My first crutch (AKA: snow sliding)

Four soaks of Zheng Gu Tui Na later, I'm back to the acupuncturist. I hopped onto the table and slid off my boot to show the alternative medicined healer my faulty limb. My jaw dropped as Dr. Church and I looked at my foot and then at one another. My foot and ankle looked even worse than they had when I woke up that morning. My face was in utter shock and his in horror. When Dr. Church's gaze met mine he politely changed his expression from, "holy crap" to a softer, "it's not as bad as it looks." He then proceeded to tell me, "It's not as bad as it looks." Right. Didn't see that one coming.

The whole underside of my foot plus my toes and toenails were bright yellow. The rest of my inflamed foot and ankle flesh were covered in blue and purple bruises. I asked, "So you absolutely don't see the possiblity of a fracture?" Dr. Church disagreed and said that it was possible. Well, at least then I could admit to him that I gave into the pressure of our society and contacted a Westernized health care professional that morning. My mother freaked me out only hours earlier when she said I should see a podiatrist to make sure I didn't end up with a deformity. Deformity? Um, no thanks. So I had hung up with my mother, promptly called the podiatrist and scheduled a 4:45 appointment for that day. I told this to Dr. Church and he attested that it was an intelligent move. Well if the Eastern doc was validating the Western doc, then podiatry it was!

The acupuncture alleviated much of the pressure. That is, until only two hours later I stubbed my toe on the toolbox while hobbling through the kitchen and an excruciating pain was sent from my outer right foot, up the side of my leg. Stiffness and pissed-offness ensued.

After waiting an hour to see my podiatrist, she acknowledged me and then my "traumatized foot" (her words). She showed me the fracture on the x-ray. I burst into tears. She was sweet and felt horrible, as I was crying like a lost child, and proceeded to make lots of jokes to get me to smile.

Dr. Ameilo told me that I was to get more, "extra special" x-rays in two days. These more gifted x-rays would give a more detailed look at my ankle fracture and access the presence or lack of a fracture in my right foot as well. Geez, all this from 20 minutes of ice play! The next day I will go to her office again with these holy x-rays and we will discuss surgery. Yes, surgery!

Dr. Ameilo puts a soft cast on my leg and gives me the crutches. Although, I am a natural dancer and dedicated yogi, getting the hang of these crutches was not easy. Lets not forget that its snowing outside, so essentially I'm sliding in the snow on the crutches trying to inhale and exhale to make it the block and a half home. 

See, the problem is that I didn't know I was going to be leaving the doctor's in crutches so I had my oversized shoulder bag with me. Incase there is any wonder, "No, shoulder bags and crutches do not work together...especially in the snow!" I had to stop every three or four hops to adjust the freaking shoulder bag which was pushing the right crutch forward from underneath my arm. "Ugh!" 

Some people on the street stopped to ask if I was okay because apparently I looked like I was struggling. This makes me sad and want to cry; "wow, do I really look that pitiful?" 

Other people on the street totally ignored me and didn't offer help; this makes me want to kill them, "wow, are you that much of a heartless jerk!" : )   

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Today is a new day and I've gotten a little more adapted to the crutches. They are actually kind of fun. I like propelling myself forward and landing gracefully. I can even choose how far I wish to propel myself and how high I would like to go. Going really far forward and really high is like flying, which was not recommended by the podiatrist, but is sooooo gratifying. They provide a pretty good workout too! This is the new vinyasa.