Foot Pain, Party and Zane Grey

So, Saturday was the official - take your own foot out of the cast, unwrap it and give it a bath day!

Unwrapping went well, even the bath okay.

The original doctor's instruction was to then run a light gauze wrap and stuff back into the cast ... only i about fainted from the pain by then!  Yeah, with no stitches holding the meat together - i was sure i was going to explode the foot off the end of my leg!  Very unpleasant!

So, having a few of the compression tubes from last year, it was with the greatest of difficulty that I got one on!  The foot is still quite larger than it was last year!  Guessing a few days in the compression tube and it will be squeezed down to something closer to a foot size it was before the surgery!  But, the pain was greatly relieved and I really do not want to take it off again!

Not to say I was not on codeine for the rest of the day and night, but it was at least controllable at that point.

Old Kris loved Zane Grey, something about his stories were very understandable and enjoyed by me.  New Kris, not so much.  There are one or two Zane Grey's I still like, but by and large, his works hold no interest for me any longer.  There is one Louis L'Amour I really like, but like Zane Grey, sorry - your works are mostly soap operas.

However, Saturday, one of the local TV channels set aside the entire day for Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre - yeah French spelling.  However, some excellent performances by many Oscar winners, good story lines, I approved!  Now to find a copy on DVD is possible!

And Saturday was the observation of Oldest Daughter's birthday!  She is now 27 years old.  When I think of her as the 10 year old I adopted on the Chechnian border in 1998, I am amazed at not only by her mother instincts with her two children, but also the beauty, grace and joy she brings with her.  Yes, that does make me smile.

This was the girl whom drove me get on the internet in the first place!  I was so depressed at the failure of our relationship and by her lifestyle decisions.  That was how I found Miss Manners, aka Kelly, whom offered what was to be some very sage advice in how to deal with a troubled teenager.  I will remain forever in her debt.

But, adopting a 10 year old is tough gamble, because a tremendous amount of damage can be done by then in a girl's life - and was.  Which makes parenting, especially as a huge male, even harder.  I was never loving back then, I did not know how to be.  Yet, she has survived and greatly enjoys this "new" Papa - whom can feel and love and be trusted.

Yeah, she may be the best relationship I have amongst the rascals. 

But, I was disappointed that the first two kids I adopted, did not bother to come to the party.  Even though they both like Olive Garden, no calls, no texts, nothing to say they would not be there - even though they both had confirmed they would.  Certainly, there is a disconnect between the two sets I adopted.

Sigh.....

Life!