Toe jam

[illusionofjoy]

Yesterday afternoon, I was reminded as to why I always wear my boots when I am awake and not showering or some other activity where footwear isn't appropriate. I hadn't been long in getting home from work when I put on some music. Exhilarated by the song that shuffled through my stereo speakers, coupled with the fact that I wouldn't be sitting in a cubicle for another fourteen hours, I began dancing around my apartment - in my sock-feet! This was where the critical error was made. As I spun around, my right foot came too close to the base of my coat tree, causing my little toe to smash against the wood at the base. My dance immediately came to a halt as, judging by where it turned purple later on, I had somehow managed to bash it on the upper inside portion, rather than simply grazing the outside.

When joi_division picked me up that evening, I could scarcely limp to her car and I spent most of the evening at her place with my foot wrapped in an ice pack. The chill seemed to help, as the pain was much lessened when I woke up this morning. I was still limping, and unable to run and catch my trolley as it drove past the station, causing me to be ten minutes late for work for the second day in a row. Still, the fact that I could walk meant that my toe wasn't broken and by this afternoon, a mere dull ache localised where the bruise is was all that remained of yesterday's faux pas.

I have to admit that I was pretty concerned last night. Joi was suggesting that I go to the hospital to have it looked at - something that I loathe doing. Still, had it been broken, I didn't want it to gangrene or some other bit of nastiness. So, as I walked to Joi's car, I was trying to quantify the pain in my foot with the physical reaction the rest of my body was having to determine if there was actually enough damage to warrant a trip to the hospital. It hurt enough that I was cringing whenever I took a step on it, but the pain wasn't driving me to tears. I also didn't feel nauseous and I wasn't going into shock (as if I could diagnose myself if I were going into shock). So, okay then - pain: yes, but no shock or nausea, which would be present, if it were broken, right?

Then again, maybe I've developed some sort of amazing tolerance for pain that I don't know about and the toe really is broken, is getting ready to become infected and will kill me if I don't have it amputated before the infection spreads to the rest of my body! This, of course, led to me pontificating that, were I to lose a body part, a toe - especially one of the little ones - wouldn't be so bad. If I had to lose a digit, I'd rather lose a toe than a finger (and be forced to relearn how to play the keyboard). Still, I'd rather not be losing any body parts at all. Also, when I mentioned this to Joi, she didn't seem to share my scale of importance for the amputation of body parts.

Anyway, like I said, the toe is doing much better. I haven't looked it since this morning, but at this point, it's just mildly sore. I can curl it without wincing and walking once more is a snap. And I've re-learned my lesson: always dance with your boots on.

Comments

[feministhippie.livejournal.com]

its probably broken. (you can take my word for it because i'm a self-important pre-nursing student in a highly esteemed community college!)
anyway, not much you can do for a broken toe. tape it up to the one next to it and get on without wallowing in thoughts of amputation :p