January 14 was not a good day.

It all started with a drive to work. It’s been cold lately and the roads were a little icy. As I was waiting at a red light, a pickup truck hit the SUV behind me and that SUV hit my truck. It was like one of those moments when you hear a loud BANG and then by the time you look in your rear view mirror to see what the noise was all about, you then get the BANG and the jolt a split second later. The good news was that I didn’t get hurt and the damage to my truck appears to be minimal.

As I get out of my truck to survey the damage I saw a police car parked in the parking lot right next to the intersection of the accident. I travel about 50-or-so yards to get his attention and he agrees to come take a look. As I head back to my truck, I stepped on some uneven frozen slush left over by a snow plow. My foot twisted inward and I realized it was a pretty good sprained ankle after trying to “walk it off” on my way back to my truck.

After I finished up with the police and gave them my information, I drove to work and got out of my truck. By this time, my ankle was really starting to hurt pretty bad and I didn’t feel like the typical sprain. I hobbled around and got into my normal routine at my desk. Later on that morning, I got up to take a break and the pain in my foot was MUCH worse, and my ankle had swollen to about the size of a tennis ball. I finally broke down and called my family physician.

They were able to schedule me for an appointment that afternoon. So around 1:30pm I met with my doctor and he gave me a couple of prescriptions to help with the pain and swelling and he sent me to the hospital to get an x-ray. I drove to the hospital and checked into the Imaging department. I took a seat in the waiting room and I was greeted by a medical assistant who was from the Pacific Rim (probably Indonesia). She led me down long hallway to the x-ray room, it felt like 100 yards away! About half-way through I stopped and I said, “Do you guys have a wheelchair or something?” She replied, “Sorry” and she motioned me to keep walking because we were getting close.

She had me take off my shoe and sock and they took three x-rays of my ankle. After they were done, she led me to the hallway and pointed down the hall to show me the exit. I look at her and said, “Can you get me wheelchair or something? That’s too far for me to walk on my own?” As it so happens, there was a wheelchair right around the corner and she pushed me down a hallway that was probably 75 yards long. I thanked her and hobbled the rest of the way to my car.

When I got to my truck, I gave Tanya a call to see if she wouldn’t mind meeting me at the Kroger pharmacy because I was having quite a difficult time walking and I really needed some lovin’ after a crazy morning and afternoon. Not to mention, I was physically and emotionally exhausted. When we got to Kroger, Tanya helped me into the store. I put my right arm around her neck and shoulders so she could help take weight off my foot.

The pharmacy said it would take 30 minutes to fill the prescription, so we decided to do some shopping around the store. For the first time ever, I got to use one of those motorized grocery carts. Those things are down-right dangerous! They’re jerky when you stop and go and the steering is way too sensitive.

After we picked up the meds, Tanya followed me home and I spent the evening icing my ankle.

To be continued…