Jonesin'

Thanks to my concerned blog readers for intervening and encouraging me to head to the doctor for x-rays on my foot. I was thinking that it would just get better on its own since my foot has been feeling much better and I was even able to ditch the crutches on Friday morning. But the comments on my blog coupled with a phone call from my mom convinced me that I should have it looked at, so I went to the Student Health Center Friday afternoon. I was wishing that I had taken my camera with me, but the x-ray result looked something like this:

It's a fracture near the top of the 5th metatarsal, frequently referred to as a Jones Fracture. I found a really straightforward site that describes the Jones Fracture, a portion of which I quote here:

What are the symptoms of a Jones fracture?
Patients who sustain a Jones fracture have pain over this middle/outside area of their foot, swelling, and difficulty walking. Most often a Jones fracture is caused without significant injury or impact.

Wikipedia chimes in that "it may not be an obvious fracture to the patient, and could be mistaken for a sprain." They both got me pegged. I found another site that lists the causes of stress fractures, including "Increased levels of activity, especially without proper conditioning." That would seem to be true in my case. I decided in the last couple weeks that I wanted to become more active, since I'm usually one of the most sedentary people I know. So I started doing things like going to Sports Night every week, training for a 5K in Detroit on Thanksgiving (I guess that is out), playing tennis, and even attending a capoeira class. Serves me right for trying to be more active - guess I should just stick to Mario 2.

This is a fracture that doesn't heal very easily because it lies in an area where there is very little blood flow, so they hooked me up with a walking boot and told me to come back in 4 weeks for a follow-up. It's hard to predict how long it will take to heal, but the typical figures run from 2-8 months in the boot.

Check out my sexy new footwear:

It's just perfect for the coming winter months - I've sure I'll love to walk through snow and ice in that thing. But hey, I can walk again, so that's definitely a good thing, and I'm so glad I'm not on crutches - they were starting to hurt worse than my foot was.

I've been on the boot for two days now and I've got to say that it's not that bad - I can do almost everything that I'm used to being able to do. This is my first broken bone and it could have been a whole lot worse - I think of my nephew Dallin in a full body cast for several months and I'm grateful that that is not me.