The Doctor Gave me the Boot!

The pictures in this post have nothing to do with the "story." Except for the last few, they are images taken during our time in San Diego.

My beautiful daughter

Over the last year our daughter has lost over twenty pounds and is really looking great. Most of her weight loss can be attributed to taking long daily walks. She has also cut back a bit on treats, but is not really on a "diet."

Walking is one exercise I also enjoy, and I had looked forward to going out with her frequently this month.

But it was not to be. 

I first started experiencing some slight discomfort in my right foot while walking on the treadmill at Jojoba Hills. I knew I needed new walking shoes and assumed that was the problem. As the weeks went by it started to hurt more and more, even under normal walking situations.

On the first day of our visit, I went on a 3 1/2 mile walk with my daughter and had to ice it when we got back. I did not have on my good hiking boots, so that is what I blamed. 

This image is totally untouched! This IS what the sunset can look like from the roof deck of my daughter's home in Sunset Cliffs.

It's not that I didn't want to see a doctor about my problems, it is more that I think I know what is going on and how to treat myself! In this case I thought I might have a bit of tendonitis that would get better with rest and weight loss.

Not...

Craig helps with the cooking

As the days passed, I felt no improvement, and admitted I needed to see a podiatrist.  My AARP supplemental insurance plan lets me see any specialist who takes Medicare without a referral. So, on the 23rd I called the Scripps Foot Care center, and asked for an appointment for the following week. Since our upcoming plans include Mexico and  Quartzsite, neither of which would be an easy place to find a good foot doctor, I hoped I could get in before we leave the area on January 4. Much to my surprise I was offered an appointment the next day, Christmas Eve.

One evening our daughter and her son made homemade ravioli
YUMM!

Although we are not part of their HMO, Scripps is our medical home and where our regular doctor practices, which is why I looked there first. Their medical clinic buildings are quite extensive, and on every other visit have been bustling with activity. Normally the close parking lot cost $4. Not much if you are sick and don't want to walk. On Christmas Eve day the gate was open and there was no charge. Craig did drop me off at the door and found parking quite easily. Inside, the clinic was almost deserted. The waiting areas were empty, and although the pharmacy was open, there was no line.

I checked in at the Foot Care Center desk and was the only patient in the waiting area. A nurse quickly took me into a room and after hearing my story sent me across the hall for an x-ray. Again no wait. I think the x-ray tech was reading a book while waiting for a patient. Through the magic of digital imagery my x-rays were immediately available on the screen in the exam room, and I only

Teenagers after Thanksgiving Turkey

waited for a few minutes for the doctor to review them with me.

The x-ray showed my problem was not tendonitis. The doctor showed me three fractures in the bones of my foot. They are not large. He called them stress fractures, and showed me the bone shadows that indicated they were probably a few months old and that my body had tried to heal them, but with repeated walking the bone could not build up enough to stabilize.


Cause? Unknown. 

A few days before Christmas, almost full.

The injury might have occurred on our "race to the top" in Canyon De Chelly, or on the long walk along the river in Bullhead City. Weight and old shoes may have contributed, as might my thinning old bones. I had a bone density test some years ago, and it was fine, but perhaps I should get another done next time I'm in town or if I continue to have problems like this. My sister has osteoporosis.


In any event, the treatment is simple: the BOOT!

I will be wearing it for the next three weeks at all time except in bed or in the shower. When the bones are healed, I am to take it "easy" for a while and build up my walking distance and intensity slowly. 










The purpose of the boot is to stabilize the foot so the bones can knit together. It is really comfortable, and the foot no longer hurts at all.

I am standing up straight, my good foot cannot reach the floor

But, while wearing it my other foot cannot quite touch the ground. In fact there is a 1.5 inch difference. It turns out this causes me to have an almost instant, sharp pain in my back. Just standing at the sink to do dishes for a short time really hurts.

I used one of these at Target last spring 
when I had a sprained ankle

On Sunday, Craig tried to help me with this by taking a couple of trips to Walmart looking for shoes with a thick platform sole. After he brought home two different pair that didn't quite fit, I went back to the store with him. 

I think these shoes also look OK

We ended up at a Payless and found a pair of shoes that although not perfect, will allow me to walk for short distances without extreme pain in the back.







One final image from the days before Christmas:

On one evening our daughter made Summer Rolls, Thai Chicken Saté and Thai Beef Saté.  She is such a good cook!

Fort Pickens Campground

Three days (four nights) is just not long enough for us to get the flavor of an area, nor explore as much as we would like, but we try.

Does Craig look like he is enjoying retirement?

I  snapped this picture of hm as we were setting out for a walk on Saturday afternoon. To my eye, he sure doesn't look like a 70 year old!











After great sleeping weather overnight, the sun warmed the day to an almost perfect temperature. I started with a jacket, but took it off after a very short time. 

Our three mile hike was through the scrub and freshwater-swampy areas of the island. There were lots of blackbirds making their squeaky hinge call that brought back memories of springtime in Wisconsin.

We have seen tall grasses before, but none that quite matched these. If I'm 5'7", the grass had to be 12' tall.

There are many trees that died from hurricanes that went through this area. Some of them support osprey nests. This one seems to have been taken over by a heron. 













Even when we don't see animals on our walks, we keep an eye out for signs like tracks in the sand and scat.  This was quite fresh and right in the center of the path.  

We wondered what critter left it. No dog would have eaten that many wild berries. It seemed way too big to have been from a  raccoon or coyote.  Could it possibly have been a bear? We know that Florida has bears in many of its parks and that the Florida black bear is much smaller than some of his northern relatives.

We asked a volunteer if there were bear in the park, but he said no. Noting that all of the mammals had been wiped out in the last hurricane. I said, perhaps a bear had come back, but he questioned where the bear would have gotten the $1 for the bridge toll!

Our day ended with a walk over to the beach to watch the sunset.  

Another good one!

Sunday was a tourist day.  In the morning we spent some time exploring the old fort. 

They are a bit hard to see on this picture, but stalactites  are forming where the water is seeping through the lime on this structure. The white on the right side is a curtain-like formation similar to what we have seen in caves.

In the afternoon we headed over to Pensacola to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum. 

Blue Angels Planes

AWACS Airplane

So many great planes and stories about them.  This is a must see for anyone interested in the history of military aviation.

The Pensacola Lighthouse is just a short distance from the museum, and is open to the public. 

So of course we had to go see it and climb the 177 steps to the viewing platform just below the light.

The views were amazing on this clear warm day.

We met a few young Navy men as we climbed up and back down. They all looked so fit and were very polite. Some were there with their girlfriends. 

Climbing up wasn't as hard as I expected. There were window openings every thirty steps and each had an area that was large enough for us to sit for a few minutes and rest.

I took the two-handed approach to coming down.  Not the fastest, but I felt safer.

We ended the day by going out to dinner at a Red Lobster, using the second of our gift certificates we had gotten from our grandsons for Christmas.  Thank you boys! Grandpa Craig enjoyed a large Lobsterita, and I was the driver for the ride back to the park.

On Monday, I would have liked to have just stayed home and rested my legs that were sore from the lighthouse climb, but we hadn't yet had a chance to walk on the beach. We didn't go far, only about two miles round trip, but we enjoyed the sun and the surf.

Footprints in the sand

I know this is a long post, but I don't want to forget any of these unique and pleasant days at Fort Pickens. Since it was a National Seashore campground we got our space for half price with our senior discount pass. It had power and water, with a dump station. A great place for only $13 per night.  It is on my list of places I would like to come back to.