Saturday, January 26, 2008

Latest News

Another photograph from 1994 but this time it is from Anderson, Texas. Anderson is the county seat for Grimes County. This image was made in a one-room cabin across from the County Court House which is a beautiful building. The cabin was obviously a law office in the 1890's. I love the way the old broken glass becomes mottled from the reflected light.

The latest news is that there isn't much news from here. I'm still pretty much confined to the house with the broken ankle. We have settled into a routine so it isn't quite as difficult as the first few days were. We are sleeping in the downstairs bedroom which reduces the need to go up one flight of steps every day but it still leaves one or two steps to negotiate from the bedroom to the dining room. In order to get to the studio everyday, I manage to scoot up on my backside every morning. I don't dare try to go up with the crutches and not put any weight on the broken ankle. I'm a lot better on the crutches but not that good.

I am so much more sympathetic to anyone with a disability or an injury. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to do things that you never even consider doing when you can use all of your limbs. And I know that this is a minor injury and it will heal and I'll be back to climbing stairs and walking streets but right now it is frustrating.

I'll go back to the Doctor on Monday and they will do an x-ray to see if everything is healing properly. If so, I might be able to put a bit of weight on the ankle. That would be nice and help with balancing and maybe even getting up and down the stairs. I will have the cast for another two weeks at least, then I'm not sure what comes next. From what I've heard from other people with a broken ankle, I'll probably have to wear some sort of walking support shoe for a while. I keep having a bad dream about having the x-ray discover that the bone isn't healing properly or has slipped out of place. So on Monday if you hear a scream coming from South of the Border you'll know that my bad dream has become reality!

We have been so blessed with friends who have brought us dinner and stayed to eat with us so I don't feel nearly as isolated as I might. And besides that the dinners have been delicious. And it has given Nurse Ned a break.

The weather has turned beautiful here. Sunny, blue, blue skies. Cool at night and warm in the middle of the day. No wonder that during this time of the year we have such an influx of Canadians and Americans from the snowy States in the North.

2 comments:

Charles Hall said...

For all of us the best way to learn compassion is to walk in someone else's shoes. In fact it might be the only true way. Sympathy, empathy, compassion and understanding... While they all overlap in their meaning there are distinct differences as well. Hum! I might have to write about this.

And yes... the weather is incredible; unfortunately I leave for NY tomorrow and a possible snowstorm.

Billie Mercer said...

Charlie, I hope you do write about these concepts and the differences as seen from your shoes. My personal experience with someone with disabilities come from helping take care of my sister who became a paraplegic almost over night due to cancer and a dear, dear friend who has a degenerative neurological disease which has gradually robbed this brilliant woman of one activity after another and now is affecting her eyes and breathing. She keeps readjusting to her reality and she is an inspiration on how to live as best as you can in the NOW. At any rate, I'd like to read your thoughts on this, actually I like to read your blog period. I always come away with something to think about, disabled, injured or not.