The dangers of stairs...

and not watching where you are going!

Saturday afternoon after a nice peaceful nap upstairs with Asa, we woke up and made our way downstairs. Well, we didn't really make it all the way - it was an attempt though. As I was holding Asa in one arm and holding on to the railing with the other hand, I felt myself slip. I wasn't about to let go of Asa, so I held on to him as tightly as I could and proceeded to do the most amazing acrobatic move I have ever made. My right foot and leg went forward down about 3 steps, while my left food and leg somehow managed to stay behind me 2 steps back and up. Are you getting a mental picture of this? Picture someone doing the splits, only going down stairs and not on purpose. Somehow I managed to do all of this while keeping my upper body and Asa upright the entire time. Asa still firmly attached to my hip. I yelled for John that I needed help. As he grabbed for Asa, I knew that something was really wrong with my toe. I still had my sock on so I wasn't sure what the damage was. All I knew was that I definitely could NOT walk. John (my hero) carried me to the couch and I proceeded to take my sock off as I announced to him that I think I broke my big toe. As I peeled my sock off (ever so gently) I was horrified to see that my big toe was pretty much at a sideways angle, overlapping the toe next to it. At this point it started to swell a little and I knew I needed to go to Urgent Care or the ER. John took a look and thought that it might just have been dislocated. Sweet John grabbed the crutches (we always have them just in case!) and loaded up the kids in the "big one" and we headed to Urgent Care. They were really nice to me and took some x-rays. Sure enough it was broken. From what they said though, is that it was broken in 3 to 4 places. It is still beyond me how such a small bone could break that many times. Regardless the damage was done. They taped me up, gave me a referral to an Orthopedic Surgeon and sent me on my way with a nice prescription of Vicodin (which was promptly filled!) Didn't have any luck finding an Orthopedic Surgeon that was open on Saturday (or Sunday). However today I did get an appointment. The good news - it's a perfect spiral break. Couldn't have done better if I tried according to the Surgeon. The bad news - I have to have surgery to fix it. Surgery probably won't happen until next week though. In the meantime, I have a very fashionable red soft-cast and black ortho shoe. Tomorrow I have to go get my pre-op labs done, ie. blood work, EKG, UA, and Chest Xray, etc. Monday I have an appointment with my primary doctor for the physical exam and then I can schedule the surgery. Sounds like fun, huh?

This is a pic of how my foot looked today after all the tape and gauze was removed by the Orthopedic Surgeon. He was impressed because I didn't have as much swelling as he thought I would have given the nature of the break. You can see that the bruising is starting a little though. And I was glad to see that my big toe had righted itself for the most part, in large part due to it being taped up I guess.

Here is pic of the x-ray they took today. Can you see the break? It's a beauty isn't it? The break has shifted down about 4mm even since Saturday, which is why I need the surgery. That is really the only way they are going to be able to fix it, by putting pin's and screws in there. Or something like that. I left there with another prescription for Vicodin and STRICT instructions to not put ANY weight on my foot what so ever.

So that was my weekend in a nutshell. I have to though give praise to my husband who is doing an amazing job with the kids while I am immobile. Not only is he constantly catering to their every need, but now he has me to take care of as well. I cannot tell you enough how much I appreciate you honey! I love you!