Life on Crutches
On the night of April 30, I fell near the bottom of some stairs while leaving a friend's house. I don't know if I slipped or missed the step altogether, but the result was that I twisted my left foot so violently that I broke both bones in my ankle. My tibia now has a metal plate attached by five screws, as well as a separate sixth screw holding the fibula together. Before I can walk again on my own, I will have had to use crutches for a total of (at least) 15 weeks. That ratio of one second to 15 weeks still seems extraordinarily unfair, but I'm almost down to my last 4 weeks. Many library customers have seen me hobbling around on my crutches and have been kind enough to ask what happened -- my thanks to all who expressed concern -- and some have shared their own stories of life on crutches. And while I couldn't find any books in our collection about mending broken bones or a guide to using crutches, I did find one that seems especially appropriate to me: The Lost Art of Walking . As someone who never used the library's elevators in the past, and now of course has no choice, it disturbs me to see so many able-bodied customers relying on the elevators instead of the stairs. Take it from someone who can't wait to walk again: exercise those legs while you can!