Limping into 2010

There's been so many wonderful things that have happened since getting home almost 2 weeks ago. I definitely, now that things have quieted down a bit, need to post about a few of them but figure I should give the most obvious update.


My ankle.


I've started this post about 5 times all with different slants so I figure I'll try, key word try to just keep it short by using a timeline.


Sunday, Dec. 20th

• First full day home


• Went to DeKalb to see Colleen and Ansley (yay!)
  
• Wore boot because Ansley had asked to have a soccer date so figured it would explain to her why I couldn't play but ankle feeling much better


• Stopped to see my mom at work


• Walked out door to take her home


• BIT it HARD on some ice covered in a light dusting of snow on the ramp by the stoplight


• Ankle twisted inside boot and hurt A LOT more than the first sprain, injured top of ankle which was different than initial Thanksgiving samba (alright stair) sprain


• Sat on ground a while because it hurt so much, scared mom and got help from stranger into car

Sunday the 20th - Sunday the 27th

• RICEd (rest, iced, compressed, elevated) my ankle


• Broke a 2nd Brazilian orthopedic boot


• Ordered and began wearing new aircast/cam walker


• Took it easy a lot, had many chauffeurs (thanks by the way) but still a lot of pain in ankle which radiated to my foot and into my calf (felt much different than sprains I'd had before)

Sunday, December 27th

• Finally admitted how much this new sprain hurt

Monday, December 28th

• Called doctor for appt

Thursday, December 31st

• Saw dr


• Took x-rays


• No broken bones - dr said if hadn't been wearing my boot probably would have fractured my ankle so definitely good news


• No torn tendons - again more good news


• Diagnosed with new sprain which involved tendons on inside of ankle


• Sprain, in addition to injury, most likely caused by weakness of ankle


• Since new sprain involves tendons this means will take longer to heal like A LOT longer, 3-5 weeks longer


• Have to wear boot


• Will visit dr again this week for check-up and for get physical therapy plans

Monday, January 4, 2010

• Driving again (LOVE being independent)
• Limping round the house, the store and pretty much everywhere I go

My ankle is still sore most of the time but I feel lucky because...

• at least it's not broken,
• at least I've got 2 more weeks to rest before school starts and
• at least everyone else is wearing boots in Illinois and I fit in fashion-wise here versus Brazil.

Got the Boot

No, I didn't lose my job, I literally got a boot. Yes, the article prior to the word boot is correct, it's singular. I got one boot. It's for my right ankle which I sprained while on my Thanksgiving Break in Rio. I have lots of posts to update you on but since is it the largest thing I'm dealing with right now, figure I'd start here.
Now that you've seen said boot (sorry about the photo quality, after several attempts, this is what you get), there are two stories that I'm going to propose as possible injury causes. One is completely true. The other was made up by a third grader (the idea came from them - not the details). You are welcome to choose the story you believe to be true. You may choose the story that you enjoy more or you are welcome to scribe a third version that you believe shines far and above the others. Remember, I am coming home soon and hopefully will have tossed the boot into the closet

Story #1 - Samba

On Saturday night, Sam and I decided we wanted to go to dance so we chose Rio Scenarium, a samba club. It's an amazing environment...3-story dance club and bar in Centro. I was so excited because I was wearing a new dress which of course had fun shoes to go along with it. We arrived, walked up to the 2nd foor to take in all of the dancing. Perfect bird's eye view of the wonderful band and everyone dancing. Totally feeling like I was a Carioca (well, maybe not a Carioca but feeling like it was something amazing). We walked to the 2nd foor bar, got a couple of drinks and headed back to watch the dancing.

After a few minutes of sitting back and watching (and after a little liquid courage) I decided to join the fun. I walked over to the dance floor and began trying to copy some of the girls who were dancing. I thought I got the hang of it when suddenly my cute shoes gave out on me and my ankle fell to the floor. As it hit the floor, I heard a loud crack. Maybe I wasn't doing such a great job copying them after all.

I hobbled back to the table with my tail between my legs hoping that my first attempt at sambing in Rio wouldn't be my last.

Story #2 - Stairs

On Saturday, Sam and I decided to go on a favela* tour. First we visited Rochina and found some beautiful artwork and other presents at a small craft bazzar. We toured around in the heat, not doing a whole lot of walking as the favela is quite large and also controlled by a drug cartel, seeing the neighborhood and eventually cooling off with some acai. Then we got back into our little van to head to the next favela, Vila Canoas. There we started by touring a small school and then headed into the actual neighborhood and began to decend some stairs in a narrow, dark alley. The stairs were uneven and quite small in both height and depth.

As I walked down the stairs, I did have the conscious thought, "Be careful Megan. Go slowly. This is the type of place where you fall down." 3 steps later, I bit it. Hard. I heard a loud crack and was asked by all those around me if I was okay. I hobbled down the stairs and the remainder of the tour knowing full-well that something was wrong, very wrong.

* In general favelas are neighborhoods in Rio where where people from the Northeastern part of Brazil moved to help build the beach-front properties in Rio. Favelas have reputations for being dangerous and also controlled by druglords. I could give more information but figure you (Maz) can click if you want to learn more here.

Andrea took me to the ER on Tuesday, my first trip to a Brazilian hospital, where I saw an orthopedic ER doctor. He took a quick look and then began to press on the outside of it and with much wincing and saying "ouch" (not sure how to say that yet in Portuguese), he determined that I had "torce meu torcenio" which means sprained my ankle.

This also means I have to spend the next 8 days wearing the lovely apparatus but knowing well that I usually take longer to heal than anticipated and I sprain this ankle on an annual and in some years bi-annual basis. So when I fly home in a couple of weeks and truly need to switch out of my Haivanas and into boots, I may already be wearing one. Unfortunately, it may not be a cute pair of Uggs but instead an orthopedic one.

What do you think? Which story do you believe? I guess though, no matter which version you chose, there's something that's true. I've learned one thing from this, no matter the continent, my klutziness follows me wherever I go.