A Bit of a Setback

I told my boss that I would miss his meeting this morning due to a doctor's appointment but would be in my office mid-morning.  I expected the doctor to look at my foot, nod his head in approval, give me a referral to physical therapy and send me on my way.  In and outta there in 15-30 minutes was the plan.  Wrong.
My fractures are healing up nicely.  The toes are pretty straight and the flexibility will come back eventually, somewhat.  The swelling is just going to take time.  However, my big toe still bothers me and he was concerned about that.  The culprit?  The toe nail.  The trauma caused the nail to die and it was doing bad things so he said it had to go... a simple five minute surgery, he said.

An hour later, I limped out to the car barefoot because my big toe was wrapped up like a tootsie pop, big and round, and didn't fit in my sandal.  Brett wasn't with me because I thought I was going to the office afterwards.  I started the hour-long drive home, up the mountain.  As I started up the road, the anesthetic began to wear off and by the time I hit the curves my toe was screaming.  I wanted to pull over in a turn-out, turn off the car, and cry.  I wanted to call Brett to come get me -- but there is no cell service on the mountain highway and I didn't want to leave my car sitting there.  So, I gritted my teeth and gunned it.  I had one thought on my mind: get home ASAP.  I flew up the mountain.

So, I'm back on the couch with my foot on a pillow, an ice pack, and Aleve.  It will be a week or so before I can wear closed toe shoes and even think about riding.   Tomorrow the dressing comes off and I get to soak my foot in Epsom salts.  I'm as bad as a lame horse!

Its a good thing that yesterday I bought Winston a Jolly Ball to play with in his stall.  It will have to keep him occupied until I'm able to start riding again.  When I gave it to him, he immediately picked it up and threw it across his stall.  Again and again.

Of course, having my toe nail yanked today isn't all bad.  Its the perfect excuse to sit and watch all the Olympic freestyle rides on my laptop.  The ride by Charlotte Dujardin brought tears to my eyes.  What a beautiful rider and what an authentic person.  Her horse is pretty nice too.  I am thrilled she won and my congratulations to her, the British team, and all my British readers.  You guys rock!

Lastly, thank you all for your words of support and encouragement on yesterday's post.  It wasn't easy to write but if it helps anyone to trust their gut and their horse, like I learned to do, then it is worth every keystroke.  Some horses love to show, some horses hate it, and some are blasé.  Your horse will tell you where he falls on the spectrum.  Listen and honor what they say.  It's a partnership, it isn't a dictatorship.