I toed you!

I was in junior high the first time it happened. My cousin Michelle was chasing me with a water gun through the house when I raced through the bathroom door and crushed my left ring (?) and pinkie toes on the doorway. The pain still haunts me today. My ring toe has not been perfectly straight since. The injury left the top of my foot black and blue for weeks. Fortunately it was summer time so I was able to walk around with only a sock on my left foot for a few weeks. These were the days when you only went to the doctor for serious injuries or illnesses...or at-least that's how it was in my family. I have no doubt even to this day that something was broken but the line I got from my parents was "There's nothing they can do for a toe" and so on I went with my own treatment and NO sympathy from friends or family.

Saturday morning was gorgeous in Texas. We were getting ready for a productive day...there were even discussions about going to Home Depot for some Bermuda grass plugs. My 3 year old daughter had crawled under the piano bench and I looked at her like I was going to race in the other room to hide...so I raced into the kitchen...changed my mind at the last minute to take a right and circle around through the dining room so that I could sneak behind her...and then, it happened. As soon as I hit my toe on the kitchen chair, I knew I had stubbed it pretty good so I stopped to look...but I was in for a big surprise. You know, how when you hurt yourself you go through that initial time of wondering if it, whatever you hurt, is broken. Well, there was no doubt that my left toe was broken when I looked down and discovered it completely bent to the left...as if it wasn't really even part of my foot anymore. My toe nail was bleeding too. Amazingly it really didn't hurt that bad but something was clearly wrong...so I called for Kerry and told her that we need to go to the doctor...my toe was broken...all the while my 3 year old asking to see my broken toe..."do you need a new one?"...Kerry came down the stairs asking what happened and how it happened....about that time the only thing I could think about was the fact that my toe would have to be re-set...at which point I started feeling faint....So there I was feeling sick, laying on our living room floor, impatiently waiting for my wife to get the kids ready for a trip to the doctor...like no one was taking my injury seriously once again... I'm hurt; we're supposed to leave right away! By this time it was 8:15. We drove around to several places but made our way back to the original office because it was the first to open--at 9am. Why wasn't the whole world stopping for my injury? We discussed what to do with the 45 minutes. I didn't want to go home. My wife didn't want to sit in the parking lot...our youngest was due for her first nap at 9am...there was no way they were going inside the clinic where sick people linger... So, there I was, 30 minutes before the office opened, sitting outside on the sidewalk waiting for it to open...feeling sorry for myself....NO sympathy once again!

Several other patients pulled up about 15 minutes early. Boy was I glad to be by the door to be the first patient seen. As soon as the nurse sees my toe she'll rush me straight back. At 9am, the other patients started heading to the door so I stood up and hobbled my way to be the first in line. Seeing my injury you would think that someone would hold the door for me...no, I almost got run over...it was as if they were disappointed that I might make their wait longer...one lady even asked after I checked in if the doctor would be able to see her earlier than her 9:30 appointment because her son (who didn't even appear sick-had on a baseball uniform) had a birthday party to go to...the nurse said sure... I thought great, they'll get to ME really quick then! Nope, they called the boy and his mom back right away...and then the other lady that came in after me...and then the other man that came after her...and on...and on...and on. I finally got up and was vocal about the fact that though I didn't register on the Internet (which they had apparently done), I was SITTING OUTSIDE 30 minutes before you opened and wasn't aware of the Internet registration possibility...Meanwhile people in the waiting room who at most had minor colds and had registered on line looked at my foot in disgust just before they being called back...but did any of them offer for me to take their spot, NO...did the office rearrange things to let the guy in pain go before the dolled up sick people talking about the HGTV show on the wide screen TV, another BIG NO... By this time I'm feeling like I did in Junior High...NO sympathy...one guy even came in for stitches, his wife all hysterical as if he needed immediate help...but it wasn't bleeding anymore and didn't look all that bad...he just had a little tissue paper over it for goodness sake...in my mind I clearly had the worst injury...

So, I was finally called back and the care was great. It turned out that my toe was dislocated in two places and fractured enough that the doctor thinks I will need a pin. Finally, some confirmation!! Finally, some sympathy!! He re-set my toe, which totally sucked and injected me with some pain medicine. The office only had a women's large orthopedic shoe and pink gauze...so there I was with my toes wrapped in pink gauze and hanging off the shoe...slowly feeling the effects of the drugs...waiting on the sidewalk again for my wife to pick me up...

My wife has been great...even drove downtown for a men's large orthopedic shoe and white gauze...although I'm a little worried that I won't be able to milk this for much longer...as long as I "deserve"...

The moral of the story?! As my friend Mike texted me after I texted him in the doctors office seeking some sympathy... "I toed you not to run in the house!" No sympathy!