My Right Foot

Exactly one week ago today(Monday) I hurt my big toe. I know it doesn't sound like much of an injury, but let me assure you-its pretty bad. I will tell you now not to read this post if you're squeamish. The truth about my clumsiness must be recorded, but not at the expense of your stomach contents. So if you're a lightweight, do yourself a favor and check back tomorrow for a happier post.

Anyway...back to my toe. Last Monday, the 12th, I was performing my morning ritual of carrying both of my children downstairs to start our day. Understand, I do this almost everyday. Today was different. For starters, it was a bit chilly in the house so I decided to put on some slippers. I had Bubba on one hip and his sister hugged against my side, holding her just under her armpits, as I headed down the stairs. I was just turning the corner in the stairs when something went wrong. I lost my balance and recovered, or so I thought. The next thing I knew I was falling down the last 3 steps. Thankfully I had enough of my wits about me that I set Sissy down mid-fall, she ended up on the floor on her knees-unhurt. And I saved Bubba by sacrificing my big toe. I ended up on the floor, on my knees, still holding onto Bubba. As soon as I hit the floor my mind was running 1,000mph. I was going through all the thoughts of, "did I just fall?" "are my kids ok?" "is my leg broken?" "how did that happen?" "where does it hurt" and of course, "how much is this going to cost?" I soon realized that my foot was the only place I really hurt.

You know how these things always happen in slow-motion? Well, it did but somehow the details are still fuzzy. Later I pieced together some of the facts. The bottom of my slipper was ripped out and flappin' in the breeze, so that was how I got tripped up. And I must have hit the stair directly on my toes(think ballet toe-shoes) and rolled on over the top of it. Then I somehow slowed the rest of my decent with my left leg before hitting the floor with both knees. I had ice on that foot within 4 minutes. Two minutes after that I was calling my hubby to tell him what happened. Then I had to call my MIL to come help me. Its a bit humbling to call someone and say, "uh hi, yeah, I just...um...fell down the stairs, and, well, I think I hurt myself pretty bad..." Thankfully she wasn't too busy and dropped everything to come to my rescue!!

So here's the old foot:

This is 2 days post injury.

Side by side. You can tell I have some swelling going on.

Actually, this doesn't look so bad. As I'm writing this post I'm looking at my foot in "real life" and it looks much worse now.

My Hubby brought me these roses to help my foot feel better. It worked. The roses even make it look better!

This is my foot today, one week post injury.
These pictures still look better than the real thing.

And, live or Memorex, the side view is sick!
At least my toes look nice.

This is how Bubba spend most of his time during my blogging today. Nice. I love it when my kids nap at the same time!! (have I said that way too much yet?)

The most annoying part about my injured foot is that it is my right foot. I think I could live without using my left foot too much, but my right one? No way. I can't drive. I tried. It hurt like a, well...it hurt really bad. So I'm pretty much house-bound unless someone comes and gets me. Then they have to help with my kids and put up with my slow hobble. Thankfully a friend had a pair of crutches I could borrow and I'm able to keep up with the kids, most of the time. At home I hobble around on the side of my foot, praying I don't cause a stress fracture to the side of my foot.

Today some friends came over to visit and they helped me out so much! One helped me out by running around after my kids while the other folded my laundry and then gave my foot a massage. My foot feels so much better now! I still can't walk on it because bending the foot forward and pushing off with my toes causes extreme pain, but I am able to put a little more pressure on the big toe joint. Another friend, who is in sports medicine, took a look at it and said it most likely isn't broken and that I should be walking on it in about a week and completely healed in 3-4 weeks. Lets hope so!!