The Florida Hot Dog Days of Summer have hit our area. It is now 91 and it is 6:00 pm. During the day it gets to feel like it is 100 degrees. It is real nice to have a pool. It is just too bad that I can’t go in it because of my foot. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I believe that the wound s starting to close and hopefully in a few more weeks it will be ok to put some pressure on it and be able to go in the pool instead of looking at it like I do now.

Ahhhh, wishful thinking......

Went to the doctor again today. He seems satisfied that the ulcer on the bottom of my foot is getting better. He said that it looks like another month and it will be all healed. We’ll see.

He pulled out one more long stitch that was inside the ulcer. A stitch that should have dissolved away but in my case, it just pushed itself out or rather it just came out due to body rejection. At least that is what he said. I have my doubts because I never heard of such a thing. You stitch the deep tissue and after a while they dissolve. I don’t think I had any trouble before with stitches inside my wounds. Now all of a sudden they are being rejected by my body. I don’t know........

Anyway, it is hot as heck here. Wish I was able to go into the pool. But not for another month.

Oh well.......

Later..

After coming home from the foot doctor yesterday I felt pretty good about what he said. He said that the progress was good and he took a knife and cleaned up around the wound. He cleaned the dried blood and some callusing around it. I still have to stay off of it so it will heal better and quicker.

Today, this morning when changing the bandages, I took a picture of it. I got to tell you that it looks like raw meat. To me it looks like it will never, ever heal. Hopefully changing the bandages two to three times a day will eventually heal it but I would not bet the farm on it. To me it has a long way to go and it also looks like it won’t get there any time soon.

So until later.................

Well it now seems that Florida is starting their rainy season. It is hot and muggy all day but then in mid-afternoon it tends to cloud up and rain. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good thing. This part, and all parts for that matter, is and has been very dry. Every news cast preaches about open fires, and be careful when barbecuing. Small sparks can set of a 5000 acre wildfire. So the rain is very good.

Good especially for my $1,00+ worth of bushes that we had planted around the side and back of the house. Mostly for privacy is what it is for. Plus a few of the bushes that we planted when we first got here had died and it was unsure wether or not they would come back.

Tomorrow is a big day. Maybe the doctor will say I can walk on my foot a little and go into the pool. I hope so. It’s getting pretty old sitting around not being able to do anything. But not to worry, it’s all good.

Until later................

The weather here in sunny Florida is just that. Sunny. And hot. It is going to be in the 90’s all weekend and will cool down Monday to 89. The weather channel we watch here they never tell the humidity when they tell the weather. Maybe they are ignoring it or they feel they don’t need to tell you it’s humid. All you have to do is walk outside. You know it is going to be a hot day when you wake up and it is already in the high 70’s.

My healing is going according to plan. I need to see the doctor next Monday. Hopefully I can get a good report on my foot. Maybe he will take out the stitches. I can’t wait for this nightmare to be over. Can’t do anything without putting weight on the bad foot. Just lay around, sit and use the computer. Makes for a long and sometimes boring day.

But I should not complain. There are people worse off then me I guess.

So, until later..............

Today is a lazy Sunday. A day to do nothing and just relax. Wait, I think I already do that. Nevermind. Today is just another day.

So tomorrow will be one week since the surgery on my foot and leg. I have a dr’s appointment tomorrow. I am hoping he will take out the stitches. To me that would be a sign of progress. I don’t know when I will be able to put any weight on it. All I know is that it is a pain in the butt to hop around to get into position to go to the bathroom. The scooter I have is nice and does the job but I really would hate it if he said I needed it for another month.

Anyway, it 80 degrees now, going up to 90. Can’t go in the pool so I guess I will go inside and watch a movie, or stay outside and read something. That’s what I will do. Read. Then the movie.

Later..........

It is now the third day after my surgery and having this type of surgery is a pain in the, well, leg. It took about 2 hours from start to finish to have the surgery and it will take four weeks for it to heal enough so I can walk again.

I am getting around using something called a “roll-a-bout.” It is like a little scooter that I put my operated on leg on two small pads and all my weight goes on there. I can then use my other leg to propel me around the house. It has four wheels and a handlebar. It even has brakes! It is rented so as much as I will miss it (yea, right) I have to send it back.

Keeping any weight off of the leg is a hard thing to do. I also have to keep it elevated and not down. This cramps my computer style. But four weeks is not a long time, I’ll get through it.

I have a post-op appointment with my doctor. Maybe he can loosen my cast a little.

Later.....

On the 27th I am having more surgery on my foot. They are going to cut my tendon in an effort to lengthen it so my foot won’t be pulling down causing the ulcer on the bottom of my foot to never heal.

