If I was the one who broke a toe I would cry a lot, feel the pain exquisitely and feel like crawling into a ball of pity for myself and not want to move.  However, it was Carol who broke her toe.  We found that out after Dr. Shoemaker, who cuts our nails (toe), took x-rays about a week after the accident. That occurred when Carol was sitting in her reclining chair in front of the TV and the phone rang.  She sprang up and started to go get the phone on the other side of the room next to her side of the bed, and found that her foot had gone to sleep, it was pins and needles and the toe folded under her foot and she almost fell.  That was when it broke and she self-diagnosed and proceeded to answer the phone and get bandages and tied the toe next to the big one together and was able to walk on it.  She had a lot of pain but, being Carol, she didn't let that stop her from shopping, going to another doctor and to a concert. Ironically, the call was from the pain doctor's office moving Carol's appointment up to diagnose the pain in her back.

I, at least, contributed that putting ice on it would lessen the pain.  She did this and proceeded to act as though it was a minor inconvenience. She doesn't mind needles and procedures that I blanch at and would faint if I was the recipient of such care.  We are different in that way and I suppose that pain thresholds in everyone are different, too.  I think that men (boys who get bigger) are less able to handle pain than the "weaker" sex.

I think that the ability to "suck it up", stiff upper lip and "taking it like a man" is for the birds.  But I haven't seen many lips and birds sucking it up.  What really makes me mad is the technician who is going to give an injection or take blood can get away with saying, "This will only be a pinch".

What is amazing is that Dr. Shoemaker and Dr. Carol Schectman both prescribed the same therapy.  Be careful and do nothing like putting it in a splint.  I would not have been satisfied with anything less than a full body cast.  I have no problem with walking around with two canes while some people are shamed to be seen using one.  Lady Lil, Carol's mother,  could hardly wait until she could abandon her cane despite having a built up shoe to compensate for the inch and a half lost when she had her hip put back together.  I guess that is where Carol's inspiration comes from - her mother's determination not to be tied down to a chair or a bed and give up. 

I, myself, am happy to use the canes because they allow me to put my weight on them instead on the stenosis in my spine.  I like the attention I get because I then can explain how I am able to climb tall buildings.  (We are doing that right now because our Condo's elevator is being made like new again.)