So I suffered through the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, but I had some great company! I had made plans to go see April, Dave’s sister in law, down in Vero Beach for the weekend, and I wanted to uphold our plans. I drove down, very carefully, Saturday afternoon (stopping for a bathroom break was quite the challenge) and my first time attempting to walk around in public and take care of myself. It was awful really, and just like at the gym, I’d walk and I’d have to stop every few feet and rest for a second. It’s like, my body would get ahead of itself and try to do things that had been normal, and then the sharp, shooting pain would burn through my right foot. Sigh. This isn’t getting any better.
When I got to Vero, we just relaxed, ate good food, ran (hobbled?) some errands around town. By Sunday, I was better at the whole hobbling thing, and we went to Target, Homegoods, and some really cool antique shops. Aside from that, we hung out on the couch, watched movies, and just had a good time.
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| You can see the swelling in my toes, as well as the top and outside areas of my right foot. I was standing with most of my weight on my left foot, too, so this was without any pressure from the floor. |
Instead of driving home Sunday night, as originally planned, I stayed one more night and drove home first thing Monday morning. Driving was fine, and it was deceiving. With the seat back a little further than usual, so my foot could remain fairly pointed/unflexed for brake to gas movements, I’d relax for a bit and by this time (pretty much after the first few hours) when my foot wasn’t moving, there wasn’t any pain. So I felt normal, until I went to walk/get out of the car/stand up/get out of bed/put clothes on again, and right before my foot would hit the ground, I’d remind myself of what was really going on and I’d gingerly place the inside of my right foot down, and quickly back it up with the security and strength of my left foot. When I’m sitting, or laying down, or basically, not walking, I’m a complete human. 100% perfect. This is so frustrating!
On the drive home, I had a good 3 1/2 hours to deal with myself. I opted to call a local sports medicine and orthopedic center near our house and they were able to get me in the next morning. I was SO excited to go and get x-rays, so I could finally figure out what the hell I was dealing with here. I was told by several people that there was no way it was a break or fracture, because if it was, I wouldn’t be able to work out or walk or anything. It’s not that I wanted to prove them wrong, because I really didn’t want to deal with a broken bone here, but I have never experienced an initial pain like what I experienced on Saturday that didn’t subside after a little bit. It didn’t feel muscle-related. It was awful, and I never cry after I hurt myself at the gym. This was flat out almost hysterical crying, and I sobbed throughout the day at the intermittent pain and the thought of being broken.Â
That afternoon, I hobbled into the gym and did my own workout. Never miss a Monday. I’ll document that in my next CF post, though.
X-Ray time. I get in, I get scooted off to the x-ray room, turn my foot 3-4 ways, joke with the x-ray tech, ask him a few questions, and hobble back to the exam room. Doctor comes in, I explain what happened, he looks at the x-ray, looks at my foot, sees me standing, asks me to point out the pain, pokes around a bit, looks back at the x-ray, and points to a clean break right across my 4th Metatarsal. It’s the exact bone and spot where I had suspected the pain was coming from, and he verified it.
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| Check out that break that goes entirely across my bone! 4th Metatarsal fracture x-ray |
There it was. He goes “yup. It’s broken!” I was given some good advice “if it hurts, don’t do it.” Rather, I suggested the rule of thumb and he agreed with my philosophy. He knew I had gone to the gym the day before, and I had mentioned that I would continue to go to the gym, and he didn’t flinch or bat an eye when I said that. I was like, okay so basically whatever I do, if it doesn’t hurt, it’s okay? Yup.
He also saw my shoes (was wearing my New Balance Minimus shoes.. the most comfortable by far in this whole fiasco) and really, he didn’t say anything negative about what I was already doing. Which, in my book, is super awesome. Finding a ‘professional’ who agrees with what you’re already doing is super validating and encouraging that you’re finally doing the right thing.
He did suggest an ugly velcro shoe thing to wear if I didn’t think my regular shoes were supportive enough, so I gave it a go. It was a good inch higher than my regular shoes, so walking around is rather difficult with the height difference. When I got to the car, I put my old shoe back on. Whew. So much better!
I met Dave for lunch, we laughed about my broken foot and other stupid shit, and so life went on. I also worked out on Tuesday, but that’s another separate post! Stay tuned.
