Sprained Ankle

Warning...these are kind of nasty pictures...at least, I think so!

Two weeks ago at volleyball I jumped up to hit (it was an amazing, nonreturnable one for a point!) but landed completely on my ankle instead of the bottom of my foot. Instantly I heard and felt horrible crunching/popping and was in so much pain it brought me to tears and took my breath away. It immediately was bruised and swollen. I sat with my foot up and ice on it the rest of the night, until Stephen was able to take me home, but when he saw it he insisted I go to the emergency room and have an x-ray just to be sure it wasn't broken. I figured it was just a really bad sprain, and didn't want to go, but Stephen is not one to let something like that go ;) Anyway, it did end up being just sprained, but at least I got a nice air cast out of the deal...and of course it answered the question of whether or not it was broken, which settled Stephen down ;) But seriously, Stephen took SUCH good care of me that next day when I had to ice it on and off all day and keep it elevated. He never complained, and it meant so much to me to see how well he took care of me!

Anyway, I have been pretty miserable the last two weeks. The swelling and bruising has been terrible, and even on ibuprofen the swelling didn't go down until this past Saturday, almost two weeks after the injury!!! The bruising got worse and worse, of course, but I think it has finally peaked and is now starting to go down, but like all bruises, it still hurts quite a bit to even touch my foot, and probably will until the bruise is completely gone. 

So, now that you have been warned about nasty pictures and know the story, here they are, and like usual, pictures never quite capture and do it justice compared to in person:

Three days after injury

5 days after injury...definitely getting more and more blue!

Another one at day 5...this give you a better perspective on the swelling with my other foot in the picture...

Eek!!!!!  I still have no ankle, even 12 days after the injury!  It always seems to have to look worse before it can get better. As you can see, the bruising went up my leg and all the way to my toes (they got even more purple than this the next day!!)  I also have minor bruising on the opposite side of my foot, and even on the upper part of my heel. This was the day before the swelling finally went down, and as you can see, it is still very swollen here!

Yesterday for our church's hunger walk for our food pantry, I was able to walk about a mile or so, which I didn't think was bad.  But, when I was done, I was DONE. I couldn't take another step :(  I only had about 100 yards to go, but I still had to be picked up.  But, I know the process is going to be slow, and it is just going to take time to build my ankle back up. I really miss volleyball, though!! Can't wait to get back out there!!!