Turtle Tattler and Toe Tapper

I am currently sitting in the waiting area at the hospital. My husband is here for a procedure. I stayed in the prep area with him while they hooked him up and asked questions. When the nurse asked him if he recently had a fall, he laughed and said, “Yes, when I tried to save the turtle.”

She looked at him waiting for the rest of the explanation.

While he started to recount the story of the fall and the turtle, a few other nurses, overhearing his immediate answer, came over to listen as well.

“ My wife, ( pointing at me) and I were driving down our street. In the middle of the road was a large turtle. We often see them as we live across from a large lake. Too often people kill them on purpose. So, we approached the location and stopped the car. My wife, (once again pointing to me) asked me to get out and move the turtle who had now stopped crossing the road.

It was heavier than anticipated and the turtle started flailing its appendages, even the tail! It was so wiggly that it threw me off balance and I fell on the road. I was so crumpled up I couldn’t stand up. The turtle flew from my hands as I fell and landed without harm, but still in the road. After a few seconds the turtle made a mad dash under the car!

A neighbor had seen the whole thing and came to help. I had a bad case of road rash. The problem now became, how to extricate the turtle from under the car. Our neighbor got a stick and laid down on the road, trying to pry the poor animal out. It didn’t work. Finally it was decided to slowly drive the car, completely exposing the turtle. The neighbor stayed prone while I inched my way forward. When the turtle was in the clear, my neighbor lifted him up and placed him on the grass in the direction he was going. The poor thing was exhausted. Within a few minutes he got up and continued his journey.

So, to answer your question, yes, I had a fall.”

After the procedure, I was once again sitting by his bed. We had a two hour wait before he could go home. Finally, he was unhooked from all the tubes and bags, and allowed to redress. The nurse took him out in a wheelchair to the waiting car. Before she closed the car door she reminded him to leave the turtles alone!

I couldn’t help with the turtle, because I had had surgery on my foot. My big toe to be specific. I knew to expect pain after the surgery, but I did not expect the inability to move my toe! It took 3 weeks for most of the swelling to go down, but I still had no movement in my big toe. The doctor suggested I go for physical therapy.

When he first suggested it, I almost thought it was a joke. Therapy on a toe? My son-in-law said he pictured tiny barbells being pushed by my poor big toe!

The pain in my toe was finally waning , and then the therapist started to manipulate my foot and toe and the pain has returned greatly. How can this help me to get better when I feel worse?

Considering that I can’t drive, or take a walk, I will do whatever she says for the next month just in case she knows what she is talking about. I awaken each day to the mantra, “MY TOE WILL BEND, MY TOE WILL BEND!”