I got the boot!

{background theme song playing... "I fought the stairs and the stairs won"}

So late Saturday afternoon, after a few hours of shoveling insane amounts of snow and continuously commenting in amazement about the insane amounts of snow, I went inside to defrost and rest. Then I made dinner and did the dishes. Next on the list of things to do... take a shower and get ready to go schlepping through the snow to scrap with my buddy. Unfortunately I'm a bit of a clutz by nature so when I decided to go close the curtain on the back door, instead I missed the step, twisted my ankle as I fell and screamed bloody murder (and lots of obscenities) while I lie writhing in pain on the floor trying to catch my breath. The curtain remained open. After a few minutes I gathered myself together and crawled back up the steps (there are only two steps there - a very dangerous two steps down which many people have fallen over the years though all with less pain and injury), through the kitchen to the living room. Pulled myself up onto the couch, put my leg up on the back of the couch and watched Ron outside clearing off the car. (The kids had all gone up the street to Grandma D's house so only Darby was a witness to my fall.) Debated whether or not to knock on the window and ask for help. Decided I might need the car to get to the emergency room so left him alone to work. Then my scrap buddy called me back to see if all was okay (okay, so maybe there was one other witness to at least the verbal portion of my fall!). I gave her the bad news that I would NOT in fact be going to her house that night. Then I crawled back to the kitchen (did I mention that I heard a snap when I fell? I could bear weight but didn't want to make anything worse than it already was), pulled myself up, turned off the stove, covered the soup, made myself and ice pack and then hopped/crawled my way upstairs to my room. Propped it up with ice and waited for Ron to discover my predicament.

Dr. Google said it might be broken, might be a sprain. Recommended RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) of which I was already doing 3 of the 4. Had Ron wrap my foot/ankle with an ace bandage. Popped a few Motrin. Decided to sleep on it and decide whether or not I wanted to go to the ER on Sunday. (Remember the 2+ feet of snow and barely-plowed roads?)

Sunday I talked to some friends and emailed Dr. Julie (sometimes it pays to have a college friend who becomes a pediatric orthopedic surgeon!) who was nice enough to humor me and give me an email consultation. She recommended staying OFF the foot because if it was broken, it could be made worse by walking on it, potentially even bad enough to need surgery. I had seen that exact same thing happen to someone else a year or so ago so I was already paranoid about that and definitely staying off my foot. Ron brought the crutches up from the basement so I could crutch around more and hop less. I decided to just wait until Monday to see the doctor because if it was broken, the ER wouldn't cast me and would just send me to the ortho anyway. Saving time and money and stress by staying in bed another day seemed like a perfectly good option to me.

Monday morning... there is still way too much snow outside. All the schools and even the federal government are closed. And so are the first 3 doctor's offices I call. Finally I call the doctor that mom had used. He was doing surgeries on Monday but had an opening Tuesday morning. I took it! And then spent another entire day in bed. The good news though is that I got the last few monthes worth of digital pictures backed up onto the external hard drive and I am almost completely done with the digital album of our trip to Disney last January.

And now... I have been to see the doctor. My ankle is not broken just sprained. I have a walking boot and go back in 3 weeks for a follow-up. And my "vacation" is over. Oh and that trip down the long icy driveway this morning was a bit nerve-wracking. If my ankle wasn't already broken, I thought for sure it might be by the time I got to the doctor's office! Also, my ankle actually hurts more now that I'm walking on it with my boot. So I must remember to take frequent breaks and rest my foot - not get too drunk on this re-found freedom! All the fun of my housework is just too much to resist sometimes. ha ha.

This experience has allowed me to recognize a few blessings in my life.
*My children took excellent care of me - brought me breakfast in bed twice. And when they remembered to, came up to check on me periodically. Also, if they could hear my yelling, they would come running to help me with whatever I needed (usually a glass of water).
*Ron got the crutches out for me. Did pretty much all of the shoveling. And generally held the fort down while I was out of commission. I know being snowed in for days is not his favorite thing and having a broken wife on top of it is even worse, but he handled it all very well.
*I have lots of friends who care about me and who will keep me company over the phone while I convalesce. They also offered to cook or chauffeur or whatever I need. I love my village!
*While I am not in fabulous shape, I am thankful for how fit I *am*. Getting around on crutches is hard and I'm sore. I can't even imagine how impossible it would have been to crutch and to jump up stairs and to balance on one leg if I hadn't been going to my exercise class (fairly) regularly over the past 4 years.
*I can walk!