In Need of Sympathy

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Demetrios has suffered his first fracture. On Tuesday afernoon, leaving the house, he stepped on the edge of the welcome mat. Struggling (successfully) to regain his balance, he twisted his foot and broke the 5th (outermost) metatarsal.

We waited the usual 5+ hours in the Emergency Room to get it x-rayed and splinted. The only good part about that is, we sat next to a presumably Mennonite family with six adorable, absolutely beautiful children, ranging in age from 9 years to 9 months, four boys in suspenders, one baby boy in onesies, and a girl in blonde braids and a home-sewn, calico dress, who all sat there even longer than we did, never budging, never displaying the slightest impatience, the older children with their arms around the younger. They each had books to read or look at; they spoke, if at all, in low tones. Oh, for their patience, oh, for their inner peace!

Yesterday, the swelling having gone down, we went to have the cast put on. Unfortunately, the doctor vetoed our hopes of a walking cast. No weight is to be put on this particular fracture for six weeks!

Demetrios is inept with crutches; they are far too dangerous for him, we've discovered. We've bought him one of those fancy walkers with a seat in it. He can rest his knee on the seat and scoot around. He can sit on it and use it as a (clumsy but lightweight) wheelchair when his knee gets sore. There's a basket under the seat, so he can transport a book or a box of Kleenex when he moves from one room to the other.

We've made him comfortable on a sofa; he cannot get upstairs to bed.

He can drive because the injury is to his left foot, but can't get out of the car and into wherever he's going without help. That's no problem as we usually go everywhere together anyway.

Still, he is going to be quite limited. It's going to be a long 6 weeks.

Y'all come visit us, hear?