Needles and Nutcrackers

My very best ex-boyfriend once told me, "Be careful what you wish for, because it just might come true!" In this case, I was wishing for some specialized treatment for my weak and unstable ankle that I should have received to begin with and boy did I get it!  I was probably given the works for being so whiny with the Worker’s Comp doctor before I finally got to see the orthopedist. I should have snatched a peak at the WC doctor’s notes when the Ortho doc left the room! I imagine, in some cryptic doctor speak they read…."Would’ya fix this drama queen’s ankle ::wink, wink:: and do her up right, because I have about had it with her self-diagnosis and complaints!"

Or, maybe it was payback for all the times I teased Ab when she was complaining about some minor ailment, and I said…"Sure honey, I’ll take you to the doctor, it’s going to be fine after he gives you a shot or maybe he’ll just amputate!"

That’ll teach me!

I’d often heard about cortisone injections. Yesterday I experienced one and it was the worst pain I’d experienced since childbirth. How’s that for dramatic? Oh yeah. He stuck that needle down into the inside ankle joint from the top of my foot with out the benefit of anesthesia and that cortisone burned into my ankle to do it’s wonders!  YIKES.  I nearly jumped horizontally from that table and jerked my leg back in pain. (The part about Nutcrackers comes later..but oh how I wished…He was just in the right position!) Anyway, I do believe one should be unconscious for such a procedure and IF there is ever a next time, I’d better be. Nah.  I will NEVER knowingly have a cortisone injection again.

Then if that wasn’t enough, he decided to "immobilize" my ankle once again by placing it in a fiberglass cast, in my choice of holiday colors. I chose a brilliant blue, since it matched what I was wearing yesterday. It won’t go well with the uniform, but what the heck, at least it’s a walking cast. This time I will be immobilized (ha) for 3 weeks. When the ortho tech noticed he was casting my right leg he said, "Did you drive yourself here today?" When I told him I had, he said, "Well you can’t drive with a cast!" He explained that I could be found at fault in an automobile accident, while wearing a cast on the driving leg, even if it wasn’t my fault. I told him that I am now an expert at driving with a cast, having had that ankle in a cast at least annually for the past 5 years! Besides, I was now 2 hours away from home, and certainly couldn’t sit there waiting for two people to come get me and my car back home. But I said, I will check with my insurance company after all.

I made it home safely, but took advantage of the shopping opportunities in the big city. There’s a wonderful store called "Home Goods" that has unique closeout odds and ends, to include holiday decor, furniture, bedding and bath, dishes, art, etc., that I love to stop at when I am in the area. So this is the Nutcracker part of the story.

Last year we didn’t have a Christmas tree or much of a celebration for Ab’s birthday which is also in December. She didn’t protest and was pretty understanding considering she was just turning 12 years old.  But I knew it just wasn’t the same for her, especially with all that was going on.  Her brother had just run away in mid November, Papa was hospitalized up until Christmas Eve, she was just getting over a bad case of pneumonia, and I was terribly exhausted and sad.  Sadder than sad, if the truth be known. How I managed to pull a Christmas together is beyond me right now.  I just don’t remember, but I know it was unlike any we’d celebrated before.

Recently, Ab asked about this coming Christmas. She said, "Can we have a tree and decorations this year? Remember Mom? We didn’t have any decorations last year and it just didn’t seem like the holidays around here."  I assured her we’d have a bang-up Christmas and I plan on keeping my promise, despite the cast and the fact that our family is now down by 50%.  I will hire someone to put lights on our house, and Ab and I will put up the prettiest Christmas tree ever!  Together, we’ll shop for new ornaments, which should make it more fun. I was kinda getting tired of the same old ornaments we had anyway.

So, yesterday at Home Goods, I got a start on our new Christmas decor by starting a Nutcracker collection, in various sizes. They are beautiful and they bring back memories of a dress-up day, when Abbie and I went to see the amazing Nutcracker Ballet a few years ago.

It’s going to be a blessed Christmas at our house this year!