not so fast…

About ten days ago, gearing up for my final “post surgical appointment” six months out, I developed a little bit of tenderness in my foot. Then I developed a bit of swelling. Then a lot of swelling. Hmmm.

I’d been doing so well- back to walking in the morning at least three or four miles- and even some gentle hiking on fairly flat terrain. And then- this.

Turns out I have a “stress reaction-” likely a stress fracture in my foot thanks to the orthotics that I’ve been wearing which were customized for me at a PT place. See, I walk on the sides of my feet (or I used to walk on the sides of my feet) and so a nice lady at a PT place half an hour from my house did a fancy gait analysis on me by sticking sensors in my shoes and hooking me up to a computer… and then she made me some cool orthotics with some added bumps fused to the bottom of the inserts to encourage my foot to roll inwards, “correcting” my gait. I wore them faithfully for 4 months changing them out every time I changed my shoes.

Well, my gait is corrected now. I walk good and straight now. The problem is, that in the “correcting,” the little bump aggravated my foot and I developed a crack in the bone just above where the bump made contact with my foot. (At least that’s my doc’s best guess.)

So now I’m on some medication to stop the swelling and I’m wearing orthopedic shoes (they look just as bad as they sound) and I have some new bump-free inserts. There is the spectre of returning to the dreaded “boot,” too, if a few weeks of wearing black leather cement blocks doesn’t allow for the healing to happen.

Now… that I’ve been eating every carb that isn’t nailed down for the last six months and have gained some “post surgical weight due to inactivity…” that probably doesn’t help either. Every pound I can lose (and there are 20 extra ones on my frame right now) will make the load on my poor foot a little lighter so I suppose that as we approach the Season of Feasting (the Great 50 Days of Easter after a long Lenten fast) that… I’ll be flipping the script and going back to salads and lean protein.

In a world in which people are being locked up in El Salvadorian prisons on the mere suspicion of their belonging to gangs or being terrorists… and fully legal immigrants with real visas are being pulled by men in black masks out of their homes and workplaces and off the streets and disappearing, and where trade wars have escalated to ridiculous limits and the cost of groceries has soared, curtailing the ability for the average family to provide nourishing meals for their children…. this seems (it is) a little self indulgent.

And, in the week in which we walk with Jesus to the cross and watch as the Captain of our Salvation is executed… this might feel “off.”

So, apologies. And…I’m in all of it. Writing letters to my senators and speaking at rallies at the Capitol for better gun laws to reduce violence and killing in our Commonwealth.. and praying with the headlines and working to encourage those in the diocese who are caring for the lost, lonely and vulnerable among us…and presiding at services that mark the holiest season of our Christian year. I’m walking towards Easter (albeit in ugly shoes) with all of you and look forward, in just 3 days time when we can say, “Welcome Happy Morning.”