But on February 7th, Romania had a Lacrosse meeting. Mandatory. That's what the email said. And like all mothers that pay attention to sports emails, I decided to go so I could get all the information I needed. So I sent Super Hero off with Egypt for her basketball practice and finished getting ready so I could drive the 5 minutes to the old high school for the Mandatory Meeting. As I was walking down the stairs, I somehow missed the bottom two steps and my right foot went underneath me and I fell to the landing at the bottom. I won't lie that I screamed. Like a girl. Romania came over. I have never felt such physical pain. Not even from childbirth. Both my pregnancies ended up with c-section deliveries and me being put under. I remember none of the pain (except when I woke and from having had surgery). But this pain was horrendous. Both my ankles had been twisted and jolted. Romania got ice and put it in a bag and for some stupid reason, I got up, hobbled to the car, and drove to the stupid Mandatory Meeting in horrendous pain.
I couldn't even park close. We weren't even sure where to go in and I hobbled all over the place with Lacrosse moms haggling for space at the uniform table, trying to get their kid's favorite number. I love my kid so much, I grabbed #47 and said "Here. Here's your favorite number now." The place was packed with all levels of players and not enough seats for even half. They had equipment for loan, but I was in so much pain, we just sat down at some tables, me with my swollen ankle flailing on a bench in front of me, waiting for the Mandatory Meeting to be over. Romania had grabbed a bag and filled it with ice and I kept that on my ankle for most of the Mandatory Meeting. At one point I looked down to survery the damage, and I swear it looked like my ankle was growing crooked. This mom sitting next to me about fell off the bench when she saw it and asked me what happened. I explained that I had fallen down my stairs, but for some stupid reason had still driven to the meeting. You know. Because it was required to sign in, and get my kid's uniform.
By the end of the meeting, it was clear I would NOT be driving home. I texted Super Hero and said he needed to drive down and pick us up. I don't know how I hobbled to the car. I had to lean on Romania, who is a good foot shorter than me. There should be some online course for how to help an injured person walk. Because my family is no good at it. Super Hero came and he was on the other side and neither one of them was any help. I felt like I was on a trampoline. They weren't walking in sync and I couldn't stop them to sign to Super Hero to tell him how to walk. I gave up and hopped to the car. Every jolt felt like someone was knifing me in the ankles. Little sharks biting at me.
I took some Vicodin that Super Hero had left over from his shoulder surgery and camped out on the couch downstairs. By morning, I texted him and said "take me to the ER." I really thought I had broken it. The pain was so bad. The swelling made me look like The Elephant Man. There was so much bruising. The ER actually got me in right away to a room, but the wait was long. They did several x-rays and the doctor said he was concerned about one area near my ankle that looked like it could be fractured. Also, because there was so much swelling and bruising, torn ligaments is always a concern. I was supposed to call the orthopedist when I got home to make an appointment. But by the time I got home, their office was closed.
I was able to see the orthopedist on Thursday. I called around to many places, trying to find a cheaper way to see someone and get further treatment. Having no insurance makes even the people treating you nervous. They're afraid you're not going to pay for service. I had to pay for everything up front at the orthopedist - $158 to see the doctor and then another $76 for the x-rays. Even though the appointment lasted way too long (we were there almost 3 hours from start to finish), I had a really great doctor. When he came in and saw my leg all bruised up, he said, "who beat you up?!" I laughed and said, "my stairs!" He had looked at the x-rays from the ER and said it didn't looked like it was fractured to him, but he also wanted to x-ray a little higher up, near my knee. He said oftentimes a break can occur when there is trauma down near the ankle from how I fell. I told him right then that I had no insurance. That my husband had been laid off. He said he would do his best to keep my cost down. He had no idea what my treatment would be and said if in fact I needed some sort of boot, he would do his best to find me one.
The x-rays showed no fractures, either at the ankle or near my knee. So he said I would just have to wear this big ugly boot for 6 weeks. He even said unless I have problems, that I didn't need to make a follow up appointment. That would save me money as well. Just goes to show you that there are still good doctors out there. The nurses had a little trouble locating a boot for me. I had to stick my head out of the door several times to remind them I was still alive and needed my parting gift before I left the game show. They didn't have one my size, so we had to drive to their other office in Tualatin. My mom and I and the kids stopped for lunch and then popped in the office, where I was fitted with a snug sock and a big ugly boot, all in 5 minutes. My mom joked that if we combined both appointments, that about evened out the time it should have taken.
So, my down time on the couch, when I'm not sleeping from the Vicodin, is being spent reading and knitting. I just completed my first project. I'm calling it "knitting in the boot".
