So, you won’t believe how I am starting off 2012. I almost don’t either. With a fractured 5th metatarsal (bone in my foot) and a sprained ankle. There is no cool story. I didn’t break my foot running a super tough race or hiking a sweet ass mountain. I can’t even say I dropped a loaded bar on my foot while attempting to front squat an obscene amount of weight at Crossfit. I broke while….wait for it….
DANCING IN MY KITCHEN TO LADY GAGA! No, I am not lying. I was rocking out full force to Government Hooker.
When all of a sudden, I turned my ankle (the one I sprained a few months ago). I landed on the outside of my foot and snapped the bone, while re-spraining the ankle. My ankle was already weak from it’s previous sprain and me being it’s self-admitted stage mother, pushing it to get going when it really wanted to just hang out and heal, may of caught up to the poor thing. (Did I mention I was dancing in 4 inch heels?). Did I push it to get better too fast when it was originally sprained? Is that the reason this happened? Maybe. But I can’t take it back, so I am not going to beat myself up about it.
The 5th metatarsal is this little, but super important bone.
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It hurts A LOT! I am only taking motrin for the pain because to be honest, the idea of taking pain meds scares me. I have my own and very valid reasons for that. I have been directed to not put pressure on it until after the see a doctor that specializes in fractures of this kind, which will happen next week. I will find out from him if surgery is required. I really, really hope not.
So what has been tough about this?
- I can’t really do much. I mean honestly, I am on crutches so when I need to get around I can’t carry anything in my hands. This sounds so simple, but it makes things super difficult. I can’t carry coffee from the kitchen to the next room, for example. I can’t carry my lunch from my office to the conference room where I eat with my co-workers.
- I can’t drive. Yup! It is my driving foot! I can’t drive myself anywhere. I feel totally dependent on others.
- I have to crawl up and down stairs…nuf said.
- Showering….
- I can’t run, Crossfit or practice yoga. I believe the first question I asked my doctor when I was told that my foot was broken was, “When can I run again?”. The long and short of it is, possibly about 4-6 weeks.
- The pain. It keeps up up at night.
- The crutches. My hands are sore from the crutches since it is all about balancing on my hands.
I am always trying to find a way to learn from bad experiences. I find it promotes personal resiliency. I force my friends, family and students to do this, so I require myself to do it as well. Here are my lessons learned….
- Don’t dance to Lady Gaga…Kidding!
- Allow yourself proper time to heal, it will help to avoid worse injury in the long run.
- Swallow your pride an ask for help. I was so worried about how I would get to work because I can’t drive. I asked a co-worker if she could help and is now driving me to and from work everyday. Without her I would be f**ked!
- It takes me longer to do EVERYTHING! From showering to walking to the bathroom. I need to be patient and prepare. I now get up an hour earlier in the morning (hello, 5 am!) to ensure I am ready in time.
- When people ask “Can I do something?” most of the time they mean it. Give them something to help you with. It takes a village, people!
- Try to see the bright side. I did allow myself a day or two to cry, whine and feel bad for myself. I am human. But honestly, it could be so much worse. SO MUCH WORSE! The bright side is, not matter what- I WILL be able to function normally again if I take care of my injury and follow doctors orders. That is a huge gift! Also, um…I got this hot new boot for free!!! Say what?!
If this boot is not the definition of sexy, I honestly don’t know what is…
Ok, gotta go to work… see you all later 
Twitter
I believe it. How did yo avoid a cast?
I am not getting a cast until after I see the specialist. They want home to be ab;e to actually see the foot.
Goood news is that a cast fits beter than those one size fits all boots. My short cast was too good; i just went everywhere and did everything in it. Don’t overdoo it. The long cast is quite another matter but I thought it preferable to surgery. I decided to try it and if it doesn’t work have surgery later. My doctor is very conservative and said give it a try. See my blog to follow my trip and good luck.
Sorry to hear about your foot. I started following you because we both ran BayState as our first marathon. I hope it heals quickly and fully this time.
Thanks!!!! That was a great race, no?
I think it was Deena Kastor who once broke her foot by rolling her ankle over a pine cone while chasing her dog. So you’re in good company by breaking your foot doing something “normal” that should not result in foot breaking.
I hope the pain gets better soon- lack of sleep is one of the worst side effects of pain. It just compounds all the nastiness that goes along with dealing with injuries. I hate it!
Hope the appointment with the specialist goes well!
Haha! Thanks for letting me me know I am in good company! I feel like such a moron!
