Ankles, Emergency Rooms and X-rays - Oh My!

Yesterday I did something dumb and that resulted in a lot of really nice people giving me a lot of really good advice about how to take care of a very painful ankle.

Believe it or not, I really did take most of that advice with a lot of grumbling and a lot of whining. I even visited the emergency room today for an x-ray.

I don't do doctors, I don't do hospitals and I really don't do emergency rooms. I haven't been to the ER, for myself, in years and years. The last time was in the mid-90s for kidney stones and before that, the early 80s after a car accident. My ankle, it hurt enough this morning, that I broke down and went in for that x-ray.

And as you can see by my x-ray, it's not broken. It still hurts like crazy - but not like having kidney stones, which is good because I think kidney stone pain is the worst thing in the entire world. Having a broken tailbone, that also hurts, but not as much as my ankle and my foot still hurt today.

So, I have a Lortab prescription and a real live doctor's advice to keep it elevated, ice it for 20 minutes every hour or two and stay off of it. The same great advice I got from a lot of really great people.

I should have just stayed home and continued following all of the great advice I received, right? How do YOU decide when something is serious enough to go to the ER?

~~Denise
Daily Dose of Denise and Fast Times @ Homeschool High

Submitted by Denise (view blog

) on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 09:35

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Health & Wellness

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For the record

I didn't think you broke it...but I thought you might have popped a ligament.

And we all know that if you hadn't thought it was serious enough to go to the doctor you would have told us to shut up and ignored us. :-P

Monkey Trouble, Sassymonkey Reads, and Sassymonkey Eats

Submitted by sassymonkey on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 08:53

Good news...and um, decide

Good news...

and um, decide when it's apparent the slice in my hand made by falling off my deck into the pool is of a sufficient degree to need sewing. Or a fingernail needs a hole drilled in it to ease the pressure. Chest pains were another clue to call someone, who then directed me to ER - and a hospital stay.

With others, my daughter deciding isopropyl alcohol was worth taking a swig, good reason. For my other daughter, low blood sugar triggering convulsions was a motivator.

You will follow the instructions, right? Right?

nelle

Submitted by nelle2nelle on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 08:58

Glad to hear it

Glad to hear you went to the doctor, I was a bit worried. Now you have a proper painkiller and a little more peace of mind.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Submitted by Kalyn Denny on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 09:06

Stupid Ankles

I had a fracture in my ankle the summer before my senior year of high school when I got a line drive directly to the poor thing. (I was the pitcher.) Yeah, but the x-ray tech didn't know what he was doing. So I walked on it all weekend only to get a call on Monday that it was, in fact, fractured. Nice. This is also one of the many reasons that I don't do doctors either. That sentence was funny. Mainly, I don't "do" doctors because I'm married. HA! Moving on:

I have a kidney disorder so I know when I need to go to the ER. But for other things? Such as when I went into preterm labor with Nicholas? I kept thinking, "Oh, these contractions will stop." It took a good friend verbally lashing me to realize, "Crap, I need to go to the hospital." Minus my kidney, I'm pretty dense about going to the hospital. Eh. It happens. :)

Family Living; Hatfield Style
Jenna

Submitted by JennaHatfield on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 09:21

Ha! That reminds me!

My final year of university I was walking into my friend's garage which was connected to his basement. I had to go up some stairs but I didn't realize that it wasn't a 'normal' flight and that I had to duck. So I walked straight up into the doorframe and knocked myself out for a second.

It was a Thursday. The next evening I was at work complaining that I felt dizzy. Everyone kept saying that I probably had a concussion. My response?

No, don't be silly. I just hit my head really hard that's all.

Yes. Sometimes I am *brilliant*. I'm going to blame that remark on the fact that I did have a concussion. I know cause I went to the doctor on the following Monday. lol

Monkey Trouble, Sassymonkey Reads, and Sassymonkey Eats

Submitted by sassymonkey on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 10:33

I'm glad it's not

I'm glad it's not broken...and you got to experience the joy of people watching in the ER (which is always worth the visit IMO)...

2 ER trips for me in the last few years...both that crazy stomach thing, where I just couldn't stop puking - those were scarey....other times I should have gone and didn't with knee and elbow injuries, but with ortho stuff it's hard to decide...

Submitted by nuthinfancy on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 11:30

I didnt go to the doctor

On the 14th July 2006 I fell down the last stair and did something to my poor ankle. I was in the most pain I have been in for a long time so I know how you are feeling. I had to crawl on my belly across to the kitchen to get my cell phone. It was bad. But I didn't go to the hospital, I have just been resting it ever since. But it is only getting better very slowly.

Bizarrely, night time is the worse. During the day I can control my movement so I make sure I purpposely don't move my ankle in a way that hurts. But during the night it seems I have no control and I have barely had a night in the last month where I haven't woken up at some point because my ankle is in agony.

I am beginning to wonder how long it is going to last. My medical insurance just run out in a double stroke of bad luck, so i am just going to have to wait until I can get it sorted.

Submitted by sam breach on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 12:32

Gut Instinct

How do I decide when to go to the ER? In my case, there have been two occasions when my gut instinct told me to seek medical advice and I didn't listen. The first one had a terrible outcome that I will not go into here. The second time was just a few months ago when my son came home early from work complaining about abdominal pain. He thought it was gas. Eight hours later, I jumped online and started researching his symptoms. Instinct told me it was appendicitis, but I was talked out of it by a nurse who said it really could be anything. My son, worried about the cost, didn't want to go to the ER so we made a deal that we'd go to the doctor the following morning, but he was to wake me if it worsened.

It did, at 3 a.m. After the best ER experience in our lives (and I'm not being sarcastic - I will never go to a different hospital again), within three hours we had a CT scan and the results: appendicitis. He had surgery a few hours later. We were lucky that it didn't burst; the surgeon said there was a lot of inflammation and it wasn't the simple procedure it should have been.

So, I've learned. If the gut tells me to take action, I listen.

I Think About

Submitted by Valbee on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 13:25

Getting Smart on Self-Care

I'm sorry you had a fall, but I'd rather have a simple fracture than a sprain. Bone heals better and faster than meat. (Sports First Aid

IMAO, every adult ought to have taken a First Aid class, plus a CPR/automatic defibrillator course. All kids over 11 should have taken the Red Cross Babysitter training, whether or not they ever plan to babysit.

Sam, you may want to invest in an ankle brace so that you don't reaggravate the injury. They aren't expensive.

As to deciding when to go to the ER -- we are fortunate in that our local clinic has an "urgent care" office, so that mostly we have avoided the ER. Lacerations all the way through the skin layers = seek medical help. Suspected fractures = seek medical help. Any loss of consciousness = seek medical help.

I had the same situation as Jenna's--fracture missed. But the pain was bad enough that I didn't walk on it over the weekend, and immobilized/ice/compression.
Liz Ditz
I Speak of Dreams
lizditz@gmail.com

Submitted by lizditz on Sat, 08/12/2006 - 13:50