Man Vs Steel

Okay, really it is woMAN versus minivan.

First of all, yes, you are seeing this right. Three posts within 24 hours. I am on a roll. Or bored. Or both.

Okay, back to the matter at hand. Or in my case, foot.

I think I should preface this by saying I am not an accident prone person. I do bump into things alot so I have random bruises from hitting my thigh on a desk or ramming my elbow into the door. But I really don't injure easily.

When I was in elementary school, I was playing on the trampoline once with my sister. I was doing a flip and didn't quite complete the rotation. I landed on my head. Serious pain. I bruised some ribs I think.

Then in junior high, I was spending the night with a friend. She had this house in the ground. It was like an "A" frame house. One thing she liked to do was put a mattress on it and slide down the roof. I joined in the fun. Unfortunately when I got to the bottom (a.k.a. the ground) I bounced on the mattress and flew off, landing on my leg. That was a little visit to the emergency room. I was on crutches for a few miserable days (I am not good on crutches) then I recovered nicely.

My next injury was last year when I was on my way to visit a friend. I stepped off the one and only step in our garage, landing on a little plastic bowl that one of my dear children had left at the bottom of the step. I went crashing down, twisting my ankle something fierce. (I still know I heard a "snapping" sound and still have some odd electrical pulses on that ankle at times.) It took me all summer to recover from that. The joys of getting older...

Well, I did it again. The other day I picked child 4 up from school. As I was driving there, I noticed clouds of smoke coming from his school direction. When I got there, there were two firetrucks and an ambulance in the drive by his school. That was a bit odd, but I wasn't overly worried since the building was intact. (Come to find out there was a brush fire in the field next to the building...it was under control by the time I got there) That story really has nothing to do with my foot but I threw it in as a bonus...

So when I put child 4 in his carseat, I was somehow standing at my door (probably putting my papers and checkbook up), with one foot in it. I was leaned back toward his door, probably getting a book or something that he requested. Anyway, my car door closes easily. I guess that is to help me not leave it open...it takes nothing for it to close. Kind of like a screen door. Maybe it was the wind that spread that brush fire or just that the car shook a tiny tiny bit, but the door closed...with my foot still in it. It hurt a little bit at the time, but thankfully the door didn't slam shut or anything.

I remember thinking, "That will leave a little mark..." But overall I was okay. I came home and still managed to exercise. When I went to bed that night, it was hurting a little bit. I finally got the courage to look at it. It had a little red mark, nothing else.

Yesterday I went to work at a friend's house (more on that later). When I slipped on my shoes, I thought, "My foot is a bit achy". But I walked through the pain. No biggie.

Then around lunchtime, after being on it all day, I started to feel some pain. Some real pain. Suddenly there was a little throbbing going on. (Ironically this is the same house I was visiting when I hurt my ankle last year) I didn't want to be dramatic, so I just gritted my teeth and kept on working. When we finally left, around 4:30, I could not deny there was some pain.

As soon as I got home, I took my shoe off to elevate the foot. I also noticed the bump on top of my foot. However, feet are odd looking to me so I still cannot tell if it is anything out of the ordinary, though it seems a little enlarged to me. (It was much more obvious with the ankle)

We had a party to go to, so I downed some Tylenol and headed out the door with the family. I decided to forego skating, instead socializing, sitting when possible. By the time I got home, I was really hurting. As soon as I had eaten, I had my shoe off and ice on. I tried elevating it too.

Then I made a critical mistake. I decided a hot bath would be good for the body after a hard day's work. (At this point, it was snowing very hard, the weather was obviously cold, and my whole body ached.)

So I drew up a hot, hot bath...my favorite kind. And I grabbed a magazine to browse. And I hopped in (carefully) for a good soak.

Unfortunately, due to my lack of injuries in my life, I didn't realize what would happen putting an injury IN hot water. And it took just a few minutes for some of the most intense pain I have experienced (I put it right there with childbirth). The worse thing was that I couldn't figure out how to make the pain stop. If I put it in the water, I felt like my foot was on fire. Out of the water, all I could feel was intense pain. When I was ready to leave the warmth of the water (because if you are going to be in pain, you might as well be in really warm water), I crawled into bed. After a little bit, I was near tears which takes a lot for me in regard to pain. I called Mark who brought me some towels and some ice (elevation and cold). After a little bit, the pain was bearable.

I woke up this morning and checked the weather. Then I couldn't go back to sleep because it (meaning the pain) started again. Now I have it elevated. Just had ice on it and it is back to throbbing.

I am trying to decide what to do. Do I just ride the pain out? Will it heal on its own? My husband says that there isn't anything that can be done even if it is broken. Part of me doesn't want to hear the doctor say "Stay off of it" since I have big plans for my spring break week (which hopefully involves hiking next weekend).

Meanwhile, anyone have a Tylenol?