How was your day? Not as good as mine, I'm sure. Yes, I had yet another beautiful day. Looks like Lady Luck graciously smiled upon me once again. What has me so cheery you ask? Well, I'll tell ya. I sprained my ankle this afternoon. Now, before any of you roll your eyes and assume that I am just overreacting to something so trivial, allow me to explain. First of all, sprains are so common, people tend to forget what a sprain really is. They fail to see what really happens when a sprain occurs. They forget that sprains can actually be quite serious, not to mention painful. People often confuse them with a twist. Now, allow me to enlighten you for a moment on what happens when something is sprained. A sprain occurs due to the ankle twisting and causes damage to the soft tissues and ligaments. A ligament consists of several strands of tissue all compacted together to form a strong structure, similar to a rope. Imagine a rope being frayed down to just a few threads keeping it in one piece. That is a sprain. A serious one, anyway. An ankle sprain may result in a partial or complete tear of a ligament, which stabilizes the ankle joint. Once the ligament is torn, it becomes weak, which in turn causes the ankle stability to be affected. When an ankle sprain occurs, an audible "pop" or "snap" may accompany the injury, which usually signals ligamentous rupture. I definitely heard my ankle snap and pop. It sounded like I had a bowl of Rice Krispies at my feet. In other words, it hurts like a mother fucker and can cause serious physical damage, especially if you continue to re-injure the same ankle, like I have done. In 1992, I sprained my ankle when I was thrown off the hood of a car that was traveling downhill at 35mph and came to a sudden stop. I rolled several yards before I stopped. I thought I had broken my leg because the injury and the pain were so severe. It turned out to be a major sprain. I ripped almost everything in in my ankle during that sprain. I didn't go to the hospital that day to see what had happened. Instead, I went to work that night. I was a candy-striper at that time, which means a lot of walking from floor to floor, building to building. I did maybe 3 calls before the pain got to be too much. I did medical reports for the rest of my shift. When I was picked up that night, I had to be wheeled down to my grandparents. By the time I awoke the following morning, I could not walk at all. I had to stand on my good foot and rest the sprained ankle on a chair and actually use the chair as a "leg" if I wanted to get around the house. Finally, I went to the emergency room. I couldn't take the pain and I lost my own mobility. I'll attempt to explain the extent of the damage as the doctor did for me then. Hold one hand in a fist and , with the other hand held open, cup that hand around the fist. The fist represents the foot, the hand covering the fist represents the way the ankle meets and connects to the foot. In between your hands is where muscles and ligments would be. Now, lift the the opened hand from the wrist forward, but keep your fingertips on your fist. That is what my ankle did. All the ligaments and muscles that were keeping my foot connected to my ankle were literally ripped apart. That is a very serious sprain. I literally had threads holding everything together. Had they ripped, you could have spun my ankle 360 degrees. Why did I tell you this? Well, it explains why the sprain I got today is so bad. My ankle was severely weakened by that first sprain. It never did heal properly. I now have arthritis in my ankle and it is very susceptible to injuries. I can't just sprain it in a minor way anymore. I also tore the skin off my knee, which stings like a bitch, and I skinned my back. I don't plan on going to the doctor. I just wrapped it in an Ace Bandage. I hope that'll do.
How was the rest of my day? Let's see...Nahal and I went and got our nails done. My nails turned out so purdy. The girl who does my nails is by far the best nail designer I have ever seen. I am wearing a design that was made just for me. That makes me more special than you. We then had dinner and went to Starbucks where I ordered my venti iced breve caramel macchiato with extra caramel. YUM! Let's see...what did we do next? Oh, I remember. We were on the way back to my house, but Nahal had some drama she needed to share with me, so we took the long way home. So, we're driving through the hills when she asked, "Does that sound like a helicopter to you?" Well, if it is a helicopter, it's invisible. So she pulls to the side of the road. The "helicopter" went silent. It turned out she had a flat tire. So we pulled into a shopping center that was ahead of us just a short distance. We waited about 30 minutes for the tow truck driver to show up and put her spare on. If this were to happen to most other people, they would be livid. Not Nahal and me. We found it rather hysterical. You'd have to see her car and know its history to understand why we find shit like this humorous. And you'd have to understand our warped sense of humor. The only draw back was me having to stand on my ankle for so long. I finally made it home at about 10 tonight. I still don't know if she made it home or not. Maybe I should have had her call and check in? We were just grateful that we didn't take our alternative route back to my house because that would have stranded us on an empty street with no street lights and a haunted cemetery. Being stranded across the street from a cemetery at night with a sprained ankle is not my idea of fun. So, that was my day in a nutshell. I told you my day was better than yours. Go ahead, envy me.
