Diagnoses Ankle

It started months ago, towards the end of fall – beginning of winter time frame. I went to bed just fine and woke up with an agonizing pain in my left ankle. All these months later I have remained in pain. Some days are worse than others. Back when I had my physical weeks ago, I ended up getting an X-Ray done for my left ankle after bringing the pain back to my doctor’s attention. At that point I was tested for arthritis and everything came back clear. The pain continued and seemed to have progressively gotten worse over the weeks since my appointment. The ankle even became more sensitive as time went on. The lightest brush of anything against my ankle is enough to make me want to cry out in pain. The swelling has been pretty bad as well, but it was the odd tightening feeling (with excruciating pain) in the back of my ankle late the other night that led me to calling my doctor’s office yesterday.

After describing the symptoms of my ankle to the nurse at my doc’s office, I was told to go into Urgent Care. The nurse said it sounded like it could possibly be a blood clot (those do run in my family), but I was pretty positive it wasn’t and as I had things to do yesterday, I procrastinated myself to going today. So this afternoon my older brother Tim was sweet enough to drive me over and sit with me while my ankle was examined. The doctor at Urgent Care examined me and I swear I nearly jumped off the exam table when she moved my ankle. I didn’t know, but it was very clear where exactly the pain was coming from. It really didn’t take too long for her to come to a conclusion of what’s wrong with me.

The diagnosis is that I have a sprained ankle. I learned it’s possible I twisted or sprained it somehow in my sleep the night prior to my waking up with sudden pain. Then all this time has passed and I’ve continued to do as I normally do with getting around. I also did start those mile walks that now have to come to a stop. Granted, with the heat wave I haven’t been out there risking my health on the long walks, but it’s time to take a pause from them even if the weather cools off for the next few weeks. As you can see in the picture I’m attaching to this post I have an air splint on over an ace-wrap. Pardon the slightly fuzzy legs; I didn’t have a chance to re-shave prior to going in today. Anyways, I was told to take it easy. No long walks, running or jumping – not that I really did the latter of those things, but still. I need to keep my ankle elevated and take it easy. It’s estimated to be healed in about 3 – 6 weeks, let’s hope it doesn’t take that long!

Really as much as I’m bummed that I have a sprained ankle, I am thankful to finally know why it’s been hurting like it has. It’s nothing like when I sprained my right ankle two years ago (though that was a different happening all together). I’m also pretty thankful I don’t have to use crutches and that I can walk some to get myself around as I need to.

--XOXO, Jane

R.I.P. Alarm Clock

It’s almost tragic sometimes when a certain possession stops working. When it’s time to throw it out and let go of something that’s served you so well. I am of course talking about my TOZAj brand alarm clock. I’ve had my alarm clock since I was twelve or thirteen years old. I know I was in middle school and the factory sticker with a date on it reads ‘Oct 1996’. Many a school mornings it got me up. It got me up through my first real job and other times I needed to set the alarm. It’s survived many power outages, falls and a few moves over the years just hanging in there like a trooper working better than any other clock I’ve owned.

Just a few days ago, we had a small power outage in the area due to some storms. Fortunately the particular part of West Michigan I live usually doesn’t go too long under a power outage. However it was when the power came back on, I went to re-set my clock. In mid adjusting the hour on it, it just stopped working. It wouldn’t change any further. Although I could still change the minute portion of the clock, the button to press to change the hour did nothing. I even tried unplugging it for a while and plugging it back in. Sadly after roughly fifteen/sixteen years of ownership of the same alarm clock that has worked so brilliantly for me all this time, I have to get rid of it. Guess this means I need to put it in the budget for a new alarm clock and venture out to make such a purchase as soon as I can.

Maybe it’s strange to feel the slightest bit sentimental over an alarm clock. Quite frankly, I never thought I would. Despite all the times I went with a friend or family member to help them pick a new one out over the years, where I felt thankful mine still worked. However, now that I’m in this position of my clock no longer working right I find myself actually a little saddened. I can’t really complain though, after all this clock did last me quite a long time. Probably making it more than worth whatever it had cost when it was purchased in the first place. I know the clear design (so you can see the insides) is pretty dated as far as trends go, but I loved the clock. It was reliable, even if I did have tendency to turn off the alarm and snooze an extra few minutes more than actually getting right up.

--XOXO, Jane