Slippers Are for Slipping

My right ankle gave out as I turned. Then everything went pear-shaped. Luckily, my neck and torso landed on the couch.

Now, I’m realizing how much everything hurts. First it was my left ankle and my neck. Then it was my left knee. Now the right ankle has joined in.

The culprit-Our adorable cat, Candy, started scratching our couch. I yelled, “No!” and turned to grab our water spray bottle. It was the turn that did me in. My right ankle is weak and I need to have joint stabilization surgery for it.

I have known for a few years that the stabilization surgery would help my right ankle. When I found out, I had just had joint stabilization surgery on my left foot. I wouldn’t be able to have the ankle surgery for a while because: 1. I needed to heal from the foot surgery 2. I wouldn’t be able to take time off from work anytime soon for another surgery.

Also, my left knee is in worse shape than my right ankle. I have to prioritize my joint stabilization/replacement surgeries. Now that I have been approved for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and I have a part-time job, I can start planning surgeries! Future surgeries ranked in order of necessity:

1. Left knee
2. Right ankle
3. Right knee
4. Right hip

But, my Medicare coverage doesn’t start until March 2019. I am on my partner’s health insurance until then. And since health insurance is so lovely in this country, I just found out that I can’t schedule any surgeries until I’m on the Medicare insurance. I’ll have to be seen by all of my specialists again, so that Medicare will cover treatment. That is, if they’ll cover it. And that is with the supplemental Medicare insurance that I’ll be paying $250 a month for.

Medicare doesn’t really cover much, but it does lower my premium from almost $800 a month to $300 (that amount includes prescription coverage … but the prescription coverage doesn’t cover all of my maintenance medications).

(I’m not sure if any of that just made sense. I’m using voice to text, as my eyes are still recovering from an awful migraine.)

I am meandering from the point of this entry, which is that my physical therapist told me that I shouldn’t be wearing slippers. Slippers are bad for people with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. I was wearing slippers when I fell. Typically, I wear some lovely L.L. Bean Mary Janes in the house. My mom got them for me a few years ago. They are easy to slip on and they grip well. Every so often, I wash them because I have severe allergies.

Yesterday, My partner and I had been cleaning. I put the Mary Janes aside to wash because they were covered in dust bunnies. I have to depend on my partner to do laundry because I cannot manage the stairs to our basement. I can’t carry things up and down the stairs. Going downstairs is very painful for me because of my knees. Going upstairs is slightly more manageable.

The surgery I need for my left knee is a kneecap replacement with “donor” (AKA cadaver) tendons. I also need to have an arthroscopic clean-up of my right knee.

But I gotta wait for surgeries because of insurance. I gotta wash my Mary Janes because I have allergies/asthma. I have to clean regularly because of the allergies/asthma. We have to do the cleaning ourselves because I was unemployed/underemployed for over two years.

It’s very difficult to stay healthy-ish in this country.

I texted my partner and told him that I fell. I really missed him and wished he was at home to help me. But, ya know, he needs to work! He called back and I told him what happened. He said, “Slippers are for slipping.”