Broken Toes

The other day I went down to the basement to wash some clothes.

I had a shirt in my hand which I threw in the basket and happened to catch a fire extinguisher that was sitting on the last stair. The extinguisher was lifted into the air by the shirt sleeve and came crashing down directly onto my second toe on my right foot.

This is the first time I have broken that toe on that foot, but I have broken most of my toes on my left foot through the years.

This toe break was exceptionally painful. Don't get me wrong, it hurts really bad every single time, yet this time, it seemed as though it was more painful than I have recalled.

Once I broke the last three toes on my left foot when I accidentally kicked the metal leg of a dinning room table. This was actually a few years ago, so the pain of that event may have been mitigated over the years.

I hate any type of physical or emotional pain, and I will avoid it at any cost. This is the reason I want to predecease everyone in my family, as I really don't want to have to emotionally negotiate the death of any one close to me.

In any event, toe breaking was intricate part of my existence in my twenties and even into my early thirties.

Yet somehow I was able to overcome what had become dangerously close to a habit. I started to wear shoes all the time and this actually seemed to help. What remains unclear to me is why it was that I tended to slam my feet into furniture at such a velocity that I was breaking bones.

This is the first toe I have broken in my 40's, and the circumstances around this particular injury were flukish in nature, the way the fire extinguisher was catapulted into the air and then right down onto my toe. My foot against the cement and the end of that heavy extinguisher, I was fortunate it was not more serious. I struggle with balance with 5 toes, it would be quite challenging for me to loose one, or even loose 1/2 of a toe.

When i was in the sixth grade I stepped on a piece of glass while visiting my Aunt Rose in Des Moines. This unfortunately resulted in a loss of feeling in some of my toes on the my left foot, so I have had issues with toes and feet for many years now.

As a result of these tragic events I rarely wear open toed shoes, however Gioconda has this terrible habit of wearing very unsafe foot covering.

Once while we were cleaning out the garage with tools, and saws and heavy stuff that would actually sever your foot from your body, she insisted in wearing flip flops. I was a nervous wreck all day. I think she does it now just to spite me.

"You are always so concerned about my foot safety and here you are the one with the broken toe," she said after I told her how the accident happened and she calmed down from laughing long enough to begin speaking again.

Today I accidently hit my injured toe against the girls little wagon. The pain was overwhelming to the point I couldn't talk for a few minutes. Thats the tough part about broken toes, I tend to break them over and over

So it looks as though I am back to wearing shoes all the time.

Still where is the disconnect? Why don't I have more control over my own feet. I have taken a informal poll and have found most people don't have this problem, those without a seizure disorder don't seem to have a problem with slamming their feet into stationary objects.

So here I am again with another broken toe- and its my birthday- and although I would like to find a significance in that fact, I can't...

Here is hoping I got this years toe break out of the way...