September 2013

On Sunday September 22nd, I took a spill down a flight of stairs. When I landed at the bottom, I was in pain and had ripped the handrail off the wall. Having thought it was only a simple tumble; I got up and started walking. The pain in my right ankle was alarming but bearable. Later in the day I would remove my shoe and sock to find a pretty swollen ankle. I assumed it was sprained and dealt with the rest of my day. I continued walking on it the following day with a friend assuring me that if I was walking on it then it definitely wasn't broken. I limped to two meetings, being chauffeured to one of them by a family member. Afterward, I got a bit tired of people around me seeing the pictures of my ankle and telling me it was broken. I drove myself to a local emergency room and waited to be seen. After a quick triage meeting with a nurse I was seated again and a technician with a wheelchair came to wheel me into the x-ray room. I found myself smiling to be getting my first wheelchair ride for some strange reason; I think I just love anything with wheels on it. We arrived in the x-ray room and got up on the table, removed my shoe and sock to reveal an even more swollen ankle. The sight of it seemed to extract a "whoa" from the technician. I padded the situation saying "I'm sure it's just a sprain but I just wanted to be sure", for some reason I would have felt bad wasting her time. After four x-rays, I relaxed for a few minutes while my films were analyzed. The technician came back and began with the question "have you even broken a bone before?" to which I answered "no". She followed with "...well you definitely broke one this time". I can't say I was all that surprised, I think I was prepared for either outcome. She wheeled me back into the waiting room (yea), and I waited for a room to become available. While I sat there firing off comical messages to friends and family about my injury results, I was bombarded by a total stranger telling me all about her ear ache, the conversation was so awkward, it actually put a smile on my face due to my sheer disbelief. I sincerely hope her ear ache is resolved, but wow, too much info to share with a stranger. About 10 minutes later, I was wheeled into my very own shared hospital room. The family on the other side of the fabric splitting our room had seemingly been there all day. The parents were reprimanding their child for eating his boogers and telling him to sit calmly till the doctor came back. I felt guilty for eavesdropping but at the same time, it was unavoidable, we were in the same room with only a sheet separating our medical issues/boogers. After a few minutes a nurse with a rolling computer table took some info and explained that I had fractured my fibula in my right leg.  It was clear that she was in a hurry (it was an emergency room) so she didn't have time for 20 questions about my injury.  She then sent in another nurse to make a splint for my ankle. Being so new to injuries in general, I was a bit surprised that they didn't want to put a cast on a broken bone. They explained to me that there was too much swelling to put a cast on it. They used nurse-grade magic to create a solid form splint out of a piece of fabric and placed it under my foot, behind my heel and up the back of my calf. Once it solidified my foot was wrapped with a few ace bandages. I thought everybody in the hospital was really quite pleasant, it was a nice experience overall. I signed some paperwork, was given a sweet set of crutches and was sent on my way. The trip out to my car was frustrating and resulted in a cracked laptop and a few choice words. I drove myself home with my left foot.

Having lived with this injury for a week now, I've gained an appreciation for a fully functioning body. Almost everything is a frustrating process. I'm struck with the drastic contrast of going from "The best shape" of my life 14 months ago... to... "It’s tough to get my pants on". I value any learning experience and although I didn't voluntarily sign up for this one, it's one I needed.