I broke my ankle
Feb. 28th, 2019 10:20 amI am an invalid. I cannot walk. My ambulatory choices are crawling like a dog, hopping like a bunny, and crutches. This is expected to last nine weeks. It was the right ankle that broke, so I cannot drive — at least, until I can get a “left-foot gas pedal” adaptor for my car, which will take several weeks.
Since the only employment I can find is Uber Eats driver, no driving means no income. I have never held a job in Canada for which I paid EI premiums, so I am not eligible for unemployment payments nor temporary-disability payments. I did pay some CPP premiums for the Company 𝔾 job, but those benefits are only for retirement or long-term disability. It seems the only thing that I’m eligible for is a temporary handicapped-parking permit. My primary-care physician has already filled out the application form for that, so now I’m waiting for Kid #2 to drive to her office, pick up the form, bring it home so I can sign it, then take it to ServiceOntario to get a window placard. But no big hurry because I’m not expecting to leave my house any time soon.
Canadian healthcare is great! No excessive testing, no barely-justified procedures just to pad the bill. And not much waiting, either. My ankle broke at 9:45am on Saturday. Within hours I was in a cast. The next day I got surgery to install a plate and some screws to hold the ankle bones in place until the torn ligaments could heal. That “next day” was Sunday. SUNDAY! You do not ever want to have surgery on a Sunday in the USA. First off, they’ll just flat-out refuse to schedule it if there’s any way you could live to Monday without it; secondly, you do not want to go under the knife with a surgeon so junior that they couldn’t get out of weekend duty. The probability of nosocomial illness or iatrogenic permanent disability is much much higher on weekends at US hospitals.
Wifey broke her ankle back when we were engaged. She also tore some ligaments, but she had crappy student-level US health insurance so they didn’t bother doing any surgery on her. (The first time she went for treatment they didn’t even give her a cast.) Her ankle is pretty much okay today, 28 years later, except it aches when the weather is about to rain.
I liked my surgeon. He loves his job! He works in a fracture clinic at a hospital, sewing people back together all day every day. It seems he works on Sunday because people need sewing up on weekends, not because he is unable to get out of it. It’s been very icy around here recently, so he’s been getting lots of practice with broken ankles. He seemed very concerned that I should do everything possible to return to 100% ankle function so he could be proud of his work.
Other than the ankle, it’s the same-old, same-old with me. I still have two sets of posts for my last two trips to Massachusetts that I still haven’t published here because they still might just turn into a lawsuit. My aunt is still dead and her estate is still unsettled, with no end in sight. I have completed the memorial prayers for her but I still haven’t gotten a job from anyone I’ve met through the synagogue.
I have replaced my dead laptop with a Dell Lattitude E6230 from eBay. It’s great! It’s the fastest computer I’ve ever owned, with a 64-bit CPU and 8(!) GB of RAM. It’s small, light, fully Linux-compatible, runs for several hours on a battery charge, and it cost only $250 with shipping included. It is six years old, which is plenty new enough for me.