Although I do try to be a little different most of the time, there are times when I probably act like a typical male. I will rarely stop to ask for directions and most of the time, I forgo printed instructions in favor of “figuring it out myself.” Often, when I have done that, I pull the instructions out in order to figure out what I've done wrong. I had a rather painful lesson on that recently.
Most of you are probably familiar with my on-going ankle affair. You may remember that I had surgery in early June to hopefully repair everything, at least to the point that I can walk with a somewhat normal gait. I was in a cast for a while, which wasn't so bad. In honor of the Fourth of July, I had a patriotic red, white and blue cast. A little over a week ago, I had the cast removed in favor of a walking boot. I still can't put any weight on my left leg, but I can take a shower without my leg in a plastic bag. One feature of the boot is a little air pump I can pump use to give it a bit more support. Well, logic says if a little bit of air gives a little bit more support, then a lot of air should give a lot support, right? With that thought in my mind, I proceeded to pump that air pump until it stopped pumping. I went about my day with my well-supported foot and everything was okay until I went to bed that night. Around 3 a.m., I was greeted with the worst throbbing and burning pain I have ever experienced. If the pain I felt immediately after surgery was a seven or eight, I would rate this as a 132 on that 10-point scale. Being a guy, I have never experienced childbirth, except for my own, and I barely remember that day. I have stepped on a Lego in bare feet and that can rate rather high. Big difference is, the Lego pain eventually subsides. I have heard that childbirth pain can last 18 or 20 years, sometimes longer. The pain I experienced was more than I really want to ever deal with again. I tried taking something for the pain, to no avail. Around 5 a.m., I decided that more sleep was going to be out of the question, so I might as well get up and wheel myself to the shower with my handy knee scooter. As soon as I began to take the boot off, the pain immediately subsided and went away. My great deductive reasoning skills surmised that the pain may have had something to do with the boot.
Later that day, I took a moment to glance at the instructions for the boot. When I came to the part about the air pump, there was a warning in really big letters, DO NOT OVER PUMP THE AIR BLADDER. According to the instructions, one or two pumps is usually adequate, not the five or six pumps I had used. It seems if you pump too much air into the air bladder, you not only run the risk of bursting the bladder (which, fortunately did not happen), you run the risk of putting undue pressure on a nerve in your foot (which, unfortunately did happen).
I once saw a picture of a Bible with the message “read the instructions.” That sounds like a pretty good idea.