Last Sunday afternoon we were debating on whether we would attend one Thanksgiving party or both and how long we would stay at each. It didn't sit well with me because I wanted to go to the party at my friend's house rather than the other party we were invited to attend. It caused a great deal of friction and division in the home that day. Fifteen minutes prior to our departure, I climbed up into the attic to retrieve some warmer outer clothing due to cooler temperatures that had set in. I found what I wanted to wear and proceeded down the ladder back into the house. It was at this point that things took a drastic turn for the worst. Like so many times before, I was standing two steps from the ground, which equals about 2 1/2 feet off the ground, and lunged down to the ground. Instead of gracefully landing my leap, my world turned upside down instantly and my right ankle and leg were immediately engulfed in agonizing pain.
My ankle was obviously weakened from the 10K I had run the day before and when it made contact with the floor it snapped over causing excruciating pain and extreme trauma to my ligaments and ankle. I writhed on the floor in agony and flashes of all the training I had put in for running sped through my mind. My initial thought was my running career could be over for an undefined amount of time. I just wanted this pain to subside and be able to overcome another one of my classic blunders.
Over the course of the next couple of hours I found myself laid up on the couch with ice packs and starving. My family went to the picnic without me and I had to settle for some NBA basketball on T.V. The swelling in my ankle grew and manifested into something very nasty and my ankle became far from recognizable. I had only seen similar sights one time before from a sprain that I had endured and this one looked to be far, far worse. The next two days my ankle swelled to the size of a grapefruit and became black and blue and quite stiff. I proceeded to go to the Urgent Care facility and have it examined. After an examination and x-rays I was informed that I had an avulsion fracture on my ankle and would have to wear a boot and go to an Orthopedic Surgeon for an additional exam. This was not sounding too good for me and I was not looking forward to it.
My appointment would be for the following day, Wednesday, and I dreaded every waking second prior to its arrival. Then the moment of truth came when I walked into the office of the surgeon and sat on the table in his examining room. The doctor darkened the door way sooner than I anticipated. He was an older man well into his sixties and of Indian descent. He took a look at my ankle and felt around on it, probing it and asking me several questions. I answered his questions and gave him a background of my ankle injuries. He studied my unflattering extremity and said that it wasn't fractured and that he would treat it like a severe sprain. He informed me to put heat on it, do stretches and to make sure I kept it supported. I was told the swelling and pain would go away in the next couple of weeks and the range of motion for my ligaments would return a little later as well.
After his diagnosis, he walked briskly back into his office and I was on my way back home; feeling confident. To hear good news that my ankle was not fractured and that things would be getting better soon immediately made me feel better and added a spring in my step. While my ankle is still swollen and experiencing some discomfort, it has greatly improved over the last 48 hours and has restored my hope for getting back onto the roads for some running. I may be down for a short while, but I am far from out.
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