the toe

A few days (5!) before we left for our trip to Asia, I was carrying laundry down the stairs in the dark (because why shed light on the situation, right?) and missed the last step. In my graceful fall to the ground I rolled over my big toe. It hurt. I laid there for a moment thinking SHIT. I got up and tried to walk it off. When I told Brian what happened, I downplayed the whole thing and acted as if it didn’t hurt that bad because I didn’t want to worry him but I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I iced it that night and tried to go to sleep, but the pain was so intense it was hard to sleep.The bad feeling in the pit of my stomach grew. When I woke up in the morning, it felt worse. I couldn’t put any weight on it and it was a huge swollen mess. Not the best situation when you’re about to leave for a three-week trip that involves TREKKING in Nepal. As you can imagine use of a foot is a big part of the equation.

I mean, seriously fucked, right?

I spent the whole day lying on the couch following a treatment plan I found on the internet- R.I.C.E, which stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation. I also did some praying and bargaining with God to restore my foot to good condition. Despite my best efforts, by nightfall I still couldn’t walk and my foot was still a huge swollen mess. SHIT. When my mom caught wind of the situation, she insisted I get x-rays so I could know what I was working with. I told her I had already diagnosed myself online with a sprained toe and was going to be just fine; there was no point in wasting time and money by going to the doctor. But she can be very bossy in situations like this and she pretty much forced me against my will into the car. As I was incapacitated, I wasn’t able to fight back. So off to the orthopedic doctor we went.

Enter in Dr. Irwin, a sweet old man, who took one look at my swollen mess of a toe and said, “there’s blood in there and that usually means you have a break.” I fought back tears and told him that I was leaving for Nepal in four days for a trek through the Himalayas and that I really hoped he was wrong because I needed my toe.

He raised his bushy grey eyebrows to this and said, “Oh I see. Why Nepal?”

“Well, my fiance and I found a great deal online and we decided to take the leap and book it. We’ve been planning it for months”, I said

“That’s a shame. Can I ask you a personal question?”, he asked.

“Sure”, I said a bit confused

“How did you and your fiance meet?”

“We went to high school together and reconnected ten years later”, I said.

“Ahhh I see. I only ask because I have a daughter and she’s twenty-seven and she’s not married. I’m not sure where she’s supposed to meet a husband. Where do people meet husbands anymore? Twenty-seven and she’s not even dating anyone!”

Thankfully, before I had to engage in the conversation further, the x-ray technician walked in to take me to take me to another room. I hobbled down the hallway while I bargained with God some more.

Please God don’t let it be broken…I can’t cancel this trip…Brian would be soooo disappointed…pleaseeeeee don’t let it be broken….I’ll do anything…I’ll even help Dr. Irwin find his daughter a husband! Just don’t let my toe be broken. Pleaaaaasssseee.

Five minutes later, Dr. Irwin had my x-rays in hand and said with a sense of accomplishment, “I was right, there’s the break!” and circled a spot on the x-ray. I squinted and said, “You mean that miniscule rice shaped piece of bone next to my big toe?”

“Yep!”, he said

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was just SO ridiculous. It was such a ridiculous looking break! Of course that’s how I’d go down.

Dr. Irwin went through my options-

1. Cancel my trip to Nepal

or

2. Trek with the broken toe and hope that I had a high pain threshold.

I went with option 2, asked for a vicodin prescription (helps take the edge off) and boarded a plane to Asia!

Tags: 365 til, 365 til 30, Asia, broken toe, Explore, goals, Gratitude, happy, humor, Joy, Kate McClafferty, Nepal, travel, trekking, universe