sprain updates

 Dang! Look at those pretty colors!

I still can't do much. It takes forever to get upstairs to my bedroom. Of course the toilet in the master bath right off my bedroom is broken. So every early morning bathroom break I have to hobble downstairs. I did make waffles this morning and drove Zach to French class this afternoon. It was tricky driving with my gas pedal foot sprained. Luckily it wasn't far. Sam is feeling much better. In fact, she is being picked up to go to a friend's house tonight.  I'm still recovering from the flu, but am improving. Hopefully this healing momentum will keep going. I can't tell what I'm more sick of, sneezing and blowing my nose or dealing with my ankle.

Update: 2/24/14

The remnants of the flu are now gone - Thank God!  My ankle and foot are still swollen and the bruising has grown.  The bruises on my toes don't hurt which is strange.

Update: 3/6/14

I spent Sunday-Wednesday (3/2-3/5) in pain. I got repeated Charlie horses/muscle spasms in my right leg's calf muscle. I called the dr. Tuesday and they set me up for an appointment on Wednesday. There, they re-evaluated my sprained ankle. My doctor was concerned about the swelling that went all the way to my knee. She said my splint was actually part of the problem and I should've had been given an Aircast right away when I was first checked into urgent care.

 I had to laugh when she repeated what everybody has been telling me, that a sprain is worse than a break. That I would've been better off breaking my ankle. Such words of comfort. She also, told me to stay off my foot as much as possible and elevate it whenever I can.

 I was then sent to the occupational therapy part of the clinic to be fitted for an Aircast. While there, they asked for the Workmen's Comp. insurance information. I didn't have any of that so she told me to call my employer and get all of the necessary information to process the Workmen's Comp. so I called work that Wednesday and talk to the only HR representative we have, Kathy. 

 Kathy asked why I needed the information. I thought it was kind of obvious since I was walking around with a limp and everybody knew I fell in the Y's icy parking lot...twice!  But I went ahead and reminded her of this fact. She asked me what I would be doing with the Workmen's Comp. information. I told her that Dean Clinic needed it in order to process the billing.  She told me that I don't deal with this, that only she [Kathy] does this. Well, she hadn't yet so I was taking the necessary steps. I then called Workmen's Comp. for Dean clinic and gave them Kathy's phone number so they could get the information they needed from her. I am going to be following up and documenting every week until this gets resolved. I just have a bad feeling I'm going to have a battle on my hands.

3/7/14

 This whole elevating the leg constantly is darn near impossible. I can't really elevate it at work.  At home, I try and stay off it, but I have too much to do. I know I have a husband and kids who can help, but after awhile I just get sick of asking them to do stuff. Plus, it seems to bit me in the ass when I do.  Sorry that my sprained ankle is such an inconvenience to everyone.

Sprained ankle

I think we all can agree this winter has been brutal. On Tuesday Sam and I got an upper respiratory flu. I went to work at the YMCA Tuesday morning. By the evening I was worse and had a fever. I tried desperately to find someone to cover my early morning shift for Wednesday. No takers.  No surprise since my shift is at 4:30 AM till 8 AM.. Plus, I'm the opener. There are only a few who know how to do my job; that's not including my boss. She said she'd at least come in at 6 AM so I could go home early. Fine.
The next morning, on the very icy work parking lot, I fall and can feel my ankle twisted in an unnatural direction. There's a moment when you first get hurt you don't quite have pain yet, but I knew it was coming. I needed to get up before that happened. The parking lot was so slick I could barely get up. I crawled a short distance to a dry patch where I could finally stand up. When I put weight on my right ankle I knew at least it probably wasn't broken, but pain did shoot up my leg. I hobbled to the sidewalk and was thankful there was railing that I could finally grab onto. That railing, unfortunately, did not go to the front door. It was only a few steps - I could do it. Wrong! Down I went again. At this point I start to cry as I crawl to the front door. Once inside, I was thankful to finally be able to sit in a chair behind the front desk and text my boss what had happened. A jaunt that normally takes less than a minute, had taken me 15 to get there from my car.
 My rest was short-lived because the lifeguards had arrived and I needed to let them in since they don't have keys. While it was a pain to have to get up to let them in, I was thankful they were there and could help me; which they did. I gave them directions to do easy, minor parts of my job. One of the hardest parts, until you get the hang of it, is permanently opening the doors for the Y members.  That poor lifeguard, she struggled with the north side doors for like 10 minutes. I asked one of the members to let the people waiting by the south doors in. Of course they complained quite loudly about this inconvenience. The members that are there that early in the morning are regulars. They are there every morning. It amazes me that their first instinct was to complain instead of wondering if something was wrong. Of course, once they realized I was injured they were more empathetic.
The Y has two different pools. The lap pool couldn't be opened because one of the lifeguard was helping me.  That, apparently, was a bridge too far for one lady. She knew I was hurt and the lifeguard was helping me, but she berated the other lifeguard about the inconvenience anyway and made sure to voice her complaint to me as she made her way out the building.  Love you too sweetie.
My boss lives 45 minutes away and still can't make it till 6 AM.. so I wait. The lifeguards have trouble finding an ice pack as the pain and swelling continues to increase. I took ibuprofen but they might as well have been sugar pills because it didn't seem to help. My boss finally arrives and shortly after that so does Matt. He wanted to take me to the emergency room but I insisted on waiting for urgent care to open at 7.
 Once in urgent care, I got looked at, x-rayed, they said it was a sprain, and gave me a splint.

 I spent the rest of the day laid up on the couch sneezing and blowing my nose along with Sam as we watch, "Say Yes to the Dress." Luckily, at least the fever broke. Poor Zach is stuck doing all the chores in the house cause Matt is at work, Sam is too sick and I'm useless.