Addendum: TWO broken toes

Owie owie owie...

I don't know that I've ever been in this much pain. Last night was the kind of fun that's not... there's something about sharp shooting pain that makes it really tough to stay asleep.

And now... I can barely even hobble around. The toe next to the little toe is also swollen and hurts even worse than the one I thought was broken last night. That toe also seems to have some sort of bump on it now, too. Of course, we had them taped together last, since I thought it was the stable one. Beginning to think my decision to not go to the ER last night and wait to get in to my regular doctor today may not have been the best choice. Owie...

When I first got up this morning, it was bad enough that I nearly woke up rackham to take me to the ER. Then brief rationality kicked in and I realized that even if we went, I'd still likely get in to to see my doctor sooner, even with having to wait for her office to open and for a free appointment slot. Unless we were lucky and there wasn't anyone else at the ER.

Took some more Advil and I've now got ice on it, both of which seem to be calming the EXTREME STABBING PAIN. Sheesh. I'm being such a wimp about this... I had no clue broken bones hurt this much. And I just keep thinking of my mom after her accident last year, with six fractures in her spine, a broken sternum, and a crushed hand. I'm surprised she didn't demand to be completely doped up all the time.

All I know is that I definitely want crutches... even hobbling around, walking on the inside of my foot, is way too painful.

Update: No breaks!

No breaks, but I apparently wrenched the hell out of the ligaments and soft tissues... ginormous swelling with bruising and LOTS of pain. The doctor said the only real difference between a break and what I did is that I'll only be on crutches for about four weeks instead of eight. Makes me really glad I called in this morning when the clinic opened -- my "doctor" is actually a fairly nice little clinic, with about eight doctors and a whole mess of PAs and Nurse Practitioners... the massive plus side being that I could call in this morning when they opened at 8:00 and have an appointment with a physician an hour and a half later (in the past, I've been able to get in within as little as half an hour). And everyone I've seen there has been fantastic.

They took x-rays (and it's so amazing how quickly all that stuff can be done nowadays... hobble down the hall to the x-ray room (yeah, I stupidly refused the offer of a wheelchair), take a few pics of the foot, and five minutes later hobble back down to the examination room with x-rays in hand) and the doctor did a bunch of poking and prodding (at which point I discovered that while the two toes may hurt like the dickens, there's actually pain involved in several other spots on my foot), before declaring it a) not broken and b) definitely screwed up. (So, yay! I can still say I've never broken a bone!)

I did ask him how soon I'd be able to start working out again, and he said at least a month... but after I told him I go to Curves, he said I might want to think about going and just doing the upper body exercises, since that will help me keep up with my routine. I think I've got a new favorite doctor at the clinic... because that was exactly what I wanted to know, even though I hadn't asked it in quite the right way. Plus, he's from South Africa and has a great accent. ;-)

So, I'm now on Vicodin, which has me feeling just a bit loopy (and hopefully not too incoherent), but the pain in my foot is down to a dull roar. It turned out the anti-inflammatory the doctor had wanted me to have is fairly heavy duty and the pharmacy chain we use doesn't even normally carry it... they would have had to special order it. There's apparently been some phone tag going on between the pharmacist and the doctor, which has finally been resolved, so rackham will be picking it up on his way home from work (I most definitely cannot drive at the moment).

I've torn ligaments before, in my wrist, and while it HURT, I could have sworn it was nothing like this. Of course, Rackham pointed out that I never tried to walk on my hands right after doing it, either... and my mom rather wisely mentioned that it probably did hurt this bad, time has just lessened my memory of it.

Using the crutches is mondo weird though... I was on crutches for about two years as a young teenager, but it was for the other foot. Even though it's been almost 20 years since then, I have to fight my instincts to coddle the wrong foot. Stairs are the worst... I don't know if any of you have ever tried on those glasses that swap your vision (right eye seeing left and left eye seeing right), but it feels a bit like that. Off balance, disconcerting, and like I'm fighting myself with every step.

Anyway, thanks for all the good thoughts sent my way. I'm still not looking forward to the next month of not being able to use my foot... and it just occurred to me that this is going to make our fun and exciting trip away to the beach in two weeks for Rackham's birthday not nearly as fun and exciting as it could have been. :-(

And now, I'm going to crutch my way upstairs and go back to bed.