Benedict Ankle

My right ankle has turned on me, quite literally.

Yesterday during my tennis lesson, as we did the same drill we've done twice a week now for I don't know how many weeks, my right ankle bent under me and I felt something snap. Down I went, onto my ass, in an extreme amount of pain. Doug, my amazing tennis instructor, watched in horror as we replayed an eerily similar event from three years ago when my left ankle did the same thing. Last time, I got up and kept playing. Three years older and perhaps a little bit wiser, I decided that staying on my ass was a good idea, and I sat there while Doug went and got me some ice.

my swollen ankle (and pretty Christmas toes!)

I put on a brave face for Doug, since I could tell that he was feeling really guilty for my injury (which was totally not his fault!). We talked and laughed while I iced the ankle, and then I hobbled to the car using my tennis racquet as a cane. On the way home I called Donovan, and that's when the tears came. Mostly, I was just really pissed off at my body for betraying me this way, again. I work so hard to keep myself in good fitness, and my body is usually so willing to do just about anything I ask it to. The idea of not being able to walk, let alone play tennis, made me very very sad and angry.

We decided to go to urgent care to rule out any kind of break. It took a few hours, some x-rays and some time in a wheel chair (which Donovan got a huge kick out of) before we found out that I had a "second-degree sprain," meaning that I had torn many of the ligaments in my ankle, but not all of them. They put a removable splint on me, prescribed ice, elevation, Advil as necessary and staying off my foot as much as possible. They also gave me crutches, which I am thus far not particularly fond of.

in the waiting room at urgent care

So far my preferred method of transporting myself to and from the bathroom, bed or couch is crawling. It's just easier than using the crutches, plus we have stairs. I'm realizing what a good thing it is that I'm as strong as I am as I do one-legged squats and pull up my entire body weight with my upper body. I'm not sure how long the whole "staying off it as much as possible" thing is going to last. I'm really not good at just sitting still and not being able to do anything!!

And God bless my amazing, patient, loving husband. Not only is he taking awesome care of me by making sure that I ice my ankle and have everything I need at all times, but he's also taking on wrapping all the presents for the homeless kids that we're going to be delivering tomorrow. And it's no small job!! He also gets to chauffeur me around and he'll get to do all the loading and unloading of the van when we go to StandUp for Kids tomorrow. The man is a saint!!!

All told, I'm not a huge fan of this injury, and I'm doing my best to take good care of it so that I can heal all the way and get back on my feet and back on the tennis court! Hopefully we'll still have a great holiday vacation, bum ankle and all!