Monday, November 8, 2010

You can call me Peg-Leg

Well, it's been over a week since the fateful foot breaking episode and I am doing much, MUCH better. Last Monday was a bad day, a VERY bad day and by the time I drove home I was crying like a maniac and probably frightening my mother a great deal. My housemate Angela had to literally lift me off our front steps (in the pouring rain) so that I could get into the house. One of the lowpoints of my life maybe. By the end of Monday evening my mom had purchased a plane ticket to come help me. Yeah, it was that bad.

Tuesday morning I knew for sure I wasn't going to work. My whole body was killing me. The thing about walking on crutches is that it uses all your other muscles, so while my right leg was getting a break, my left leg and both my arms (and my stomach muscles apparently) were working their little hearts out. Tuesday I felt like a train had hit me. Tuesday night my mom got into town and all was right with world. And my coworker, Tracy, brought me Subway and a Donald Miller book (the only one I hadn't read...that is no longer the case) and picked my mom up from the aiport so she didn't have to take a cab. My Multnomah coworkers and Angela have been awesome!

Wednesday my mom and I went to the orthopedic doctor and found out some GOOD NEWS! As it turns out the immediate care doctor was incorrect, I don't have a Jones fracture, I have an avulsion fracture, which means that it is at the bottom of my 5th metatarsal bone and that it is much less serious (Jones fractures are pretty bad). The doctor said that this fracture will heal itself and that all I needed was a walking boot and to bear weight on it "as tolerable". This news was such a relief that it made me want to cry! A walking boot means a) I can walk(!) b) I can take it off to take a shower or whenever I want and c) I don't have to worry about it getting wet!

So far I have still needed my crutches, but I am easing into putting more and more weight on my right foot and I am getting better and better at walking with the crutches. I will go back to the doctor in a month to get x-rays and see if my foot is healing; if it is, I will probably get to wear regular shoes! if it's not healing I might have to have surgery to remove a bone fragment (!). Yikes! Needless to say, I'm hoping it heals well in the next month.

For now I am taking it a day/a week at a time. Spending most of my time in bed (when I'm not at work) talking on the phone, watching movies/seasons of Frasier, and reading, lots of reading. It's not so bad. It makes me feel a bit lazy and I'm a person who likes to have places to go, but I'm viewing this as a forced time of rest, relaxation, and reflection on my life and where I would like it to go. Leave it to me to make this situation a dramatic life-reevaluation :) But in all seriousness, 2010 has been a CRAZY year for me. One day soon I will outline the events of this past year, every month has held some sort of change, challenge, or difficulty - topped off by a broken foot. I'm just hoping that these last 2 months of 2010 are relatively uneventful...

In any case, I will let you know!

1 comment:

Paul said...

It has been a crazy one! I hope your foot does heal all the way. I'm so glad it's not as bad as they thought! :)