Owwwww! My husband broke his foot while running up stairs to set up our new Xbox a few years ago, so I think we can relate on the breaking of foot for a silly reason and how frustrating it is! Hope you heal up fast and can out there doing what you love again very soon!! Rest up!!
Ouch! That HAS to hurt badly. I commend you for only taking Motrin…it’s so easy to just load up on pain pills and feel nothing (not sure of your exact hesitation but as someone who doesn’t take percocet or vicodin when prescribed and just takes the slightly-higher-than-usual dosage of ibuprofen…I possibly understand).
That’s great that you have co-workers willing to help you out. That’s gotta make it a little easier to deal with.
Hopefully the pain will lessen soon! You’ll be back on your feet before you know it.
Oh I totally believe it. A few days before Christmas I nearly broke my ankle dancing in my room to Britney Spears. I tripped on a towel and fell into my laundry hamper. Scratched my leg up something awful, but thank goodness I didn’t get more hurt than that. Here’s hoping the pain goes away quick!
Oh god Ali, hahah sorry I had to laugh at first but I feel so so bad at the same time. That’s fair right? I mean, Government Hooker!?!? HAHA. But on a serious note, I hope you heal fast and that you are back at the things you love soon enough. XOX Jenna
The Paleo Project
Obviously, once it heals I will think it is hilarious! PS- Government Hooke is Gag’s best work yet!
Oh no!! Was this during New Years celebrations? That is really a tough way to bring in the New Year, but take the time to heal and you will be back out there soon enough!! I am so sorry you are starting the year this way, but you have the right attitude
Oh ouch! I’m so sorry!!!
Yikes! Hope it gets better soon! Damn those tunes for automatically turn into stage whores!
Oh, Ali! I feel your pain in many, many ways! I’ve hurt myself in the following ways: 1.) blew out my knee dancing to “Space Cowboy” by NSYNC.
2.) kicked a door (partially open) open with one foot and broke the foot I was standing on.
3.) (Most recently) broke my 4th metatarsal WALKING to the bathroom. Walking. Yep. Just walking. Turned my ankle and it snapped. In flipflops.
So, don’t feel bad! Breaking your foot dancing to Gaga IN 4 INCH HEELS is totally feasible comparatively speaking.
And you can always come up with a story that’s super awesome to tell people about how you broke it. For example, when I broke my foot most recently I told people it was from an spin-split move I pulled at an air guitar competition. Obviously, not believable, but totally hilarious!
Good luck, and swift healing!
Bummer girl! Give it time to heal
Aw – I totally know how you feel about not being able to do ANYTHING. I am just recovering from knee surgery and couldn’t do anything for myself. I couldn’t shower, put pants on – anything – without my loving boyfriend’s help!! It sucked!! Hope your recovery is quick and you are up and about soon
Aw, Ali
I’ve been following you forever! I have missed your regular posts sooo much as you are one of the people who inspired me to start running! I just thought I’d come out of the woodwork to say you are sooo not alone. My boyfriend broke his ankle WALKING down the streets of San Francisco on the FIRST DAY of his brand new sales job (which requires him to walk quite a bit). It was SUCH a bummer, and it really sucked at first. But now we always crack up saying “How’d you break your ankle again?” “Oh you know…just walking.” No worries – hopefully the specialist says no to surgery and it will be a funny story in no time 
PS – I think you should totally tweet Lady Gaga and tell her your story
Does she have a Twitter?
One step ahead of you! I already tweeted her!
I got a nifty RoboBoot (as my friend calls it) after slipping on black ice and badly spraining my ankle a couple years ago. I got it because they couldn’t tell if it was a break or just a sprain because of how swollen it was. Ankle is good as new.
On the bright side at least you didn’t injure yourself from a fart. I have no idea how but I really did pull a butt muscle from cutting the cheese.
OMG! That just made me DIE laughing, mostly because that WOULD happen to me. HILARIOUS!
I know doctors at the ER have encountered a lot of wacky things but when I came in with that injury the Dr. and nurse were trying so hard not to laugh. And of course being a high school student at the time means your life is totally ruined!!
Oh my goodness [I actually typed "goodmess" at first which is kinda ironic, goodmess = the new hot mess?
]! I hope your recovery period is short as possible! Although being injured or sick sucks, I sometimes think it’s exactly what we may have needed to put some things in perspective… And I admit, I kinda giggled [then immediately felt sorry] when I read that it was dancing to Lady Gaga because that’s exactly something that would happen to me!
I know why you won’t take the pain meds. Why not just be honest? It is because you have a whole bunch of junkies in you family and are afraid you will become on too, right?
Oh, that sucks! Hope you get better soon!