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:
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| Breakfast |
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| Morning snack |
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| Post-gym protein (not pictured: leftover rice-a-roni for lunch) |
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| Snack |
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| Munching while making dinner cuz I was starving |
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| Another snack while making dinner |
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| Dinner with the flat beans I got at the farmer's market - they had a great flavor |
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| Coffee cup brownie for dessert (with recipe) |
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| Close-up of recipe |
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| Air cast. Boooooo |
