.  My heart clenched and I wondered how they were doing. I pulled that chair up the single step from the computer room and sat down.  Relief!  I scooted myself over to check the water for tea, and pushed off for a glide across the room to reset the stove fire.  If my foot didn’t hurt so much, I might have fun with this.  It certainly will make it easier for me to stay off my feet.

After starting the stove, hard to do from a sitting position, I hobbled over to the computer room. Two things were on my agenda: a cane and my computer chair.  I might have mom’s walking staff, but it feels awkward and I want to try using one of her canes instead.  There were two in the crock stand next to the TV: one with a standard curved handle, but thin, and a ball headed one, sturdy.  After testing them out, I settle on the ball headed one; it’s shorter and a better height for me, but will be harder on my wrist.  Hopefully I won’t have to use it for long.

My computer chair is on casters like the bungee chair, I can use it to move around in that room, and then move to the other chair for the rest of the house.  I’ll have to move the rug runners out of the hall, and out of the bathroom, otherwise, the dining room and kitchen are both tile and unobstructed.  But there are still some things that just can’t be done from a chair.

I took a couple of Ibuprofen and washed them down with my tea.  I moved the pot over to the stove to stay warm, and quietly sipped while I went over in my head what I needed to do today.  First was to get dressed, then pull something out of the cooler for dinner tonight, and for tomorrow, maybe the next day, too.  Next was to start up the generator so I could take a shower, draw off some water for the next few days, and wash dishes, the usual things that don’t wait just because I was clumsy.  There was no guarantee that I wouldn’t feel worse tomorrow.  Ok, I can do this, and both immediate items were close to each other, but on the other side of the door; outside; where there is a fresh 8” of snow, and is still snowing.  Crap.