Power Toes

At physical therapy there are several different difficult things I am doing to regain strength in my re-built foot. I wear a 3lb. weight while I march in place, or balance on one foot, or do leg lifts. These all leave me quivering with fatigue. (3lbs.!!--what a baby) But the one special torture is the marble pick up. 

The aide dumps out a container of about 3 dozen glass shapes onto a towel. They are the approximate size and shape of curved ice cubes (like from a freezer dispenser).  My job is to pick them up with my toes, one by one, and place them back into the container. Yea, right. These are toes that no longer have a tendon going directly to them. That tendon was rerouted to the side of my foot to compensate for the shredded one that was removed. The doctor told me that I wouldn't be able to curl my toes and pick things up in them like regular feet can do. They'll curl a little, but they won't be like before.

And, of course, these toes have been encased in an ortho-boot for almost five months now, too. So, each day, I'd sit there and clench my hands on the seat while sending messages from my brain to my feet, "Pick up the marbles, Pick up the marbles---scrunch yourselves around the glass thingies."  The most I ever got was 8.

Yesterday---32!!!  I've been really giving my toes the business all this week. I've scrunched them hundreds of times a day inside the boot. I've carefully modified my walking to be sure I forced my foot to push off on my toes and not just stump around on the heel. At night, I did toe crunches by squishing a towel under my foot over and over while I watched "Jeopardy!" and while I sat at the computer. It paid off!  Toes can learn new stuff, even if their big tendon has moved away.