Keeping my foot up over the weekend seemed to help it a lot, and it was a tiny bit worse this morning, so today in the office I have it propped up on a trashcan.
I continue to feel silly about the cane. (Apologies to LA, who has seen most of the following rant before.) Yesterday the maitre d’ at a restaurant offered us a table by the door so I wouldn’t have to walk; Rudder asked for one further in (where it’s warmer) without even realizing what the man was doing. I did appreciate the gesture, and thanked the man for it, but I sort of wish people wouldn’t go out of their way.
I wouldn’t feel stupid using a cane if I couldn’t walk without it, or if there were something really wrong with me, but it feels silly to use a visible prop for something as minor as a sprain. Or not silly, exactly; I wouldn’t mind looking silly if it helped my foot heal faster. What I’m afraid of is looking obnoxious, like I’m seeking pity or special treatment that I don’t really need. This is worse because the pain fluctuates; sometimes it hardly hurts at all (until I bend my foot a certain way or take too long a step) and I walk as far as the coffee machine without my cane. There are plenty of people who have serious trouble walking and who do need special treatment, who have anything from MS to slipped disks to worn-out knees. I want to keep using this cane because this is taking annoyingly long to heal and this might accelerate the process or at least make it hurt less, but I’d appreciate if if y’all could turn your eyes away and just take those wonderful generous and helping impulses to all the folks who need them more.
Don’t get me wrong. I do appreciate the thought, and I don’t want to discourage people from being nice – just the opposite. If you offer me help I’ll thank you for the offer. I might take you up on it, if I’m hurting or sometimes if I’m not hurting much, if you’re a stranger who has no way of knowing there’s nothing wrong with me and it would take to much time to explain. Please don’t stop offering help to people who need it. It’s just that I feel like an imposter presuming on your good will, and so I’d appreciate it if you’d just sort of look the other way, because there’s likely to be someone who needs your help more over there. Thanks for the good will, though.
Not a prob. Besides, I often feel like that myself. Since my need for equipment comes and goes I feel like a doofus to be ‘healthy’ for a while, then a gimp, then healthy again…feh.
Keep the weight off your foot and soon all will be well. ~LA
I know how you feel. I have a cane myself that I use… occasionally. Not as often as I used to, but probably not as often as I ought to either, because I feel silly using it – I mean, looking at me you’d think I’m a perfectly cable-bodied person, so why the cane? I’ve gotten a lot of REALLY weird looks – especially in airports where it has to go through the x-ray.
Anyway, one difference is that I don’t use it for support as much as as a signal. It doesn’t help my walking (not much anyway), but it’s a tangible sign that there’s something wrong with me and that when I find a chair to sit down at museums etc. it’s NOT that I’m lazy, but because I actually need to sit. This was especially necessary about 15 years ago (okay, that made me feel old!) because who believes a 13-year-old *isn’t* lazy when she sits on a chair meant for elderly, pregnant and disabled people? I got a lot of snarky looks until Mum got the idea of getting me a cane.