stupid foot...

It’s about 11:30 and I JUST arrived on campus – it’s the second day of school and I’ve already had to miss a class. This morning I went on a crazy adventure and am actually kinda proud of myself for surviving (and only crying twice).

At my doctor appointment with the SU doctor yesterday, I was told that there was a possibility that I could get my cast of since the fracture on my foot was so small. So today he set me up with an appointment at the clinic that he regularly works at called Villa Nuova. This morning I woke up bright and early and got on the phone to call a taxi….

Well… after giving the operator the address of my house she was like “no taxis this morning,” and the line went dead… I was like, shit! I just lost service! SOOOO I called back and was like “scusi, blah blah blah, address is… blah blah blah,” and again she was like “no taxis this morning.” I started flipping out… i had only 20 minutes til my appointment and I had heard it was about a 20 minute ride there. So I grabbed Susana (my host mom) and asked HER to call… maybe they were being mean to me because I spoke poor Italian??? But she got the same response – “tera, there are no taxi’s this morning… this is normal in Florence; very busy in the morning.” WAIT, WHAT?! How the heck was I sposed to get to my appointment to get my cast off?!?!?! Then she left (along with the paper that had all the info of the hospital, the doctor I was sposed to report to, the number of my student services guy at SU).

ANYWAYS. I FINALLY made it to the hospital – the ride there was incredible! I wanted to take pictures of the scenery from the taxi! The clinic was located in the countryside and I def want to try to go back in the direction (not to the hospital of course) sometime over the next 4 months.

The driver dropped me off at the back entrance of the hospital (asshole) and I when i walked in it was totally deserted… I was like “hmmm, yesterday they told me that the receptionist at the front desk would be expecting me… where the heck is the front desk?” When I finally found a person I tried to explain who I was and what I was looking for in italian (the name of the doctor I was sposed to report to was one of the things written on the paper that Susana had taken from me that morning… figures). “Sono studentessa di Syracuse e il dotore dame andare qui…” ::blank stare:: ummm…. No one knew what to do with me… finally I got a hold of SU and they called Dr. DeLeonardis (oh yea! THAT was his name!) and he took me to another doctor that specialized in orthopedics.

This orthopedic doctor ONLY spoke Italian but like I said before, I understand WAY more than people think I do and from the second he started analyzing my x-rays I started crying because everything he had to report was bad news for me… “She has to stay in the cast; this cast she has now is broken because she’s been walking when she shouldn’t have been walking; she needs to go BACK to the other hospital to get a new cast put on; it could get worse; there’s no other option; the cramping in her leg is her fault cuz she hasn’t been taking the injections that were prescribed to her…” etc etc.

After the diagnosis, Dr. DeLeonardis and I had a long talk. Basically it went like this: we (the doctors) think that you should keep the cast. We know it will heal correctly this way for sure. However, you have been walking on the cast you have now and it is broken and you have to go back to Santa Maria Novella and get a new cast put on then not walk on it AT ALL, and you have to take the injections to help your circulation. ::me sniffling::

The OTHER option… take the cast off, and don’t walk on your foot for the next two weeks. Not ever. It will still heal BUT there is a big risk that you can hurt it again.

Me: UGH. Get this thing off of me.

I called my mom (it was 1:30AM at home) and we talked it over and I decided to take it off. I was totally embarrassed because my foot smelled like vinegar and i felt really bad for the guy who had to clean my foot. But who cares… FREEDOM!

I promised Dr. DeLeonardis a million times that I wouldn’t walk on it then headed back to school where Jim (the guy that’s in charge of Student Life) lectured me over and over about being careful and taking the injury seriously and blah blah blah…

Seriously my foot is gigantic and purple and swollen – I am a very visual person and seeing it like this makes me actually BELIEVE that it’s hurt now. When it was in a cast I pranced and walked around all over the place as if it was perfectly ok. I think SEEING that it’s not ok for sure helps me understand how to take care of myself. Sooo… here we go… I’m not liek, an out of control person (like most of the people who work here prolly think I am since I a) broke my foot the 4^th day here, b) refused to take the medicine the hospital prescribed me, c) walked around even though I wasn’t sposed to, and d) broke my cast after having it for only 4 days)… AHHHHHH.

So anyone wanna go out tonight?!?