ArcaMax

Ouch my toe! Ouch my toe!

This is a picture of my left foot. Pretty, isn’t it? (sarcasm intended).

What’s hilarious, is this is from two different events in the same 7 day period!

First event: I was minding my own business walking down the alley behind our place, on my way to pick up my Zipcar. I needed to go to the grocery store and go to my back therapy session, so I needed some wheels. I was deep in thought when the bottom of my sandal (the same ones I’m wearing in the picture) rudely stuck to the pavement. My foot kept going and my second toe rolled over. When my weight hit that foot out lurched a loud “CRACK”! I caught my balance, winced and looked back to see a car was approaching so I stepped out of the way. I never looked back to see why my sandal stuck. I just kept walking to the car. I got in and drove to my therapy session. My toe didn’t hurt that bad…that is until I went to get out of the car. As soon as I put weight on it, a searing pain jolted through what seemed like most of my foot! I hobbled into my therapy session and everyone there wanted to know what happened to me! I told them that I suspected I broke my toe. I got plenty of sympathy. The whole time I was there, my toe got darker and darker. It went from red, to purple and eventually to black. More than one therapy helper asked if they could get me a bag of ice. I declined because I could not sit with a bag of ice and still do my therapy. I had a Zipcar, which means I’m on a schedule, and I had to keep moving. I just hoped my toe would LET me keep moving!

Back story: In my younger days I did a lot of vaulting and jumping on a trampoline. I refused to wear shoes, so every time I landed in a particular, off-balance fashion, I would break a toe. Breaking toes was nothing. I wasn’t going to be held back.

Second event: I had an appointment 4 days later scheduled with a podiatrist. It was set up before the big crunch of my toe. I figured I might as well keep the appointment. I had set it up because my big toe has been giving me fits for about a year. The nail on that toe hasn’t been growing correctly. Part of it had decided it would rather grow IN than out. Every time I went to get a pedicure, the nail technician kept having to cut my toenail OUT of my foot. That put me in agony! The last time it was done, I could hardly walk, so I had lost my patience and decided a professional was in order.

I didn’t have a podiatrist in this city, so I got a referral from my internist and made the call. Monday was my assigned day. My other toe had already had 4 days to heal, so I figured the podiatrist could work around it; even if it was right next to it.

When I checked in at the office they made me fill out the requisite paperwork. There’s the insurance paperwork, the health-history paperwork, and more. It always seems like they need your life story for the simplest things. On the final sheet there was a question that was straightforward. It read, “How do you feel?” I answered, “I feel fine. I might, however, have a broken toe”.

When the doctor read that section she started laughing. She thought it was hilarious that I could be fine and have a broken toe at the same time. She thought it was extra funny when I told her I didn’t come in for the broken toe. I had other problems. She listened to my in-grown toe nail story and then started her exam.

She started with my second toe, squeezing and trying to bend it. She immediately confirmed that my toe was indeed broken. I thought to myself. “Check that box. Toe confirmed, broken”. Next.

She recommended that I wrap the two toes together so maybe the broken one would set straighter than it would if I had not done it. Hence the white bandage around the two toes.

We discussed my big toe problem and she gave me two choices. I could come back every 4 weeks and she’d “fix” my toe. She’d do a less painful version of what the nail technician had been doing for several months. Or I could have minor surgery and she’d cut a section of my toenail out and “kill” that area so it would not grow. I opted for Plan B. I had had enough of squealing while someone tried to dig my toe nail out of my toe. I wanted to be done with it.

I was surprised when she said she could do it right then. I thought I’d have to come back. While she was doing the surgery, I tried to distract myself by asking her questions. I asked her how many of this same procedure she did per month. She answered by telling me she did an average of two per day! I guess I was not unique. She told me she does more than her share of these same procedures on young athletes. The story goes that young men do a lousy job of trimming their toe nails. Then their nail gets squashed in athletic shoes and it becomes infected. She said they show up infected, filled with puss and swollen so badly they can no longer get a shoe on. She takes care of them immediately. They have no choice like I had. She made me feel like I had been prudent rather than like a procrastinator. I had been putting off this visit. I had finally come to the conclusion that I better see her soon so no matter what she recommended, I’d get it healed before Fall and I needed to put shoes on with toes in them, and I was cutting it a bit close!

So there you have it. Two fresh bandages. Two wrecked toes.

Pull Apart Chicken Salad, Zola To GO!

This is a great recipe for when you are on the run and want a homemade meal but don't have a lot of time to cook.
It's also great for picnics if you can keep it cold, or take it to the office and keep in the frige until lunch time.

15 Minutes to Prepare and Cook

Ingredients:

Roasting Chicken, one pre-cooked at the grocery store. You choose the flavor. I usually do plain, but you can do barbecued or other flavors; just expect that flavor to permeate your chicken salad.
Celery, raw, 1 cup, cut cross-wise into chunks. I leave mine a bit larger.
Scallions, raw, 1 cup, chopped
1 fresh apple, cut into chunks. I use Granny Smith
1 nectarines, pitted and cut into chunks
1 cup Mixed Nuts, dry roasted (salt added)
1 cup Mayonnaise, regular (mayo)
Salt, and pepper to taste

Directions:

When you get your chicken home, make sure it's cool enough to handle. You are going to take off the skin and cut all of the meat away from the chicken and then cut that meat into chunks and put in a large bowl. You can save the carcass for making chicken stock if you are into that sort of thing. Then add your fruits, veggies and mayo and stir. Taste it to see if you like it that way or if you want to add more salt and pepper. I like more pepper in mine than most do. You can also let your guests put their own salt and pepper on as they eat; in case someone has a restriction on salt.

Other Variations:

You can substitute walnuts for the mixed nuts. They won't have any salt. I leave them whole. I like big chunks. You can substitute grapes for the apple and nectarine. The apple and nectarine are my most recent variation. If you want the salad to taste French, add a tsp of tarragon. If you want Indian, add a tsp of curry powder, Mexican, you can add cayenne. You get the idea. Even Asian and add Five Spice powder. Store in the frige. Serve plain or on warm,buttered toast for a real treat. the toast will add calories and quite a few carbs to this otherwise lower carb recipe. To REALLY lower the carbs, leave out the fruit.

Nutritional Info.:

* Servings Per Recipe: 6
* Amount Per Serving
* Calories: 534.0
* Total Fat: 47.4 g
* Cholesterol: 39.3 mg
* Sodium: 494.3 mg
* Total Carbs: 16.0 g
* Dietary Fiber: 4.6 g
* Protein: 14.4 g

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola

Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.