Foot Note

As you may or may not know, dear reader, a few years ago I had a mean little accident caused by a mean little man. My foot has never recovered. I've had to wear a painful brace for my right ankle ever since. Sometimes the pain is cutting. Sometimes it takes a back seat to the pain that is continuous in the arch of my foot. This has never stopped my workouts - I AM a gay man after all, and I must do squats if I want a booty - but it has inhibited my social interaction. Some days it's just too painful to head out into the world. This combined with the imbalance also caused by the accident has made me a bit of a hermit. If I do go out...well, on the great show Arrested Development there was a character played by Liza Minelli. She suffered from some serious vertigo. That is me.

Anyway, last April I went to an orthopedist to see if he could perhaps design for me a brace that wasn't so painful. Dr. Bley was recommended to me by someone else so I had no idea what to expect. He is an amazing man. At the age of 18, while in the Navy, both of his legs had to be amputated because of an accident. You wouldn't know it to look at him walk, though. He designed his own prosthetics and walks with a completely natural gait. While on my visit he told me that I might be able to get my foot fixed. That he couldn't believe nobody had mentioned surgery to me before. He sent my info to a Dr. Ertl in Indianapolis. Dr. Bley said Ertl was the best and he had seen him do some real cutting edge things. He even worked for Walter Reed.

For the first time in a long time I had hope.

It wasn't until June that Dr. Bley heard back from Ertl's office about me. The office assistant said that my info had been misplaced but she had just found it again and would be calling me soon.

I waited. After a w few weeks I began calling Ertl's office. No one ever picked up, nor did I get a response to my voice mail messages. I started feeling a bit depressed about the situation. Like I was being purposely avoided.

By August I was getting impatient. I went to a foot doctor here in town to see if he could do anything. I knew it was a long shot - this IS Madison, after all - but it was better than sitting on my thumbs and waiting. As expected, the doctor here said he was just a general ortho and had no idea what he could do. I needed a specialist. I told him and HIS office assistant about Dr. Ertl and his office assistant said there was no excuse for Ertl's office to keep me waiting for so long. She said she would keep calling every hour until Ertl's office responded.

A week passed and finally I got a call from Dr. Ertl's office. An appointment was set for November 11. Yahoo!! Ertl's assistant asked me which foot I wanted amputated. WHAT?! I kindly but firmly explained to her that there would be no amputation, and then told her what my issues were. And yes. By this point I had already began thinking of finding another doctor.

A few days before my November appointment I got a letter confirming the date - of December 15. I called the office to ask about this and the assistant assured me it had always been December 15, not November 11. Huh. I let it go. If this doctor is as good as I hear he is I didn't want to get in a tiff with his assistant.

On December 7 I got a call telling me they were going to have to reschedule my appointment. I was pissed. I asked if we could reschedule right then. The office assistant said no.

So now, I am waiting again. I have left messages on their voice mail but still nothing. I am thinking it's just not meant to be. There have to be other ortho specialists out there as good as Dr. Ertl so I'm going to start searching. It's disheartening, to be given that hope and have it snuffed out by someone else, but there it is.

Sometimes you kick. Sometimes you get kicked.