WTF-Beta

Congratulations!

thanks everyone!!

@wtg I definitely want to look into acupuncture now! I had it in mind, but since things were sort of improving, I thought I might wait. But now I need an extra healing burst! I think I may have written that I had acupuncture once, while in Japan, and it was like a miracle cure (this was for a shoulder injury that became a chronic problem. After several months of getting worse and worse, one visit with the acupuncturist and I was healed!)

@Piano-Dad said in Just my luck…(health update):

"Well, Jane, it just goes to show you, it's always something — if it's not one thing, it's another."

it certainly is!!

Wondering why the buddy-taping thing was so problematic.

I thought it was just because 1) that whole area is super swollen, and 2) my pinkie toe is so much shorter than the fourth toe, it was impossible to get it aligned in a way that was both useful and that didn't make the pain go through the roof.

I'm not convinced that buddy taping would make a difference anyway, because I'm not walk-walking and the way I'm moving my foot, I'm making sure to avoid flexing/bending the toe area at all. Maybe once the swelling goes down and I'm closer to actual walking, I'll try it again.

That suggests some damage to the joint rather than just a simple break.

This is my concern. The walk-in doc didn't say to schedule a follow up, but I will do so anyway!

TL;DR version: I broke my pinkie toe yesterday and it hurts like hell and because of all the other problems I have with my lower extremities, everything is totally messed up.

Long version:
I know I’ve talked about this but I can’t remember how much, but I’ve been dealing with problems with my right foot/leg and knees at least a year now. I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both knees, although a cortisone shot in the worse knee helped quite a bit.

Last fall I developed plantar fasciitis and tendonitis in both feet, which progressed to tendonopathy in multiple areas and eventually I was diagnosed with a bone deformity in my right heel.

During the summer, I fractured the bone in my right heel, top of the heel bone at the base of where the Achilles connects to the heel (this fracture was not from a fall or other impact but most likely connected to the bone deformity and associated problems) and I was in a boot for a while. I had an MRI, which showed severe Achilles tendonopathy (among other problems with the tendons along the side of the foot etc.).

I’ve been going to PT since January and religiously doing the PT exercises at home. Along the way, my left foot’s tendonitis and plantar fasciitis healed (yay) but the problems in my right foot have been intractable. That’s the foot with the bone deformity. My local ortho has been saying that ultimately probably surgery is probably going to be needed, but the foot surgeon in the big city (which my local guy referred me to) has suggested that I may be able to manage it with PT. So I’ve been in a holding pattern, with some good days, some bad days but mostly gradually increasing the amount/distance I can walk etc.

My main goal has been to avoid that surgery, because (besides just wanting to avoid surgery in general) it would mostly likely require 8 weeks (if not more) of non-weight bearing and I don’t think the rest of my body can handle that. (Having my right foot in the boot really messed up my back and my left foot). What they do for the surgery is detach the achilles from the heel bone, shave off the bone deformity, take part of the tendon in the big toe to augment the damaged Achilles, attach that extra tendon to the Achilles, and then reattach the Achilles to the heel bone. It’s a nasty surgery and long recovery and I haven’t looked into the stats about outcomes but it’s not a guarantee that I’d be able to walk pain free afterward.

Still, I was feeling hopeful and just being able to walk a little more has been a huge improvement.

And then yesterday morning, while barefoot (because I was getting ready to get into the shower), I lost my balance (because my right foot is not in good shape), my left foot slammed into a door frame and I ended up with a broken toe (and probably some soft tissue damage) on my left foot. The one that was supposed to be the good foot.

Now I can’t walk (again) and I’m not going to be able to do a big chunk of my PT routine, so besides the impact on my left foot, I’m worried that the progress I’ve made with my right foot is going to slide backwards. And I’m worried that having my right foot need to support more of me because my left foot is out of commission is going to exacerbate the problems with my right foot.

And of course, there’s almost nothing they can do for a broken toe. Yesterday after the x-ray, the nurse tried the buddy taping thing, but that was so painful we couldn’t get it in place. They also recommended a carbon fiber insert for my shoe (which insurance doesn’t pay for for some reason) but I don’t think my only-just-recovered left heel and arch can stand to be on that insole, so I said no (they said I could come back later if I decide I want to try it, maybe after the swelling goes down some). And other than that, there’s nothing.

