Might be unavailable for a day or so UPDATE 23FEB18

[Deleted]

I'm just about to take off for Evansville to go to the VA. Going to have a serious conversation with a surgeon. Neither the appointment or the surgery is what will keep me at bay for a short while. It's the drive down and back that gets me. It's only about an hour and a half each way, but by the time I get back from a trip down there I'm a complete wreck. Every little jiggle and bounce inside that car just tears my neck and back up.

So if you don't get any response out of me for a couple days, don't panic. As that famous American(?) once said, "I'll be back!" He IS an American. Right? The fact that he retained his Austrian citizenship wouldn't affect his American status. Right? 

[Deleted]

Thought I'd throw out an update. , the trip kicked my butt, just like it always does. I just woke up after making it to sleep about 5:00 this morning. Headed right back to the couch.

The doc appointment did, in fact, result in a surgery appointment as soon as they can get me in (that's the way the VA does things). To make a long story short, the Podiatric Surgeon is going to remove a whole bunch of the bone in my big toe, along with removing a considerable amount of the end of the bone in my foot. When he's done I'll no longer have any control of that toe. It will kind of be like a chunk of meat sticking out of my foot. I'll be down for 4 weeks, then will have another 4 - 6 weeks of healing and kind of learning how to walk without the use of that toe. Doc says it's really not that big of a deal so I shouldn't worry. He said the biggest thing is learning to stop trying to use the toe. Sounded funny to me.

So, at some point I'll be completely out of commission for a couple days for the surgery. Sounds like after that everything will be kind of normal.