Toeing the Line

Today I went to the doctor.

My goal was to get him to tell me that the break is not that bad and I should be up and running in about two weeks.

Before the appointment I even worked out in the basement for an hour- weight lifting, no cardio.  I did not even sweat.  The workout was good, but I definitely was missing that post run burn/high.

By the time I was in the office and filling out the paperwork,  I had almost convinced myself that the initial X-ray must have been wrong.  No way was my toe actually broken.  And even it was, so what, it's just a toe.

My name was called and I made my way down the hall to the exam room.  On the walls lining the hall were ribbons, awards and metals indicating that the doctor was a fellow runner.

Ha! This is in the bag,  He will see we are kindred spirits and say, "Broken toe? Pashaw. Run Nikki. Run!"

Instead, when I told him I too am a runner he responded by saying, "Pashaw. Not for the next 6 to 8 weeks you aren't."

He said not only did I have a transverse fracture, but the one side was compacted leaving my big toe pointing at a 15 to 20 degree angle.

"We can put a pin it in to straighten it out." He tells me.

"No.  No surgery for a toe, unless it is to replace one that has been severed or something." I explained.

He informed me that my toe could not remain in it's current condition and needed to be straightened.  My other option was Novocaine (3 shots) and then he would manually reposition the toe.  Right there.  At that very minute.

Ummmm.

I screamed, loudly for the first shot that burned like hell.  Seriously like the fiery pits of hell. The doc encouraged me to, "Let it all out."  Thankfully, I did not actually scream any more.  The nurse was very nice and started telling me some story about her 3 month old son.

My toe is now straight.  Perhaps straighter than it was before I fell.

However, I left the office in a boot that comes half way up my calf and a prescription for a fistful of painkillers, maybe two fistfuls.

I am not allowed to run anytime in the near future.  He said he did not want to even see me on a bike for 3 weeks.  Finally, almost as an after thought he said, "You may want to head straight home because when that numbness wears off, that toe is going to really hurt...See you next week!"

Truth be told he was super nice.  The entire staff was super nice, friendly and gentle.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go look up low impact, geriatric chair work outs from the early 1970's.

Nuggets of Evil

The two worst foods ever are raisins and cole slaw.  I have even seen the two mixed together, which is beyond the boundaries of vile.

I am convinced these are the worst two foods because every time I say this to someone, they will always agree that at least one of them is gross.

BL does not like slaw, but does love a good raisin.  Yogurt covered or  otherwise. 

Monday night she was sitting at the bottom of the steps [some how] enjoying a bowl of raisins from her travel, no spill bowl.  We were trying to make our way out the door for Pman's Taw Kwon Do lesson.

While I was putting on my boots, I noticed I was not wearing my wedding rings, so I ran upstairs to get them.  As I ascended the steps I shouted to the kiddos to put on their shoes and jackets.

On my trip back down the steps to the foyer, I fell.
As I was falling, I thought, "Whhaaa?"  and "How is this happening?"

I never actually fell down, but instead seemingly skated down the last four steps via my big toe. 

I saw white heat in front of my eye.  Blinding, aching pain. After the forward motion stopped, I slid down the wall and sat in a heap at the bottom of the steps. I could hear Pman ask, "Are you okay, Mommy?

As I put my hand up in the air to signal, "I'm fine.  I just need a second." I glanced up the steps and what was there, but the travel bowl of BL's raisins. 

Raisins, nuggets of pure evil.

In order to see what damage was done, I pulled off my sock.  My big toe, which usually is straight in line with all the others, was  now hiding behind my second toe. 

Bend in such a way that I was instantly woozy and had to put my sock back on immediately and quick!

I sat there still silent, trying to breath. 
BL started to cry. 
Pman started to cry. 

I realized I needed to let them know I was actually okay.  So I called Josh, told him to meet us at Tae Kwon Do.  Then I slipped everyone into their jackets, grabbed my keys and drove to practice.

Finally around 9:15 in the evening, I went to Urgent Care to confirm what I knew to be true.

Transverse fracture of the big toe. Meaning I broke the bone all the way across, one clean cut.  I could not have done it better if I had used a knife (or some other medical instrument they use to cut bone evenly).
 
 Now, I need to go see an Orthopedic doc and not run for quite some time.  I fear I may become meatball sized since the holidays are upon us.

In related news, raisins are now banned from the house, for all time.