The Foot (PG-13 due to graphic content)

Since the majority of my readers consist of family members, most of them could probably write this blog entry since they were all there when this happened. Just in case there are a few random readers, this is for you.

As I was growing up, my immediate family would meet in Pennsylvania with my extended family every summer for a vacation. We stayed in my grandma's log cabin and spent our days building forts in the woods behind the cabin. I hadn't been back to the cabin in 9 years since my grandma died. When my cousins, Chris, and I went wandering back to our old forts, we realized there was nothing left of them. We decided we needed to build a fort that would withstand the test of time. That fort started and quickly ended with a rock wall.

Not having been in the woods for so many years, there was a lot of debris that covered the large flat rocks we were using. Chris picked up a rock that appeared much smaller than it actually was. The rock was so heavy it slipped out of his hands, dropped on the ground, rolled down and crushed his foot. I'm not sure how he managed to get down the hill on his own but by the time my dad and I got to him...roughly two minutes after the accident...his foot was so swollen already that we almost had to cut his beloved Chaco sandals off of him. We rushed him to the tiny small town ER and they x-rayed his foot determining that nothing was broken. We were given no real direction on what to do next, Chris was handed crutches, and we were on our way.

Fast forward to a week later. Chris' foot was still so swollen and painful that he went to the doctor and had an MRI done. His ortho doc that he was finally referred to over a week after the accident said that the ER was correct, that no bones were broken, but that his injury was just as bad, if not worse with all of the soft tissue damage.

He has a large hematoma on the top of his foot that can't be drained because it is too long after the initial injury and all of the blood has coagulated. Chris needs to massage the hematoma in an attempt to break it up. Of course he can barely touch it without extreme pain and that is when he is on the narcotics prescribed to him.

He noticed yesterday that his foot was starting to get red. I suggested he call his ortho doc and let him know since his follow up appointment isn't scheduled for another 5 days. Included are pictures he took today. Keep in mind that this happened almost two weeks ago. He is still on crutches. It is hard to see the bruising running along the sides of his foot but you can see some of the bruising that has moved into his toes. It has been a rough few weeks.