Injury little more than a pain in the ... ankle

(Photo courtesy of the folks at Roper Urgent Care, Mt. Pleasant, SC. They just don't know about this, heh-heh!)


I'm fortunate. It's not often I have to go to a doctor; just for a patch-up job every so often.



I had one of those situations about a week ago. It's kinda hard to explain, unless you know me pretty well. But I'd come across a desk at the common dump at my mobile home park. I needed a desk, this one looked pretty solid, so I grabbed it. While carrying it, my left ankle went out from under me. I heard a loud grinding noise, the kind that tells me something is seriously wrong.



The next day, Monday, I was over at Roper Urgent Care, one of those oddball medical places. Not quite an emergency room, not quite a doctor's office. There's radiology equipment on site, run by some third party. Anyway, they shot pictures of the ankle and found out it was fractured.



Now I'm in what they call an "air cast," and supported by crutches. Kind of an interesting rig, this air cast. Hard plastic shell, sectioned bladder liner. The lower half of the liner -- around the ankle -- carries some goo that you can freeze. Kind of like those Blue Ice things you stick in your freezer overnight. The upper bladder of the air cast contains, well, air. It's a fairly compact thing; you can put a shoe on over it if you unlace it first and take pain meds about a half hour before forcing the shoe on.



The crutches, well, no new technology there. I've used them years ago, and no major design changes. Fortunately, getting around on crutches really is like riding a bicycle. After a fast shakedown run, it does come back to you. (And like on a bicycle, I am just a little reckless on the crutches. Already they're kind of scarred up, I've knocked a little paint of the walls, and my dog keeps her distance while I'm using them.)



One of the things I thought was so cool from my visit to Roper Urgent Care is how they package their X rays. They're on CD-ROM, and they come with some sort of viewing program. Of course, Windows-based, so when I got home I went straight to the .jpg files and saved them to my hard drive. I don't have the CD-ROM now; it's now in possession of the orthopedic clinic where I had my follow-up visit. What you're looking at is an intercepted .jpg file; I hope I don't get in trouble for showing it. Can I plead First Amendment for something like this?



In all, had two days off while seeing doctors. On Wednesday, I got my work boot on over the air cast (see procedure above), made it to work, and pulled a full shift without problems. My boss, bless his heart, asked if I "should be doing this." Thursday and Friday were paid holidays, and in fact my unused personal leave kicked in for the two days I missed. So I worked 40 hours, according to the paycheck.



Well, I'll be hobbling off now ...