Soooo, I was going to the store last night, for near beers, I was just bored of what I had to drink at home. The light is burned out in my stairwell. I put in a work order last week for the light to get replaced, but no one had come to do it. Anyway, I stepped on something that shouldn’t have been there, that I couldn’t see because it was too dark. And my foot rolled and there was an awful CRACK noise. It hurt so bad omg. I just kind of sat there gasping and in pain and tried to see if it was bad enough I needed to go back to the couch. And how would I get there? OMG. I kind of hopped back to the couch and lay there and cried for a while. I called my Mom but she was not helpful. I called the Healthline and they couldn’t have someone call me back for two and a half hours. So I just sat there waiting and talking about my pain on Facebook. I was too terrified to try and move on it. The nurse called back and got me to stand on it, it seemed… well not okay, but not as bad as I thought. She couldn’t say it wasn’t broken though and said I should see a doctor within 24 hours. So I asked if I should go to the hospital, she said it didn’t make sense to go this late at night and wait for hours and I could sleep and go tomorrow. So I did. I had some scary moments trying to get around my apartment on one leg. I nearly fell over a bunch of times. I hurt my foot a few times. Ugh god. My friend Riki came by after midnight with an ace bandage, Tylenol, an ice pack, and some chocolate. So I wrapped my foot and went to bed.
In the morning I washed myself as best as I could, put on some clothes, and made my way to the bottom of the stairs and out the front door, basically slithering down on my butt. I got outside and locked it behind me and called the ambulance. Some paramedics came and took me to St. Mike’s and I found out it was a 5th Metatarsal Fracture. Basically when my foot rolled, a tendon pulled a piece of my bone away. There are a few kinds of 5th metatarsal fractures you can get, and mine is an avulsion which is not as serious as the others. It still sucks tho, and it’s still a 12 week recovery period. They gave me a walking boot that looks like something from Robocop, and a pair of crutches. My friend Terri also came and sat with me in Emergency for a while and got me some magazines, food, and a drink. So that was nice. I’m not totally sure how long I need the crutches, I think it might be that at a certain point I’ll just need the boot. Right now it’s not doing well with weight on it. It doesn’t like me stepping a certain way either.
I think it didn’t sink in until I got home, how helpless I am at the moment. I still need the co-op to come and replace the lightbulb in the stairwell. I’m cabbing it for a while. My friend is bringing me dog food tomorrow, because the pups are out. My other friend is gonna do my laundry. I have to do the sheets and towels and my clothes. I had to give up my L7 ticket, which really sucked because it’s General Admission and I have a hard time doing those shows even when my foot isn’t broken. I found a place to order groceries from, which is really helpful, they come on Wednesday. I’m gonna have to get my pharmacy to deliver some medications in a while, which also sucks but ok I can deal with that. I’m worried mostly about errands I have to do, I can get some help with them which is good. But such a drag. I hate asking for help. I am happy people CAN help, but also it sucks. I have this real need to be independent, so coming to terms with my dependence on services and friends is hard.
Mostly it’s weird realizing my mobility issues have totally changed. I live on the second floor of a co-op, and there’s no elevator, my steps go right down to my front door on the first floor. And there are stairs AFTER THAT. I often wondered what would happen if I had mobility problems, now I know. The stairs aren’t AS BAD as I thought they would be, I have a railing. But ugh. It sucks. And all because I couldn’t replace the broken lightbulb in my stairwell. I mean, I knew it was bad when it went out. Because it’s at the top of a flight of stairs. I could fall down and seriously injure myself replacing it. Tomorrow I have to get in touch with my co-op guy and tell them I broke my foot because I have no light in my stairwell and I really need the maintenance guy to come fix it already. Ugh so annoying.
Anyway, it’s gonna fuck up my life for several weeks. It will keep improving though. And it’s not gonna suck forever. And someday I’ll be able to do my laundry and buy groceries again. But man, what a drag.
The good news is I signed up for Health and Life Insurance in April and I am getting a $3000 broken bone benefit. So thank god for that! I’m putting it in my Egg Freezing piggybank for my second cycle.