I've repeatedly heard the saying, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. If that were the case I should be able to bench press a Buick by now! The latest hardship to hit my life happened about 10 days ago when I was running and landed too hard and off balance on my left foot and stress fractured it. I sought out medical treatment because being a stay at home mom I am on my feet what seems like 24/7. It was determined I had a probable stress fracture with definite swelling of some small bones in my left foot around my second to last toe. The treatment for both are the same, so my doctor opted to not order a MRI (which is the only thing that will pick up a stress fracture). He put me in a soft cast with a walking boot, told me to leave that on for 3-4 days and then remove the soft cast but continue wearing the boot for the remainder of 2 weeks. FUN! Or not really.
I did as I was told. I was also instructed to limit mobility on my foot and keep it elevated. Like that is entirely possible with 4 kids and a husband who works 3rd shift. Not to mention our pets. I did relax and let some house work go and tried to stay off my foot as much as possible. However, the day after I removed the soft cast the pain in my foot came right back and got worse each day. So after 3 days of that I called the doctor back to figure out what to do. His solution? A hard cast for 2 weeks, which also meant crutches for 2 weeks. Grrrr...
To say the least, after only a day of this adventure and having my husband around the entire time, I can tell you it will be a VERY LONG 2 weeks. When I go back in, it is not guaranteed that the hard cast will come off. Great to know.
I am already incredibly sore in my arms and right leg. It makes me wonder how many extra calories I burn getting around this way. And if it does any good to my arm muscles and loose skin? Maybe I should research that... I've been on crutches before and it didn't seem to help me much. I would also like to think it will help stomach muscles and tighten skin there too because I use my stomach to hop along. Odd as that may sound. Those muscles are also tender.
I guess I will have to make the best of this situation. I used to think a broken leg and a cast would be one of the hardest things to deal with as far as my health and taking care of my kids were concerned. I suppose I will see.
Hugs ~B.
