Broken Foot

We decided to go to the cabin over Martin Luther King Day in January.  We drove for 3+ hours to get there and as soon as we pulled up I hopped out of the car to open the garage door.  I went in the shop door and opened the garage door to reach for the light switch.  Somehow I fell off the step and twisted both ankles.  All I remember was looking for the light and then BAM, lying on the ground in terrible pain in both ankles.  I finally got enough strength to crawl back to the shop door so Isaac could see me before I collapsed. 

Isaac helped me upstairs to the couch and already my ankles were swollen like softballs.  I was pretty sure the right one was broken and the left one was sprained.  Isaac unpacked the car while I sat on the couch.  Then we debated whether we should go to the hospital in town.  I decided to wait because I wouldn't be treated until we got back to Salt Lake anyway.  We think that I must have fallen off the top stair onto my right foot where it hit so hard that it twisted and then I fell off the second step onto my left ankle that twisted when I hit that one too.

So it was pretty much the worst trip to the cabin ever.  A little while later, Isaac's parents, Lacey's family, and Hannah and Gabe came up.  I just sat on the couch taking care of Hazel.  It isn't easy to take care of a baby when you can't walk.

Basically the whole trip involved everyone else going outside to play in the snow while I stayed inside with Hazel.  Then slowly all the kids would come in, but the adults were all too busy doing who knows what to notice.  So I would be inside as the kids would be running around crazy, fighting, and begging to play the Wii.  All I could do was yell at them from the couch.  Then around dinner time I would sit there wondering if anyone was going to come in to help me make dinner.  So I would hobble over to the kitchen and start cooking for the whole group.  Lacey was super helpful and kind.  But I was so mad at Isaac the whole time because I thought he was super selfish and insensitive.

The last day everyone went to play outside and left me to clean up the whole cabin as I hobbled around and took care of the kids as they slowly came inside.  At one point I was slowly vacuuming the floor as Hannah and Gabe laid on the couch with their heads on each other's laps looking at their phones.  Neither of them offered to help or lift a finger to do anything for the lady with 2 hurt feet.  Needless to say, I was really, really mad at most of them by the time the trip was over.

On our drive home, I looked at the wait times at InstaCare.  Isaac dropped Hazel and me off at one and then took the other kids to Grandma Sugar's house so she could watch them while I got checked out.  We thought it would take a while to get x-rays and everything, but by the time Isaac got back from dropping them off I had already had the exams and was waiting for the results.  The doctor came in a few minutes later and said that he was having the radiologist look at it and it would be a few more minutes.  At that point I knew it was bad because the regular doctor couldn't say there was nothing wrong.

Then he came back and said that my right foot was broken and the left was just sprained (just as I predicted).  They gave me a boot and told me to call an orthopedist.

I was super upset and discouraged.  How was I going to take care of a baby with a broken and sprained foot?  How was I going to go up and down our stairs a million times?  I had just started an exercise program and now couldn't work out for 6+ weeks.  And there was a chance I would need surgery too.

The next day I called the orthopedist to schedule an appointment.  They couldn't see me for a week.  But the night before my appointment, someone called me from the orthopedic office and said the doctor looked at my x-rays and thought my damage was too severe and that I would need surgery and passed me off to a podiatrist.  I was soooo upset.  Who tells someone that over the phone when they've been waiting a week to be seen?  I really didn't want surgery because I didn't think it was that bad.  And Isaac was super pessimistic about going to a podiatrist. 

The next day I got a rush appointment with the podiatrist because I threw a fit about having to wait another week.  They guy looked me over and explained my x-rays and the radiologist report (we had the report, but could never see the x-rays).  Basically I had 1 fracture from the break and 2 other possible ones, but they couldn't really tell if those were new or pre-existing.  But there was a section of my foot missing a bunch of cartilage.  They didn't know how much or if that was new or something I was born with.  But basically he suggested we wait and see.  If my foot didn't feel better after 6 weeks we could discuss surgery options.  So why did the dumb orthopedist blow me off and freak me out for no reason?  But that was the best news I could hope for.

It was a rough 6 weeks, but I finally got out of that dang boot.  It's now May and I'm doing fairly well.  It is still stiff in some positions and I am scared to jump on it too much, but can walk and exercise just fine.  It still gets really stiff at night and I have to limp for a little bit when I first start moving, but I don't have any pain.  (But I do have leftover annoyance at certain people for being lazy butts at the cabin.)