Getting Old Is A Pain

   Our driveway is the rutted, frozen mess it is usually this time of year.  Every time we have a thaw the driveway turns to mud and everything that passes over it leaves tracks of various sizes and depths.  When temperatures go below freezing again the mess turns into an obstacle course of hills and valleys making walking to and from the car very interesting.  Yesterday I managed to slip and slide my way... without falling and only tripped once.  I had my heavy winter shoes on and didn't think I had done any damage since I had managed to stay upright.  After spending the evening reading with my shoes off I was surprised to find my right ankle quite swollen and tender.  In fact, the last time it had looked like that was almost 10 years ago when I broke the tib and fib just above the right ankle.  I hobbled to bed and hoped it would be back to normal by morning.
   Not only wasn't it but I woke up to a sharp pain in my foot every time I moved all night long.  It did not make for a very restful night.  This morning the swelling was down but I still got a sharp pain every time I tried to put any weight on my right foot.  I pulled on the new pair of compression socks I had recently bought and hoped they would help but I  grabbed Jeff's cane to lean on as I tried to walk.
   After starting a fire in the woodstove I settled in my chair next to it.  I had a book I wanted to finish before the football game started and then I planned on working on Jeff's long awaited Christmas socks (they were suppose to be a Christmas present last year-2017-but I had only gotten one finished.)  I put my leg up on the footstool and got comfortable, getting up only when the dogs demanded attention, the fire needed another log or I wanted a cuppa.  (A hot cup of tea for those of you not familiar with British slang.)  I had to be careful because the pain in my foot kept coming back when I least expected it as I hobbled around the house and I had put the cane away.  By supper time the swelling had not returned and the pain wasn't as bad.  I still don't know what I did to the ankle but I definitely did something.  I hope staying off it helped and tomorrow I plan on spending the day the same way:  next to the woodstove knitting.  I've got a lot of work left to do on that sock.  The foot is 10" from the toe to the turn for the heel and I'm only half way there!