Given the Boot

Monday night, July 18, I was walking in from the minivan in a bit of a tizzy. Ryan needed fed and I was rushing to get into the house when my flip flop caught on something (I'm guessing the welcome mat?) and I fell. Hard. And I screamed. Shawn scooped me off the walkway and took me inside (thankfully, he had been carrying Ryan in his carrier so the baby was safe). Then we looked at my injuries. My right knee was scraped and bruised and starting to swell, my left thigh was severely bruised, my left shin was all scraped up, and I had taken a quarter-size chunk out of my left hand - where the bone of the wrist meets the hand. You could almost see the bone. At first, this was the thing that hurt the worst (and still hurts to this day as it is still forming skin!). But, when we saw that all the skin was scraped off my second toe (not the big one but the tall one), Shawn went to clean it up and I told him NOT to touch it. My entire foot and ankle hurt, but this toe (even without skin left on it!) was also black. I cried and cried and cried. Shawn told the boys to put on the pajamas to leave me alone, but I knew I still needed to feed the baby. So, we bandaged my hand as best we could so I could awkwardly hold the baby to eat.

Eventually I calmed down - and then I talked to the older boys to tell them that I was okay. Caleb seemed a bit scared, and he had told Daddy that I cried like a baby. Indeed, I probably did. I knew that me being injured was simply NOT an option with three little kiddos including an infant who needed me round the clock. I was more devastated than hurt, even though I was really hurting.

The night before when I had went for a jog, I had told Shawn that I needed "a break." I was tired, really tired. And I had a ton of school work to do. I wasn't getting ahead and felt like each day I was more and more behind on everything I had to do. Well, God gave me my "break." It just wasn't what I had in mind.

But, that said, it may have been just what I needed in some respects. Shawn helped the following day (which was my mom's birthday) and mom came when he needed to go into work for a meeting. She also came the next day, as did my sister Becky to play with the boys while Shawn took me to the Orthopedic Associates. They took x-rays of my foot and ankle and determined it was just the toe that was broken even though everything hurt. They gave me this huge aircast that I wore home (pictured above). But, the aircast also hit my very sore and torn up shin and forced me to walk straight (whereas I was trying to take all pressure off my toe by walking sidewise and putting pressure on my sore ankle). Caleb was TERRIFIED of this boot. He kept asking if it would get him, and he would go out of his way to not be anywhere near it. It made me smile in the midst of my pain. My boy who seems to fear nothing was afraid of this immobile cast.

Anyway, the next day I hired our babysitter to play with the older boys. Meanwhile, we kept Ryan in bed with me - literally all day and all night. I would nurse him in bed overnight and if he needed a diaper change, Shawn would take him since I could barely move. During the day, I would lay with my foot propped up and changed his diapers in bed, wrapping them good and the boys would carry them to the diaper genie and wash their hands (they LOVE to be big helpers!). The older boys had a good week all-in-all, I'd say, as they played with Mamaw, Becky & Miranda. Miranda took them outside to play bubbles, she played chompers with them, she taught them a new way to play red-light-green-light to music, etc. And she made them lunch before leaving. It was great! In the meantime, since I was propped up in bed, I read two 300-page textbooks in just a couple days. I took notes and started preparing for class. I actually ended the week feeling less stressed than I started, believe it or not, even though I was still sore.

I thought about the verse "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). I was truly able to give thanks for even the horrible fall I had taken because it did aid me in getting done what I needed to do. I canceled all play dates for that week and simply rested in bed while doing school work. I was thankful for the help I received and that I was given time to get my work done. Now if my toe would heal, I'd feel even better! That said, I was done with the boot by the end of the week - I simply couldn't handle how it felt. Instead, we've wrapped the toes good and I've been wearing sneakers, which is what the orthopedic doctor told me to do when I was ready. In fact, he told me absolutely no more flip flops.

Now, I LOVE flip flops and won't listen to that advice forever, but for now, with where the injury is, I couldn't even wear them if I wanted to. That's been another discouraging part of this injury - not really being able to enjoy summer shoes in the summer.

Anyway, that said, God gave me the "break" I needed. Please pray for a full recovery! I'm still sore, but I'm grateful that the injuries weren't worse. And I'm thankful for my husband, who has been a huge helper (and always has been). I'm also thankful for the help of family and our babysitter. I'm also thankful for three very well-behaved boys who have been a huge blessing even during this time. They have been fantastic! More on the week to come...