Pediatrics is the worst

I made it to the gym this morning before the downpours started. Given that I checked the weather channel and it said it wasn't supposed to rain until this evening, I didn't really think that'd be an issue, but turns out, the weather channel was a good 12 hours off. I don't like going to the gym if it's raining because then I have to change my shoes (at least that's what gym courtesy tells me) and it's a pain in the ass putting shoes on this stupid air cast. So, anyway: boo yeah for getting to the gym before the rain!

Last night I slept without my air cast on because I had it on a bit tight before going to bed and my foot was all tingly, so I decided to sleep without it. When I woke up this morning, I thought the swelling was down, so I left it off for a while. But I think the air cast really does help support things because walking without it was a bit trickier and I was a bit more painful this morning, but I think that might just be the natural progress of this. I don't know. It's been a while since I've sprained an ankle. But it's not bad enough that I can't elliptical. I just wish I could Zumba. So sad.

Hmm...what else? Oh, I thought I'd like a salad for lunch today with some hard boiled egg. So, I boiled the eggs as I was making my breakfast this morning and then had my salad after getting back from the gym. This was a mistake that my stomach has been making me pay for since. I don't know if it's just having the salad after the gym or having the salad, but whoa nelly, my bowels are all, "Let's explode everywhere." It's not awesome. So, no salad for a while. This isn't a huge bummer, but it kinda sucks because the salad wasn't that good and I am being forced to pay for a mediocre salad.

Yup. That's about it. I've been brushing up on pediatrics today. I hate peds. Not because I'm not a fan of children (which I'm so totally not), but because I hate congenital diseases, growth and development, and viruses. Hate, hate, hate. For some reason, I did extremely well on pediatrics exam, but man oh man, I can't wait to never do peds-related things ever again. Like ear infections? Don't care. When you can say two-word phrases? Who cares? Congenital heart defects? Unless you're turning blue, meh. TORCH infections? They're all the same to me. I know, I know. I'm a horrible person, but the thing that sucks about pediatrics is that it's not even that interesting in practice either. I know some people are all, "You have to think harder because the patient can't actually tell you what's wrong. It's exhilarating!" My response to that? "Enjoy thinking hard. I'll be over here thinking less and enjoying life more."

Photos from today:

Breakfast

Boil all the things...or you know, a few eggs

Baha...soo good at peeling

Protein smoothie even though I didn't strength train

Salad fixings

My mediocre salad (without the tomatoes)

Lunch, part 2

Afternoon snack

My salmon dinner (minus the broccoli I was going to make cuz broccoli can worsen diarrhea)

Bailey's salmon dinner

Living the life of kitty luxury

Pretzels/salt to settle my stomach

This side looks slightly better

You can kinda see the bruising that goes up to my toes

Behind my ankle is all blue...and still swollen

Today's positive: Getting to read some Harry Potter at the gym and not procrastinapping because I hate pediatrics so much. I mostly stayed on task today. Minus maybe taking a bit longer to blog than normal.

Medical Students Are Terrible Patients

Today was a shitty day. Let me tell you why. Getting up this morning was rough. I was so tired. And then once I was up, I quickly realized that the weather was going to blow. How did I know this? It downpoured. For a long time. So I opted to wait to hit the gym until this afternoon. The gym was pretty legit. I upped most of my weights for strength training over the last week or so and today I finally went up with my arm weights - moved up to 25 pounds from 20. Baller. My arms were a little shaky the rest of the day though, which made writing a challenge.

Today was nephrology studying day. Let me tell you: the kidney is confusing. It does a lot of thing and almost everything affects it. So, studying was rough. After dinner, I took a break to take out my recycling. I have a standard recycling bin in my apartment to dump in the recycle container (that's basically a trash can) outside. On my way down the steps, I totally thought I was already at the landing, and missed a step, rolled my ankle and heard my ankle pop. My first thought was, "Fuck." The second was, "Ow! Fuuuuuck!" So, I did what any rational person would do: laid there for a minute in agony, got up, took out my recycling, wheeled the bin down the end of the driveway, went upstairs and tried to assess whether I needed to go to urgent care. A sprained ankle isn't that big of a deal - gotta do some compression, icing, elevating, and resting - but I wasn't entirely sure that I didn't break anything. And it really hurt. Plus it was already starting to swell. So, I bit the bullet, called a friend to drive me (of course I sprained the right foot/my driving foot), and headed to urgent care.

There, they did some X-rays and determined nothing was broken. Then the doctor told me all things unrealistic: don't drive, follow-up in 4 weeks with my primary care physician, use crutches, and take some pain meds. Allow me to explain why none of those things are practical: driving is absolutely necessary. I have to get to my rotation next month and it's not exactly within walking distance nor do I have someone available to drive me. Second: I don't have a primary care physician in the area. Why? Because I work with doctors all day everyday. Also because medical school doesn't really allow you to get sick. Seriously. You work the same hours as doctors, so it's kinda hard to see one. Also, I'm healthy. Third: use crutches. Uh, I'm on my study all day everyday month. I'm not exactly super mobile. Crutches would just be a waste of money and armpit pain. The doctor insisted I'd need them since I wasn't putting weight on my ankle (I just sprained it - it hurt), but if he told me I couldn't walk on just my toes, then fine - I'd put weight on my ankle despite the pain. Just no crutches. No, no, and no. Fourth: pain meds + me = sleep. I have to study. Nope. Ibuprofen will be just fine, thanks.

So, essentially, I got an air cast out of the visit. Plus the reassurance that I didn't break anything. I guess I didn't realize how bad of a patient I am. But it's just a sprained ankle. I'll take it easy on the ankle so it'll heal faster, but I'm not about to go out of my way for a sprained ankle. 

And I'm officially extremely bummed now. I need to limit weight bearing as much as possible. This is my only month where I can go to the gym as many times as I want given that I'm only studying for boards. I think I'm going to go tomorrow and use the cardinal rule: if it hurts, stop doing it. But I can't let this be an excuse to not exercise. I've done that before and gained a lot of weight because of it (I sprained the other ankle waaaay worse in undergrad and gained back a lot of the weight I lost). So, I'm going to shoot for 1800 calories a day and really keep track of my eating since I know my mobility will be limited. Hopefully it will be a quick recovery!

Photos from today:

Breakfast

Morning snack

Post-gym protein (not pictured: leftover rice-a-roni for lunch)

Snack

Munching while making dinner cuz I was starving

Another snack while making dinner

Dinner with the flat beans I got at the farmer's market - they had a great flavor

Coffee cup brownie for dessert (with recipe)

Close-up of recipe

Air cast. Boooooo