Saturday, September 19, 2015

Down for the Count

Well ... for the first time in my life, this is my new look:


Ugh.  I made it over 40 years without ever getting a cast, and I decide to have my first one put on 2 weeks and 3 days before I have an out-of-town marathon on the calendar for which I am fully trained.


Here's the "before" when I was in the ortho waiting room:


On the upside, I'm lucky both my husband and my running husband chose purple so I didn't have to explain another color to one of them...



Doctor thinks it's grade 3 sprains (my ankle rolled in and out), but there are two possible breaks based on the x-ray.  He said the best thing to do was cast and immobilize it for a week, then we'll look at it again next Thursday when the swelling has gone down.


He advised I would not be running the Oktoberfest 5k that I love so much this weekend, and that he does not think it looks good for running a marathon in two weeks.  But he wouldn't say it was impossible.  He said he'd never seen anyone fully recover from grade 3 sprains in less than 2 weeks, but he couldn't say it could never happen.  I'm super strong and I think I'll heal fast. 


So I guess I'm just going with an extreme taper? 


No running obviously, and no swimming since I can't get the cast wet.  I might try a stationary bike or an elliptical early next week.  I think I need to do something, but the upside to doing nothing is that maybe I'll gain 100+ pounds this week and my cast will split open -- which will finally allow me to scratch my damn leg and point my damn toe!  Both of which I'm dying to do!


It hurts like crazy, I've taken a double dose of OTC sleeping pills all three nights with no luck, and I don't think I can stand it any more.  I should have asked for pain meds.  Ooops. 


This officially breaks my years-long streak of no significant running injuries. 


So if you don't mind, cross your fingers for a second and hope it's healed by the marathon and definitely that I'm not hobbling through Morocco a month from now...  (not asking for prayers, too many things far more worthy of prayers in this world) (can you tell I've been clicking on sob stories on FB to try to keep this all in perspective?) (honestly, I wasn't in PR shape and it's really not the end of the world). 

6 comments:

  1. Going to admit that my 'healing powers beam of focused energy' is working on making sure you're ready for Morocco ... because I fear rushing too fast to that marathon will end up with more injuries!

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  2. OH NO! not you too!!! yours is like twice as bad as mine was/is. i really really hope you heal fast.

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  3. Man! you poor thing! I'm so sorry about this - and the timing! I hope you heal rapidly and can pull a great marathon off. Get well!

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  4. Oh no! You should have gotten a waterproof cast so you could have at least swam...or taken a shower. :) Hope you feel better soon.

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  5. Well crap! I'm sorry, man, that sucks. Hopefully it will heal up fast and the pain will subside soon. Fingers crossed for you!!!

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  6. Ugh. Well, he said it's not impossible to heal in time for your marathon. Boy, what unlucky timing though. I have done the same thing many times of thinking the street/trail was lit enough, but it is really tricky to see rocks/holes in dim lighting. Fingers crossed!!!!

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