And I’m not even sure whether I should be icing or not, because there’s some recent research that icing may delay healing.

If you read this far, thank you! That’s it. Just my luck.

@Bernard the humanitarian crimes of this administration are off the charts. It’s disgusting. And as someone with a spouse who’s a foreign national, terrifying.

Besides that, this is another example of this administration’s misplaced priorities. Why devote government resources to arrested and deporting someone who wasn’t hurting anyone else? Before he was targeted, his presence in the community didn’t harm anyone, and most likely benefited the community (running a local shop, small business). And no one benefits from his removal from the community, and at minimum, his spouse and the people in his circle of friends and the customers are harmed by it.

Most of the people who have need arrested, deported, or otherwise disappeared fit this description. Not hurting anyone before removal, contributing to the community through the work they do, and their absence harms other people and has a negative effect economically.

This helps nothing and no one. It’s wrong, immoral, and cruel.

@wtg said in This month's piano recording:

Your Zoom H

My Zoom H is fine (as far as I know, I haven't taken it out of the box in a while! But it doesn't have a lot of rubber-y plastic IIRC, so I think it's ok)

I have several mechanical pencils that have those rubber-y grips that have gone sticky. I didn't throw them out because they're my favorite kind of pencil and apparently not made any more. So if I can find them (I think I know where they are) I'll try this!

@wtg nice, I'll have to try that! @Mark maybe even if it's temporary, this fix will let you use your Zoom?

Wow! Talk about taking "pay it forward" to heart!!

P.S. I looked at the listing on Zillow & @wtg 's link, and none of the staged photos have the "virtually staged" watermark, which I've seen used in other photos. Just adding that would help a lot IMO.

The line between presenting possibilities ("look how nice it would be if you did this!") and deception is tricky, but this one is too close to deception IMO.

Thanks for listening everyone!

@wtg let us know what you pick to work on! Fall and winter is particularly nice for being at the piano... and then have some hot chocolate afterwards!

@Mark I just used my iPhone for this recording, even though I have a Zoom H... I think it's an H1n? Anyway.

re sticky rubber, I hate that! I've had a few items do that. I don't understand why some things degrade like that and others don't. Presumably it's some ingredient, I guess. But it often makes the item basically useless!

Good grief! I sort of hope that the staging was done using pre-set parameters, as opposed a person actually making those choices one by one. Because otherwise it seems more deceptive than anything else.

@wtg said in Biocomputers:

The computers that run on human brain cells

It's just a matter of time before we're all connected into the Matrix, I guess.

I shared this in the Piano Tell recital, so I thought I'd share it here as well.

This is my "original" arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon in D. I say "original" because it's an arrangement based on existing arrangements, so in that sense it's perhaps not truly original. But I have always found that piano solo arrangements of the Canon have some of the variations I like, but never all of them. So I put this arrangement together so that I could have all the variations I wanted in the same arrangement. As a result, it's perhaps gratuitously long. at 7 minutes, 14 seconds.

Another bit of background: I made this arrangement about 10 years ago. But I couldn't really play it back then (well, primarily the last minute of it, which if you listen, you'll see why). So being able to play now (finally!) is quite satisfying. This is also the first time I tried recording it, and my concentration lags so there are some rough spots. But as a "warts and all" recording goes, hopefully it's not too warty

Link to video

Oh no!!!!!!

@Amanda Wow that’s super interesting! I remember, a few years after I started playing piano, I was trying to get a score for happy birthday and that’s when I learned about the copyright. I remember something about it struck me as odd… maybe this was it. ??

I really miss singing. Obviously, I make music almost daily (gonna sign off in a minute and go do that now) but I rarely sing. I feel like I forgot how.

@Bernard I read something recently that made me think this would be the outcome, but it's a big relief to get confirmation!

@wtg said in Having doubts:

This is just not what any of us signed up for, and it's so out of the scope of normal operations

Yep.

Hopefully those with a conscience, those who are paying attention, will keep talking about this. It matters.

@wtg said in Two weeks ago...:

I made it up.

Cold and snow. Batten down the hatches. Make soup.

Sounds perfect!

Hope it's not too bad there!!

@wtg said in Two weeks ago...:

soup day

Is this a common expression? What does it mean?