This past Thursday marked another check-up with my orthopedist. More poking and prodding. More x-rays were taken. (Still kind of cool to see the screw just sitting there in the middle of my foot.) The prognosis? Everything's looking good, and I am free from walking with the cane. Surgery for me to get "unscrewed" is scheduled for December 11th. I'll go back in to the walking boot for a couple of weeks after that, then hopefully back in to regular shoes. Whether or not I'll have to go back to assisted walking with the cane remains to be seen. The screw-removal surgery came up this past Wednesday night at the sophomore guys Bible study I lead, and the guys were pondering what was used, exactly, to remove the screw? Was it some specialized, medical implement-only, seven thousand-dollar, cordless drill-type device? It's not as though they'd just jam a Black & Decker Philips head in there and pull it out, right? So I asked the doc: "What exactly do you use to get the screw out?" "A screwdriver." "Really?" "Yep." Then, reading my face, and the grin at the corners of my mouth: "Granted, it's not like it's a Dewalt we picked up at Home Depot and sterilized, but all the same, it's just a screwdriver." I love my orthopedist.