Keeping care of our bodies is really important and one has to be careful not to further injure herself. If you think you are super woman/man, it is okay to admit defeat sometimes. It is okay to ask for help. I learned that and more all last week after spraining my ankle during volleyball practice.
After falling and twisting my ankle, my coach wrapped me up and I was able to get back onto the court to continue playing. The trouble came later when I unwrapped it in my dorm and saw that my ankle was very swollen. I am a person with a high threshold for pain, so I felt okay enough to walk around on it for the night. I had heard a pop when I fell during practice, so my mom drove me to the ER the following morning to have an x-ray done because a “pop” means a ligament has torn.
I was given crutches and told to stay off of my ankle for the next few days. I was also informed that the more I stay off of it, the quicker it will heal. This was my first time ever legitimately using crutches; I have only ever played with the old ones at my house. I soon discovered that using crutches is not fun...at all!
My arms got an intense workout the first day of using them because I was not using my right foot at all. I had no idea what I was doing, despite the quick lesson I was given at the hospital. I felt like an awkward, new-born fawn moving around campus. I questioned how I was going to deal with this for the next few days.
I am a very fast-paced person, so I booked it on my crutches the first day, only to become a sweaty, tired mess super quickly. I struggled with opening up doors by myself and almost fell backwards trying to do so. Everything took me an extra minute or so to do and it was driving me crazy! I did not like feeling so dependent on other people; I wanted to do it by myself. I also did not want to be a burden, but I was wearing down quickly and was sore all over.
When I learned that I could gently step down on the ball of my right foot, getting around became a bit easier, but it was still a struggle to open doors and go up and down stairs.
I raised my surrender flag, and I accepted all of the amazing help I was offered by both friends and strangers. It made me really happy to see how willing people were to lend me a hand when I was open to accepting it. I am grateful that I did not have to go through it all alone. I could have hurt myself even more if I did not let others help me.
Thankfully the healing process went very quickly.
