April 12, 2022. Madison, Mississippi. Weaned from the Boot.

On Monday, I had an appointment at the Mississippi Sports Clinic. Two weeks ago Monday, I was given an Xray of my foot. And I was given a boot to wear all day every day, except going to bed. The first day I hated wearing the boot. It was heavy a clunky. But by Wednesday I was able to walk without hurting my Achilles which was a relief so I got used to it. And in fact I actually liked wearing it because the boot protected my ankle. But yesterday, the good doctor told me that she was weaning me off the boot. The first day I, which is today, I was to remove my boot for one hour and just carry on with my normal activity but wearing a sturdy show. And I was to put the heel lift from my boot into my shoe. Over the next 14 days, I was to increase my foot in the shoe one hour. So tomorrow I must be out of my boot for two hours. And so on. In my ignorance, I thought to myself, "How difficult will this weaning process be?" Well tonight, I found out. I could barely walk without holding onto the walker. My balance was all out of whack. To make life easier for myself, I decided to remove my boot at 9:00pm. Tomorrow evening I will remove my boot at 8:00. I usually take my nightly medications at 10:00 and am not active after that time so keeping the hours out of the boot will be easy. But what is not easy is walking without the boot. Now I know why she used the term weaning me off the boot. It took me three days to be comfortable with the boot. But it will take me 14 days to be totally out of the boot. I am amazed.