11/4/22
Boy, is it rainy here in Portland. It is November as all get out around here. I have been pining every day for sunshine and warmth.
My dental work has been coming along steadily, with appointments every one to two weeks. I finally got the new denture today. It fits OK, but unfortunately I can tell I will need an adjustment in the next couple of days. I was hoping to have that all wrapped up, so that I could finally get out of this rain and gloom, by the 16th. It seemed that I was on track to do so.
But now I’ve broken my foot.
It’s not a major break; just a stress fracture, as best today’s nurse practitioner could glean from the X-ray.
I’ll back up a bit.
I had been having a cozy, very relaxing time for the past week here with my Servas friend Debbie, in outer NE Portland on the edge of Gresham. I really hadn’t been out much, because the weather has been so dismal. But last weekend, during a brief sun break, I took the bus to the grocery store to stock up on some provisions. The bus stop is about ten blocks from the house, and then I visited two grocery stores, about ten blocks apart from each other. So by the time I got home, I had walked a total of about thirty minutes. I began noticing that my right foot was hurting with each step. I thought it was odd, and couldn’t understand why that might be the case. I briefly considered that it might be broken, but concluded that must be absurd, because nothing had happened to the foot. Maybe it was gout? Or some sort of weird arthritis?
I didn’t know, so I just took it extra easy for about four or five days, barely even rising from the couch.
But today I decided to get it looked at. I went to the immediate-care place near my condo—I had been visiting my friend Greg in that neighborhood for a couple of days, so it was convenient—and after examining the foot, asking questions, and reviewing the X-rays she ordered, the nurse practitioner told me she was pretty sure it was a stress fracture. Apparently it is relatively common for such a thing to happen in circumstances like mine, without an obvious “breaking point.”
Needless to say, this is a setback. I am not happy about it.
I will need to stay in town at least another four weeks (possibly up to eight—oof!) to let it heal and get another X-ray to confirm that I’m good to go.
So, it looks like I’ll be here through the end of the month, anyway.
Argh.
I guess I’ll have plenty of time to get comfy with the new teeth…
But I’ll leave you with some beauty here. The other day—before I realized the foot pain was serious—I carried my bike on the bus into Portland, and visited Laurelhurst Park. I had intended to visit this beautiful pocket of the city last month, when the weather and trees were still summery, but I ran out of time. It’s just as well, because in the aftermath of the early fall rains, the place is now spectacular.
Please enjoy.
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