Injured Reserve

I've really been slacking on the blog posts, haven't I? The sun has finally come out with above freezing temps so I feel a little more motivated to write about what's been going on in my life. This winter has been brutal. A lot has been going on but the one major thing that happened to me was that I broke my ankle on February 11th -while skating!

I was practicing for the adult bronze moves test that was to take place on February 16th. It was the last 10 minutes of the session and I was practicing back crossovers to extensions. I remember feeling off balance on one of my right leg extensions (left foot on the ice) and I put my right foot down and caught the toe pick. I just remember my ankle rolled and my body weight was on top of it and I heard that dreadful "POP". It all happened so fast and then the pain set in. Like my ankle was on fire. I sprained the same ankle three months prior but this time it was much more painful.

I love/hate my toe picks! Love to jump high, but hate to eat ice!

My coach and a few others helped me off the ice. It took me a few long minutes to even think about getting up. The pain was intense. I managed to drive home somehow and there were some tears shed (mostly because I knew testing and synchro were out of the question - we had a competition in 4 days!). I got home and my ankle grew a golf ball size lump on the side of it so I knew I had to get it checked out.

Roy took me to urgent care and I could hobble into the clinic but after sitting in the waiting room for 15 minutes walking on my own wasn't going to happen anymore (I think the adrenaline was wearing off). They put me in a wheelchair and the doctor examined it and ordered X-rays. He eventually diagnosed it as acute lateral malleolus fracture. None of the bones shifted, thank goodness.

My first broken bone (fibula).

I'm kind of glad it was broken rather than just sprained because I knew I'd be forced to stay off the foot until the bone was healed. Either way, I knew I wasn't going to be able to skate for awhile. They gave me crutches and sent me along my way.  I was told to go see an orthopedist the next day to get proper treatment.  Sleeping with my ankle that night was extremely painful. It was swollen and sensitive to any movement. I went to the orthopedist the next morning and they put a cast on me and gave me pain meds. I was to come back in two weeks for a follow up X-ray. If the bones had shifted, I may have had to have surgery. That would have really sucked. I had to miss work the next two days in order to keep the foot elevated as much as possible. My toes looked like Vienna sausages. Oh, and on my second day off, I turned 35! Happy birthday to me, where are my pain pills?

New scratching post for the kitties.

I was told I could walk on the cast but at first it was painful to even try.  I think my left leg and back hurt more than my ankle for the first few days because my body wasn't used to the weight shift and being in awkward positions while trying to do normal tasks. After about a week though I could start putting a little weight on my right side and after about 10 days I could walk without crutches. My second X-ray looked good (no bone shifting) and I was told I could get the cast off in 3 more weeks (total of 5 weeks). Three more weeks would have been March 19th but the soonest available appointment was March 23rd, so the countdown is on!

As for what's going to happen after I get it off, I'll probably get a walking boot that I can take off for sleeping and showering. My doctor says it takes 8 weeks for a bone to heal. My calf muscle has shrunk - I can fit my whole hand down my cast. I'm not sure how long it'll take to get my muscle back to normal. Without knowing how it will feel, right now I'm thinking it'll be at least June until I can get back on the ice. I'm sure I sprained ligaments too so I have no idea how that's going to feel. My sprain from October 27 was finally feeling pain-free at the end of January so it took about 3 months (while actively skating) for that to heal. I'm hoping by June I can at least do some stroking.

I signed up for kickball, too, which starts on April 9th so I'm hoping that'll help get me back in shape. My food baby is due any day now! I might be overdoing it too soon but I'll sit out if I have to.

Injuries suck but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!  Got any injury stores to share?