Walking, not walking

When my esteemed surgeon, Jack Schuberth, told me to wean myself of my protective plastic boot over three weeks, I thought that was an awfully long time. But now I doubt that I'll lose my crutches by the three-week mark. To my surprise, walking is very painful, two weeks after Schuberth spoke. When I do put aside my crutches, taking more or less normal steps, setting all my weight on my left leg, I can go three or four steps before pain begins to shoot from my heel.

This injury has marked one of the few times in my life when I've desperately wanted to be normal. The discovery that I suffer from osteoporosis exploded that hope. But I do want to be able to walk, and I do not think this much pain is normal.