Home from the doctor, 2.5 hrs later. Not too terrible, I suppose, given that there were x-rays taken and read, and that includes travel time. Since they’re not sure if there are tiny fractures that the x-ray didn’t pick up, they put me in a splint and crutches — no weight on the injured ankle, please.
I have a follow-up scheduled with an orthopedic surgeon next Wednesday (first available), where they will decide if I need an actual cast and/or several more weeks of crutches, gah. I’m a little nervous because I’m supposed to get on a plane the Saturday after, and the airlines want you to get a cast on 48 hours before flying (in case of swelling), so there *should* be enough time, assuming they can do it all quickly? We’ll see.
I’ve never used crutches before, so I’m trying to look at this as a learning experience. So far, I’ve learned that I am glad that I’ve been working out with Liz Fairweather the last few weeks, because I am definitely using those arm muscles she’s been strengthening with various push-ups and other exercises.
It’s all still exhausting — I don’t have great cardio capacity typically, so I’m definitely feeling all the extra effort.
The first hour after the injury was the worst — the pain itself made me feel sweaty and weirdly weak and shaky. I needed to just stay in one spot waiting for the waves of pain to pass initially, and even once I started moving (scooting my butt down the stairs), any exertion just added to the pain to make me feel super-shaky and exhausted.
I am trying to take mental notes for the next time I write a fight scene, but considering this is a pretty minor injury, it’s really making me wonder how in the world people in fantasy novels get stabbed and then drag themselves to their feet and keep moving. It took a lot of willpower to get myself down the stairs and to the couch, and lots of breaks to catch my breath too.
I’m in bed with Kavi now, watching Buffy, and I think that’s about all I can manage for the rest of the night. I’m hoping to be up to going in to teach in person tomorrow — I can’t drive, since I injured my right ankle, but I can Uber to and from campus tomorrow (will cost about $60, sigh), and use crutches to get around to my classes, and it should all be manageable — I don’t have any classes that require stairs this semester.
But if I’m feeling really shaky tomorrow, I can teach remotely. I’d really rather not, since I have travel that’s going to require me to teach remotely; I want to be in-person as much as possible the rest of the semester. So Uber tomorrow, I think. Friday, I’m hoping to be sufficiently used to the crutches that I can Uber to and from the train ($20 instead of $60), and take the train in. And by Monday, maybe I can just crutch my way there and back entirely? Assuming the clear weather holds, at any rate…
The one thing I haven’t figured out yet is how to get Kavi’s driving practice in — Kevin’s eyesight is too bad for him to drive these days, and we need someone to be able to drive us 15 minutes away to the empty lot where we’re practicing right now. We were going to practice Wednesday, but I think we’ll skip that one, and figure something out on the weekend.
This is such a pain. Sigh. I really hate having my ability to do things impaired. It makes me super-cranky.
I keep telling myself that it could have been much worse, and that’s true. It only sort of helps.