I guess it is pretty common to have this done. Common or not, I am really getting tired of changing my bandages 3 and sometimes 4 times a day. It is the ulcer from hell that will not heal. Hopefully it will heal after this surgery.

My only fear is that I will get an infection and wind up in the hospital like last time. I am not looking forward to that at all. I am not looking forward to the recovery period either. My foot will be in a cast and the healing time is like 4 to 6 weeks. That puts it to June. Looks like another summer I won’t be taking advantage of my pool. But I guess there is still July and August for that.

So, wish me luck and I’ll keep posting........

Well I bought myself a new computer. It is a laptop a 17” MacBook Pro. It is way lighter then my old one and more powerful. It just gets things done faster.

I have developed another sore on the bottom of my foot. Ir should I say that I still have a sore on the bottom of my foot. There is a nice hole on the bottom and it just won’t heal.

Listening to the news today really pissed me off. It seems that our President of this United States had a hand in pulling the strings and firing or “letting go” the CEO of General Motors. He also gave Chrysler 30 days to restructure, and GM 60 days to restructure. Who does he think he is?

GM and Chrysler did not have anything to do with the crises we are having today. It was AIG insurance. Now that they screwed up and received billions of dollars from the government they screw that up buy giving their CEO’s a bonus. Yea, yea, I know.... there was a contract that needed to be honored by law and they had to get paid. But some of them reduced their bonus and did not take the entire thing. Clap, clap for them.

Obama.... lst’s see..... how about the members of Congress. What kind of “perks” or bonuses do they get. They don’t pay for their health insurance... ever for them and their families. They receive their pension EVEN IF THEY GO TO JAIL! Whould you get your pension if that happened? I don’t think so. There are many other perks they get and are not ever going to give them up. When they make the rules, they make good and beneficial rules for themselves.

Oh yea, one more thing.... President Obama gets roughly $400,000 to be the Commander in Chief. He get’s his presidential salary until he is like 85 yrs old. I bet he won’t ever have to pay for health insurance either.....

Later

Over the past few months I have spent a ton of money. Money for the front of the house to fix the grass. It all had to be removed and replaced. They do things different here. In Chicago if you wanted new grass the guy would come over with a sod cutter and cut your sod which would leave just dirt. Here they get a big giant front loaded with the big scoop on the front and drag it over the existing grass “pulling” the grass off of the dirt. They they use the same machine to level the dirt getting it ready for the sod to be laid down.

We replaced the couch’s in the living room with lay-Z-boy’s. Which makes it much more comfortable to sit and watch TV or a movie. Very comfortable if I do say so myself. We also bought a leather sleeper sofa for the “office room.” When people stay over you can pull it out and fill it with air. It too is very comfortable. I was surprised to actually find it very comfortable for a blow up mattress.

I am not done yet. I would like to buy a big sized generator for when we lose power. I hope we don’t but the reality is it will happen. A few hours isn’t bad but if a hurricane hits up then it may be a while before the power comes back. I would like to be ready when it does happen.

The thing I would want most is shutters. Automatic shutters. Just push a button and the shutters come down. Now you have to get the steel shutters from the garage and put them up all around the house. A royal pain in the butt. If I can’t have those then I would like to have the hurricane screen. Looks like a big window shade but has hurricane protection. I haven’t looked into how much those are but I will.

That it for now. Easter is coming and Jack and Ruth and Tim are flying down for a week. They are staying at my brother-in-law’s condo in Ft. Myers Beach and will come here for Easter dinner. I am not sure who else is coming. Maybe Brooke but we’ll see.

Later..........

Well once again it seems that I have developed another ulcer on the bottom of my right foot. I really don’t know what caused it. Perhaps it is from my orthotics that cost me an arm and a leg and the insurance won’t pay for them. It is not that I woke up one morning and said to myself, after stretching and scratchin’ my sleepy parts, “Hey, today I am going to be productive, I am going to be a big boy and get me some orthotics.” “Yep, that’s what I’m going to do!”

I would not want them.... ever.... if the doctor did not say to get them. They are, in my opinion, the cheapest pieces of crap ever developed for a 250 pound “+” kind of guy to be standing on. I anticipate that if I keep wearing them, in six months, they will be flattened down to a paper thin pieces of nothing that won’t do me any good, assuming they did me some good in the first place. Which I doubt.

But anyway, enough bithin’. Weather here is starting to get warm. At least it is out of the 50’s when I get up. Not much more but still....

So, I’ll keep posting my trials and tribulations regarding my quest to have the insurance pay for my orthotics.

Later....