Boot / Transition

A meme in bold white text on a black background: 'I asked the ER doctor if I could do my own stitches. She said, Suture self.'

Day 20Boot / Transition

Footloose

THE STITCHES CAME OUT!!! Hooooooooraaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy... one more step (har-har) towards recovery. We are 3 weeks in, and today Dr. Stein popped his head in…

Pain 2/10 NWB boot-transition · milestone · stitches

A retro-style illustration of Jesus with a halo on a black background, above the quote: 'Remember, God doesn't love people with small biceps.' Attributed, naturally, to Jesus.

Day 21Boot / Transition

Personal Jesus

Today was an awesome day. And not just because it's exactly 3 weeks post-op. And not just because my foot got its first bath. And not just because it's…

Pain 2/10 NWB boot-transition · milestone · strength-training

The Mugatu 'so hot right now' meme from Zoolander, captioned 'THAT DEATH VALLEY... ...SO HOT RIGHT NOW.'

Day 22Boot / Transition

Walking on the Sun

I've been putting this off for days. But it's time to name the elephant in the room, the one thing in my running life I've never been able to quit. Badwater.…

Pain 2/10 NWB boot-transition · badwater · ultrarunning

Meme of an open package of Nabisco Oreos with the cookies lined up in a neat row, captioned 'I JUST DID A LINE.'

Day 23Boot / Transition

Lean on Me

Let's talk about how much surgery recovery leans on a positive mindset. Look, I'm not going to get all goofy here or start spouting Brené Brown-isms, but this…

NWB boot-transition · mindset · friendship

A meme of a happy little white chihuahua swimming through bright blue water with its eyes closed and a blissful grin. Floating labels name skincare and supplement ingredients around it: 'Hyaluronic acid,' 'Retinol,' 'Glycolic acid,' 'Vitamin C,' 'Vitamin E,' and 'Amino acids,' with 'Peptides' near the tail and the dog itself labeled 'Me.'

Day 24Boot / Transition

A Change Is Gonna Come

OK, peptide convo time (so muff your eyes and ears if this is not your jam) OMGGGGG the FDA's Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee did something amazing…

NWB boot-transition · peptides · fda

A Ron Burgundy meme: Will Ferrell in character as the mustached anchorman in a blue suit, looking earnestly at the camera, with bold caption text reading 'THAT'S A HODGEPODGE.'

Day 26Boot / Transition

Here Comes the Sun

I skipped yesterday's entry but I did not skip all the required stuff like stretching and eating healthy and soaking up the sun. I realized I was feeling a…

Pain 2/10 NWB boot-transition · mental-health · vitamin-d

A meme captioned 'my body after doing absolutely nothing all day,' showing two blue x-ray-style illustrations of a human figure with glowing red pain points at the neck, knees, and ankle.

Day 27Boot / Transition

Scar Tissue

Facebook did the thing today where it reminds you who you were nine years ago. And nine years ago today, I was parked in a chair a lot like the one I'm in now,…

NWB boot-transition · scars · comparison

The 'Conspiracy Keanu' meme: a wide-eyed young man with tousled hair looking bewildered, captioned 'THE UPDATE IS' across the top and 'THAT THERE IS NO UPDATE' across the bottom.

Day 28Boot / Transition

The Waiting

Some days the headline writes itself. Today's headline is: nothing to report. The update is that there is no update. Exactly four weeks ago I came home from…

NWB boot-transition · weight-bearing · physical-therapy

A flat-style illustration of a woman with dark hair in a bun and a magenta top, reaching up to arrange a horizontal roadmap on a wall: five colorful chevron arrows, each stamped with a clock, connected by dashed lines to note cards above and below.

Day 29Boot / Transition

Time Is on My Side

I am, at my core, a person who needs a finish line. Hand me a goal and a timeline that ends somewhere I can actually point at, and I will happily grind toward…

NWB boot-transition · weight-bearing · timeline

An animated Looney Tunes clip of Bugs Bunny sobbing dramatically, fat cartoon tears streaming from both eyes.

Day 30Boot / Transition

The Distance

Let me be straight with you: today the foot genuinely hurts. There's a deep, insistent throb in the heel bone this morning, well past the dull background ache…

Pain 5/10 NWB boot-transition · mindset · pain

Alexis from Schitt's Creek in a denim jacket, smiling and shrugging, with the caption 'Just being me' and a smiley emoji.

Day 32Boot / Transition

The Future's So Bright

Confession: I forgot to post yesterday. Not because anything went wrong. Because everything went... fine. I stretched. I slept great. I hit the weights, ate…

Pain 2/10 NWB boot-transition · mindset · goals

A Kermit the Frog puppet lying tucked in white bedsheets with wide, exhausted eyes, captioned 'When you want to sleep because of the fatigue but you can't sleep because of the nerve pain. #MSlife'.

Day 34Boot / Transition

Shock the Monkey

Hooo boy. That foot nerve pain is back, baby. BACK. It showed up around 10pm last night and yanked me right out of a dead sleep. For whatever reason my foot…

Pain 4/10 NWB boot-transition · nerve-pain · swelling

A retro comic-style illustration of Plato, the Greek philosopher, in a teal tunic and orange sash, captioned in bold cream lettering: '“Nice argument, but how much can you bench?” - Plato'.

Day 35Boot / Transition

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Going on week 3 of heavy lifting, week 4 of stretching and mobility. And god, what a difference it all makes. The catch is that it matters what and how I'm…

Pain 2/10 NWB boot-transition · strength-training · mobility

A someecards-style meme in dusty pink with two suited men, one adjusting the other's collar, captioned: 'Time flies when you're having fun... or something like that.'

Day 40Boot / Transition

Fly Like an Eagle

OH MY GAWD, I just realized it's been days since I posted. And honestly? I think that's a good thing. I've been off doing this wild new activity called life -…

Pain 2/10 NWB boot-transition · weight-bearing · six-week-check

Day 42Boot / Transition

Don't Stop

Today is a time machine. It points backward and forward at the same time, and I'm standing right in the hinge of it: six weeks post-op, to the day. First, the…

Pain 3/10 NWB six-week-check · throwback · hardware

A book-cover-style cartoon of a sunny cartoon farm - red barn, green hills, pigs, cows, roosters, a small US flag, and a farmer throwing his hands up in the middle of the path - under big drop-shadowed text reading 'Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal.'

Day 43Boot / Transition

Illegal

Okay, back into one of those grey areas (oooo, see what I did there). That's right: we're talking peptides again. And this one feels important to share. I've…

Pain 3/10 NWB peptides · diabetes · mody

A reaction meme: a man in a shirt and loosened tie in a kitchen, hands raised and mouth open in pure delight, under bold white all-caps text reading 'OMG I'M SO EXCITED!!'

Day 44Boot / Transition

I'm So Excited

The day has arrived!! And it's AWESOME! Now I know I promised a video of the [ahem] "pin extraction," but I want to save that since it's long, and I need to…

Pain 2/10 PWB pin-removal · weight-bearing · pwb