I Need a Break Already!!!

I know... I know... I start the New Year promising that I will blog more, and here it has been two whole weeks and NOTHING. In my defense, I think I have a pretty good excuse.


Isn't that pretty?!? That would be my leg. Fun!!! :-)

The past few months have been really hard in the foster care, home life, personal health, job world. I've had pneumonia and bronchitis almost CONSTANTLY since October, and even spent Sunday the 3rd in the ER because I couldn't breathe. By Thursday the 6th, I was at my wits' end. I've been EXHAUSTED from all of the stress of being sick and dealing with everything that had been going on at home. I had an appointment scheduled with my PCP to try to figure out why I couldn't seem to get over whatever has been going on with my lungs. And to be totally honest, I was really hoping they'd put me in the hospital just so I could get some rest.

... Be careful what you wish for...

The morning of my appointment (which also happened to be the coldest day of the year so far... 14 degrees, I believe), I headed outside with the Booger Bear in one arm and his diaper bag and my purse in the other. I looked around to make sure there weren't any wet spots or puddles that had turned into ice overnight, and the ground was completely dry. ... Or so it appeared... As I stepped onto a metal grate that covers a drainage ditch about 12 feet away from my door, I felt my right leg start to slip on a lovely sheet of invisible ice. "Mommy instinct" kicked in and I twisted on my left leg in order to keep from falling on Booger. Unfortunately, as I was falling to the ground, I heard (and unfortunately felt) my leg snap.

I knew it was broken, but as I sat there on the ground, I kept wishing it away. "It'll be fine. I'll just sit here a few seconds and the pain will go away." Fortunately, BB was fine and THANK GOD he didn't try to run away! He just stood there looking at me like, "Why are you sitting on the ground?" There was absolutely no one around, so I SOMEHOW managed to force myself to stand up and walk stagger back into the apartment. I dropped to the floor and crawled over to prop myself up on the couch and try to figure out what to do.

I had dropped my phone on the floor by the front door, and the Booger went and got it for me. He handed it to me and said, "Nana?" He was SO GOOD. He could have gotten into all sorts of trouble while we were waiting for help to arrive, but instead, he got some books from his bookshelf and shared his books with me until my mom got there.

I ended up calling my doctor's office since I was going there anyway, and just told them to add a probably broken leg and/or ankle to the mix. No sense paying for another ER co-pay when my doctor's office has radiology onsite, right? We somehow got BB and me loaded into the car, took Booger to daycare, and headed over to the doctor. Fortunately, they had a wheelchair. :-)

By that time, I wasn't sure what all I had hurt. I was pretty certain my leg was broken because it kept popping in and out of place and kind of crunching. When it was out of place, my toes would go numb and turn purple. But my ankle was really hurting a lot too, so I couldn't completely pinpoint the pain. Believe it or not, they actually did the exam for my breathing problems first. Then sent me for x-rays where I heard the tech exclaim, "Oh! THAT'S not good!" I ended up doing a breathing treatment while they called the orthopedic and set up an appointment for me and then put on a huge splint. PATHETIC!!!

At the ortho the next morning, we found out what I actually did. Apparently, when I twisted, I pulled the ligaments holding my ankle together which also happen to be connected to the smaller bone in my leg. The pressure from the twisting snapped the bone. The doctor said that the break is "inconsequential" and that it should heal itself in a few weeks. Pardon me, sir, but it doesn't FEEL that "inconsequential" to me! It kind of hurts like hell! And the "snap, crackle, popping" noises are freaking me out. The ankle on the other hand, is a doozy. Leave it to Tammy to come up with something weird. He said that in his twenty years of doing this, he has only seen an injury like mine maybe three other times. :-)

So far, the ankle appears to be staying intact, so he wants to wait for a couple of weeks before deciding whether or not to do surgery. If we do that, he'd be putting a bar in to hold my ankle together while it heals. Then we'd have to do a second surgery to remove the bar. As it is, I am to remain completely non-weight-bearing for 8-10 weeks. Easier said than done for a single mother of a 15-month-old!

Thank God for my mom!!! She's living with me for the next however long it will take, and is taking care of the Booger, me, and my house. She also watches my soon-to-be 5-year-old neice and nephew during the day! We've also had a lot of people offer help, and we'll definitely be taking them up on it.
So, I've been out of work for a week so far. Not exactly the "break" that I was hoping for, but I am at least getting some much-needed rest. :-)

(Now that I'm not in quite as much pain, I'll be blogging a lot. I have all sorts of good stories from this little incident! :-) I hope everyone else is doing well out there, and that you heed my little warning when I say, seriously, "Be careful what you wish for!"