In the Lenten Season
Yesterday on Ash Wednesday, while Catholics were filing into churches (the few that are open, that is) to assist at Mass and to receive the ashes upon their foreheads. While this ancient ritual was going on, I was sitting in a podiatrist’s office, describing my symptoms and listening to the proposed treatment.
The joint of my great right toe has been very stiff and painful for some time, and has been increasingly difficult to flex. It has begun to affect my gait, and I figured I’d better have it looked at before the warm weather arrives and my activity level increases with the arrival of grass and weeds and so forth.
The doctor took x-rays and then sat and down to discuss them with me. Seems that I have significant arthritis in that joint and almost no cartilage left. In addition, there is a bb-sized fragment of bone on top of the joint, which has been part of the problem with flexing the toe. The podiatrist showed me how my toe is canked off to the side in order to compensate, a situation not helped by how I’ve been compensating with my altered gait.
He fashioned a temporary orthotic device that he wants me to wear constantly for the next two weeks, at which time he will see me again and assess how things stand (no pun intended). If there has been improvement, he will have a permanent device made for me, and I will wear it from now on. If there has not been improvement, he will propose surgery to go in and shave down the bone fragment and do some other corrective work. As I am quite adverse to having someone cut on my body unless absolutely necessary, I will be praying and asking the saints to pray for me that surgery is not proposed.
The orthotic device makes me hyper-conscious of everything about how I walk and stand, and so I feel I am lumbering around like even more of a geezer than I usually do. Plus, my great toe is quite painful after today’s session of yanking and twisting and manipulating, so much so that I begged off of my usual evening walk with Jinx. He seemed to understand, but he will probably badger me mercilessly tonight for a walk. Since the ground is currently covered in sleet and snow, we shall see.
***
Speaking of ice and snow, our son and his family in Texas have been undergoing quite the trial. Zero degree temperatures are not just unusual there…they are a once-in-a-century occurrence. Their pipes are frozen, the roads are shut down, the stores that are accessible have bare shelves, the gas stations are closed, and I’m thinking the households are not particularly pleasant. Our son has no backup generator nor kerosene heater, etc., because they never need such things where they are. I can’t imagine how jolly the long evenings are with a six year-old and a three year-old in a completely silent, candlelit house, huddling around the gas oven with the door open so they can stay warm until it’s time to wrap up in forty pounds of quilts and go to sleep. At least their six month-old Golden Retriever, Chief, is having a grand time of it.
I heard Ann Barnhardt, the Catholic firebrand who used to be a cattle futures trader, asking for prayers for all the cattle who are freezing to death on the Texas plains. I was touched by her plea, not even having thought of the cattle trying to make sense of such temperatures. Being used to 80F sometimes in the winter, I am sure that 0F and 30 mph winds are causing those quiet, patient beasts to look at the horizon and wonder what is going on.
***
We awoke to a blanket of new snow, topped with an inch of sleet, being sluiced away by a heavy rain this morning. With all the recent precipitation, we are very close to reaching flood stage in the local rivers and streams. When I step out into the yard, I sink to the ankles in the marshy ground. Praise be to Christ for my new faux Wellingtons, which we bought last weekend!
The land seems dark now, in several ways. This is perhaps apt for a season of self-denial and concentrated prayer, a time of alms-giving and works of mercy. I pray that my eyes are open to opportunities to do good in a wise way.
May the good Lord bless each of you, my valued readers. Saint Joan of Arc, pray for us. Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us. Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for our animals.
~ S.K. Orr
7 Comments
Francis Berger
S.K. – I just wanted to let you know, you didn’t comment on the posts I linked earlier. You commented on this one:
https://www.francisberger.com/bergers-blog/sacroiliac-joint-dysfunction-small-part-big-pain
So you’re memory might not be as bad as you believe.
Francis Berger
I meant “your memory”, not “you’re memory”. Apologies.
admin
None needed, brother.
Sean G.
This entropic world can be quite a drag. Looking forward to the eternal growth of Heaven, though I’m in no hurry. I don’t know how people find the motivation without hope and long-term (eternal) spiritual goals. Having a mysterious and undiagnosed acute chronic arthritis problem myself I can relate to how debilitating even the smallest joint can be. I’m 35 and I’m not sure how my joints will be holding up in 20 years and beyond. I pray you’ll be enjoying long walks again soon.
I hope your son and his family are finding blessings in their hardship. We’ve had 25 below zero mornings lately but that hardly raises an eyebrow in Minnesota. It’s incredible what you can get used to.
admin
Good to hear from you, Sean, and many thanks for the kind wishes. Things are slooooooowly improving in the Lone Star State. I know they’re praying for sun and warmth. As you noted, it’s incredible what you can get used to. We used to have out-of-state friends and family visit us in Texas, and even in the spring, they would be absolutely flattened by the heat. My wife and I still talk about a summer afternoon in Galveston that was our all time hottest day. Even with the sea breeze, it felt like being in an oven full of hammers. The kids and grandkids are used to that; this zero degree stuff is very disorienting for them. Especially with no power and frozen/busted pipes.
If you did martial arts like I did, your joints will begin to pay you back at some point.
Francis Berger
S.K. – Man, I feel for you. I have spent the last two years dealing with this hallux rigidus ordeal. I didn’t even know I had a problem until my SI joint gave out over two years ago (I had been walking with an altered gait for about a decade. It messed me up badly)!
I had osteotomy surgery last year. The results have been satisfactory, but I am still not 100% (they say it takes about a year to fully heal; it will be a year come July).
I opted for the surgery because my problem had become unbearable. If you do opt for surgery, keep this mind – if it’s the major surgery (osteonomy) rather than the minor bone scraping one (cheilectomy), it will take at least two or three months before you can walk somewhat properly again. And the first three four days after the surgery are very painful.
Once again, I feel for you. On the plus aside, at least you caught the problem in time and did not have to go through the SI joint pain I had to endure two years ago (you commented on the post I wrote about that. Back then, I hadn’t figured out the SI pain was caused by the hallux rigidus).
Anyway, if you have time to spare, you can read up on my own experience with hallux rigidus in the following posts:
https://www.francisberger.com/bergers-blog/my-big-toe-is-connected-to-all-my-other-physical-maladies
https://www.francisberger.com/bergers-blog/learning-to-walk-properly-again
admin
Thanks, Francis. I appreciate your perspective on this, and will certainly be mindful of your words as I wait to see what the doc says after I return in two weeks.
As annoying as the toe situation, it’s nothing to compare with my battles with memory loss. I did not remember commenting on your post about this. In fact, I couldn’t find my comment on the two posts to which you linked. But then again, I don’t remember a lot of what I write on my OWN blog. I go back and re-read things from a few months back, and I sincerely think, “Who wrote THAT?”
Thank you again for your perspective. I hope by the time July rolls around, you will be back to 100%.