Damnit! It’s fall in the Greater Cincinnati area and the stupid walnuts are falling too.
This morning my friend Jamie and I went out for a short run. Well, “long” for me, short for her. She’s going to be running a half marathon on Sunday. We thought that she could use this as her last run before the race, and I could use it to get back into shape.
I met her at her house, we walked to the top of her hill and then turned right. We had decided to go on a bit of a hilly route on Grand Avenue. So, we go about a quarter of a mile and turn left at the light. Grand is a windy course with a rolling elevation. I was thinking that I had to be careful on the first left hand curve, as there are some oak trees that hang over the sidewalk and they tend to drop acorns. I’ve had move than a few run-ins with the acorns. Nothing serious.
Jamie and I had run about 3 houses toward that curve when I suddenly felt my right ankle step on something, it turned and I was on the ground. Then I felt the pain!!!! I grabbed my right ankle yelling something along the line of “I broke it!” My ankle didn’t feel right, felt like it was sticking out. Then I felt a pop…it was dislocated and popped back into place.
Turns out I stepped on stupid walnut. (I’d rather use a stronger word, but this is a family blog). Landed right on it! My ankle turned completely. So, Jamie ran back to her house and got her car. She also woke her husband up to help me out. Meanwhile, I waited, sitting on the sidewalk in the rain, bleeding like a stuck pig from my left knee.
The ankle didn’t hurt that much, but I could feel it starting to swell. I managed to stand up and attempted to put some weight on it. That wasn’t a good idea. Jamie and Joseph showed up after what seemed an hour. It was really about 5 minutes. I hobbled into her car and she drove me home. They then helped me to the door and I sent them on their way. Jamie and Joseph, thanks again for the help. I’m glad Jamie was with me, I wouldn’t have been able to get home without you.
I rang the doorbell, Michael opened it with Kristen behind him. I said to her, “I don’t think you’re going to work today. We’re going to the ER.” She saw my knee first and said something along the line of “What happened?” I told her that I’d about broken my ankle and she said “well, you can drive yourself to the hospital, can’t you?” Now, in her defense, work was going to be crazy today for her. She’s working on the H1N1 vaccine studies at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. I think they had 21 patients between 3-5 today.
So I showed her the bad ankle and she decided that maybe I couldn’t drive myself. Well, we went to the University of Cincinnati Hospital ER. They were great. I was in and out in about 2 hours, which is amazing for an ER. Now, I did contact my pulmonologist because I figured that they were going to get a call for the “what precautions do we need to take for surgery for him?” Dr. Joseph called the ER and gave them the scoop on me. I think I got in quicker because I needed respiratory isolation (due to the H1N1 flu crap).
The diagnosis: a severely sprained ankle. Honestly, I can’t believe it. I was sure that I had torn something in there. The pop when I touched it was my clue. I guess I’m not a doc after all. I’ll be out of running for at least a couple of weeks. I’m really not happy about this. I was really looking forward to getting back into shape and improving my running. Now I guess I’ll just be working on getting my ankle better. I’ll still be at the Run Like Hell, but I probably won’t be running in it.
The next week is going to be percocet, ibuprofen, and crutches. We’ll see what happens after that.
I hate stupid walnuts!!!!!!
It always happens that way Mark… I had my kidney out in 2007 and could not run or exercise or do anything for about 10 weeks. After that period of time I was approved to sit on my stationary bike for my workouts. The FIRST day, and I am not kidding, my foot was itching in the strap of the pedal.. instead of STOPPING, like any intelligent person would do, I reached down, got my finger caught in the strap that holds your foot in and severed the nerve from my mid knuckle to the top one which resulted in a hanging finger tip….
I embarrassingly went to the ER and I had to wear this weird smelly splint for 4 (YES FOUR) months for the nerve connection to grow back..
Talk about embarrassing…. Well Walnuts.. Yeah, They’ll do it to you also.
So I have bacteria in the pseudonoma family. (When it rains it pours)– In my lungs and presumably in the frontal left sinus (CT SCAN detected an obstruction of fluid (mucous)— SO– My poor MD who diagnosed me on 9/1 thought he was getting a mild case of CF.. My PFT was great– My lung bacteria not so good and my resistance to antibiotics at this point is way too good… I am on another 14 days of Avelox.
I see the sinus surgeon next week.
My pancreas are just simply not working so the increase of the Ultrase MT 20 is frequent… My temp is high ALWAYS.. i am told I am furnace in bed.. with love of course…
I miss my life pre-diagnosis… a lot. My days feel like they beat to the pentameter of pills, supplements, breathing treatments, food schedules and running.. I will not stop running.
I am running the Hartford, CT 1/2 marathon on October 10th..
I hope you are well
Tara