I finally, 13 days after I tried to break my ankle and only succeeded in spraining it, was able to see the orthopedist. The guy was just full of good news.
New x-rays were taken, and a lot more of them, because this time we had a doctor who listened to the patient and decided that based on what the patient reported, the knee was in play as well. Not that this turned out to be a plus.
It seems that, if one sprains an ankle in just the right way, one can break a leg bone, normally the fibula, which is the smaller of the two. When this happens, the less serious injury is that the bone cracks at the attachment point for the ligament that you have mercilessly yanked on. The more serious is that a piece of bone around the attachment point simply breaks off, leaving Mr. Ligament to flap about inside the body. You learn something every day.
In a stroke of what has been rare good luck with this situation, I *may* have the less serious of the two. He’s not sure, because x-rays don’t have the resolution needed to see if it’s cracked, broken or just badly pulled. It would take an MRI (with and without contrast) to tell for sure.
We’re going to give this part of the situation three weeks to see if it resolves itself, and if it doesn’t, it’s time to visit the Big Magnetic Doughnut. And of course, this will be after the start of a new health insurance year, which means a whopping big cost as I start filling up my deductable. Boy, do I hope this resolves itself. The Doc seems to think it will.
In the meantime, I’m to stay off my flippin’ foot, and they mean that this time. So there goes Field Day and the Threshers Reunion as well. I really hate to miss the Threshers, because I was hoping for some tools that will be most useful if things in this old world get sideways. I’m going to see if I can borrow Neighbor Across the Street’s golf cart. After all, he’ll be working at the event, and he won’t need it much during the day. Don’t tell the Doc.
In the “It Never Rains But It Pours” Department, I drove the Toyota to the appointment. First time driving since the injury. It’s not a happy vehicle. It seems the problem I’ve been chasing is exacerbated by heat. I can hear the hybrid battery cooling fan running at full speed, and it is drawing air through it’s intake-I checked. But the car cut off twice on me on the trip home. I had to pull over and in essence, reboot the car. So I need to consider if I want to let things wait and check the fan myself, or if I want to call a rollback, send it off to a Toyota dealer and prepare to get reamed. I’m still considering that one. I’m spending enough money on this ankle/knee as it is.
Always fun times around here, it seems.
Your car problems just reinforce my bias against electric vehicles – you said hybrid, and in my poor memory I think you mentioned some time ago it was electric. Gas engines are headaches too, but those problems are usually fixable. Or were, in days past.
Hope you have the less serious leg trouble. My experience with foot problems has been it also affects the knees and hip too, due to strain and gait change.