In mid-March, I had major surgery on my ankle. They replaced a dead bone (!) and then fused the joint with a rod (about 8-inches long!) that goes from the bottom of my foot up into the hollow center of the tibia. There are two stabilizing pins, too. Yes, it’s as bad as it sounds.

Surgical anaesthesia makes me stupid. When that and the pain medication began to wear off, I realized my cast was so tight my toes turned dark whenever they weren’t level with my heart. By late in every day, the cast was really pinching hard. It was so uncomfortable, I was only getting between two and five hours of sleep a night. (Did I mention I refuse to take pain meds unless absolutely necessary.) This lasted for a month until the cast came off. Needless to say, lack of sleep makes me stupid, too.

I’m happy to…