There won’t be any blog writing Monday morning; I’m off to Saratoga Springs with Maria to have a landmark foot reckoning with two different doctors.

For more than a year now, I’ve been trying to deal with a toe that has moved in the wrong direction and is causing a lot of trouble in my left foot. This has kept me from walking as I love to do and often did, or even going to the gym.

The problem was caused by persistent calluses caused by a renegade toe that have opened some small wounds on the bottom of the left toe; they are not infected and have little or nothing to do with diabetes; other than that, it makes us cautious,  but the calluses have kept them – really one irritation –  from healing fully.

The toe is not set properly.

We need to deal with it and move forward.

The foot has been treated well and thoughtfully by Dr. Daly, my orthopedic surgeon, who has tried all kinds of things to fix the toe angle, which is stubbornly not cooperating. She even operated on the foot to remove a suspected bone spur. That didn’t do it. I’ve been seeing her every few weeks for a long time, wearing bandages and walking in surgical shoes.

It’s time for a radical change, and I am concerned. I want this to work.

At 9 a.m., I’m due at an orthotic specialist to receive my new orthotic brace, which we hope will correct the problem or at least make it better. The orthotic is custom-made; it took months to be finished and get here. It costs $1,500, most of which will be paid for by my health insurance.

I’m bringing new and large shoes to try the brace out on.

At 11 a.m., I’ll bring the brace to Dr. Daly and her staff. They will get rid of the newest callous and bandage me some more, and then we’ll see if it corrects the problem and enables me to walk as I would like to walk. I understand that will take some time.

I can only wear the brace for an hour or so a day for a week or so.

This kind of brace is complicated and often needs reworking and adjustments, so I need to keep my expectations low and flexible.  I expect to return several times to get it right. Life happens.

I could not be happier or more grateful for Dr. Daly and her staff’s work on my foot. As always, I’ll bring some freshly baked Amish cookies along for the nursing staff, which has come to love them.

I’m grateful to Maria for coming, she works hard and has a lot of work to do. She wants to come.

I never want her to get too involved in my caretaking.

But we always have a good time together, and I will need her help and input trying on the new brace and seeing how it might work. I’m bringing a pair of new shoes that will also be padded to keep the toe away from the wall of the shoe and fit around the brace, which will be built to go up my leg almost a foot.

It’s a big deal, and it’s important. I’ll be back Monday afternoon and back at work. I’m bringing a camera. Thanks for reading my blog and supporting my work.