Tammy, Dr. Galloway's assistant, removed my splint. My leg looked like a shriveled brown raisin; I think I got a preview of how my skin would look in 40 years. When the splint was removed, the orange bromine-iodine that was used to sterilize my skin during the surgery remained. I didn't realize how accustomed I became to my original boot that when it was removed, it was hard for me to recognize my own left foot.
It is difficult to look at my calf without imagining how the surgeon used a scalpel to cut open my skin and see the depths of my body that will forever remain a mystery to me. I am grateful for the chance to walk and run again, but it is strange to know that I will forever carry a scar on my left ankle. I feel like the innocence of a healthy body constructed by complex signaling processes and framed by the work of a higher being has been tainted. I am not immortal. I will have to learn to walk, run, and move in the way life naturally flowed through me.
