Seeking out a mid-morning snack, I descended the stairs with my laptop opened and propped on my right hand. I was watching a YouTube video as I worked the stairs. As I reached the third step, I stretched my right foot a bit too far, overstepping the fourth and landing badly on the fifth.
Uh-oh.
Had I landed cleanly, it would’ve been no problem at all. In fact, I’ve done that a dozen or more times with no discernible issue. But this time, my luck ran out. My right foot turned inward as I landed, tucking awkwardly into the wooden step on our 100 year old American Foursquare home.
As I brought my weight down on the foot, I knew right away something had gone wrong. My body stumbled forward, and I miraculously managed to brace my body and keep the laptop in my right hand. This prevented both my body and my laptop from tumbling two steps below onto the landing at the middle of the staircase.
But my right foot wasn’t so lucky. It took no more than a couple of seconds before I felt a pain radiating through the foot. Something had gone wrong.
Urgent Care
I sat with the foot for about a half hour before deciding to seek help. But when I was ready, my partner drove me to urgent care for an exam and an X-ray. Hobbling my way into the exam room, the Radiologist took the X-rays as I gingerly maneuvered my foot on a table.
The truth is that I didn’t think it was too bad. Yes, my foot hurt. And, yes, I could see some mild swelling. But I felt no extreme pain, and I certainly heard no snap nor felt any sharp, piercing pain when I landed on the stair in front of me. Maybe I had a mild sprain. Maybe it’d take a few days to a week to fully heal.
But the Radiologist delivered far less encouraging news. The X-ray showed a potential fracture of a bone at the top of my foot. And over the next day or so, I developed nasty bruising on both sides of my foot.
I’d need nearly two weeks in a boot walking around with crutches. No driving, and no long walks or heavy physical activity.
A Writing Retreat?
Truth be told, it wasn’t so bad.
I’ve been working on my Stoic reframing skills over the course of the year, and this incident provided opportunities. Specifically, I decided to think about my time at home in recovery as a writing retreat.
Why not?
Obviously I wrote this post during that time. But I also made progress on several other projects – a couple of pieces on a local election in Johnson County, a review of a couple of books, and assorted others. I also caught up on my personal reading, focusing on the new book for my book club and a library selection or two. To boot, I sat on the front porch on a few warm early summer afternoons.
No, I wasn’t able to take my customary long walks. And I had to modify my strength training. And, sure, I’ll admit I fell down a few YouTube rabbit holes. But, all in all, recovery had its bright sides, and I made decent use of the time.
That said, I’m eagerly awaiting my follow up appointment with orthopedics. It’s tomorrow, and I hope I get to lose the boot.
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