Saturday I went for a late afternoon run, starting from Spencer Butte parking lot over to the Willamette St trailhead and back. With about 1/4 of a mile to go, while passing a hiker, I stepped on a branch and rolled my ankle quite badly. How bad? Well, I was wearing headphones and I could still hear the snap of my ligament (confirmed by the doctor who said that's how most people describe it - like the sound of a breaking tree branch). Given the adrenaline and so on at the time, I was able to walk back to my car, but the thing swelled up almost instantly. A short way into walking back I had to loosen up my shoe as the swelling was making it so tight. I knew things were bad, but wasn't sure if it was broken or what. It felt as if my ankle bone actually hit the ground when it rolled, but I'm sure that's exaggerating.
Upon arriving home, I iced it on the couch for a bit, then took a quick shower, as I was sort of shivering by that point. Then of course our dinner guests showed up - yes, we were having a dinner party this same night. They were great, and hung out with all the kids while my wife took me a few houses down the street to see a doctor friend to see what he thought. He took one look at said to get in for x-rays, but that I could have dinner first :) So after dinner Ed (dinner guest), his family, and myself drove to drop off the family, then to Urgent Care for some x-rays...
Once in to Urgent Care, which luckily was no wait at all, the doctor there recognized me, which was impressive. I'd taken my daughter in about two months ago. I was surprised he remembered, but hey. Anyway, they did x-rays as you can see, no fracture, but one or more snapped ligaments and "severe ankle sprain". They set me up with an "Aircast" boot thing, which I was able to walk on the foot a bit, and skip the crutches I'd been using. Anyway, rest, ice, elevation, etc. It's now Monday and I'm headed to see my doctor this afternoon to see what the prognosis is. It appears I may be in for a fairly long recovery time. At least in general it's not painful. Does throb when I stand up long enough, taking a shower is a pain, and so on - lots of hopping around. Ugh.
