ankles and dogs
Oddly enough the story of my ankle starts with a dog--and not just any dog. But the exact dog pictured below.
This fellow is a German Shepherd, rather tall for his breed, and goes by the name Mac. Short for McCloud, of the Clan McCloud. He's also inordinately fond of frisbees, as you can see in the picture to the left. That particular characteristic indirectly led to the ankle part of my story.
You see it all started on a night lit by the light of a full and buttery yellow moon. I was at a small gathering of people with my girlfriend--friends of hers from work--and we were tossing around a ball with Mac and trying to get the frisbee away from him with guile and wit. Characteristics that we humans believe ourselves to possess to a greater degree than the other animals on the planet. Well, Mac wasn't buying that story line and it was quite difficult to get that frisbee away.
At one point, late in the evening, Mac trotted across the yard to drop the frisbee--thinking it safely at a distance--and returned to the deck to grab the ball from us. Seizing my brief window of oppurtunity, I ran as quick as I could across the yard to the frisbee to beat Mac to it. Unfortunately that full moon, while romantic as Hell and quite lovely to look at, only illuminates the planet in a fitful and incomplete fashion. What I mean to say is, I didn't see a shallow hole in the ground--ironically dug by the dog--and fell heavily ass over teakettle. Upon attempting to stand, I immediately realized something was wrong. Within a minute my ankle was quite swollen. Sprained, dammit. Ankles and dogs just don't mix!
Here's two views of my ankle that I took last night about an hour after it happened.
Top view, looking downward
Rear view looking forward
===UPDATE===
Now it's almost 7am and it's getting quite discolored as the ruptured blood vessels leak blood into the surrounding flesh. It's going to be quite a sight before all is done. Bad for my leg, great for pictures!
This fellow is a German Shepherd, rather tall for his breed, and goes by the name Mac. Short for McCloud, of the Clan McCloud. He's also inordinately fond of frisbees, as you can see in the picture to the left. That particular characteristic indirectly led to the ankle part of my story.You see it all started on a night lit by the light of a full and buttery yellow moon. I was at a small gathering of people with my girlfriend--friends of hers from work--and we were tossing around a ball with Mac and trying to get the frisbee away from him with guile and wit. Characteristics that we humans believe ourselves to possess to a greater degree than the other animals on the planet. Well, Mac wasn't buying that story line and it was quite difficult to get that frisbee away.
At one point, late in the evening, Mac trotted across the yard to drop the frisbee--thinking it safely at a distance--and returned to the deck to grab the ball from us. Seizing my brief window of oppurtunity, I ran as quick as I could across the yard to the frisbee to beat Mac to it. Unfortunately that full moon, while romantic as Hell and quite lovely to look at, only illuminates the planet in a fitful and incomplete fashion. What I mean to say is, I didn't see a shallow hole in the ground--ironically dug by the dog--and fell heavily ass over teakettle. Upon attempting to stand, I immediately realized something was wrong. Within a minute my ankle was quite swollen. Sprained, dammit. Ankles and dogs just don't mix!
Here's two views of my ankle that I took last night about an hour after it happened.
Top view, looking downward
Rear view looking forward
===UPDATE===
Now it's almost 7am and it's getting quite discolored as the ruptured blood vessels leak blood into the surrounding flesh. It's going to be quite a sight before all is done. Bad for my leg, great for pictures!
Comments
Would it be very tactless of me to say serves you right for trying to outsmart a German Shepherd?
Yes, I thought so!
Michele sent me this way.
The Nurse's Advice: Keep your ankle elevate it and ice it for 15 mins every 2 hours.
Did you go to the emergency room?
Mar, me too. That ankle has been sprained at least 6 times before. Mostly in HS doing jumping event in Track & Field.
Jean-Luc, actually Mac did fall also. We were tied getting to the frisbee and when the hole tossed me over, I landed partially on him. He didn't see the humor of it all.
Yaeli, you're quite right. And lovely! I did ice it for an hour or so afterwards once I got home (with elevation) but didn't alternate. And that's been it. I couldn't sleep so now I'm sitting & blogging and that's not good for the ankle so I shall go back to bed!
You really must learn to make friends with animals. They best you every time, it seems.
That ankle looks really bad. I know about ankle problems. You are supposed to take care of yours! I hope it feels better soon -- but by the looks of it, you're gonna have problems for at least a week. Ouch!
Good thing yer not down here on the farm.. ya KNOW what we do to horses that look like that.. (JK.. just kidding: I aint shot a horse in months..)
Seriously, take care of yerself David. *It looks pretty ouchy. nice legs tho.. hehe)
Meliss, Thanks!
Maggie, Mac hadn't had anything to drink and I'd not had anything for several hours though there were 4 drinks around 5-6pm but a good sized meal and a few hours had passed since then.
So last night I used an old Edgar Cayce remedy on it: I massaged castor oil into the foot, wrapped it in saran wrap and pulled on an old sock. This morning, all the swelling was gone and the discoloration had abated quite a bit. Try it. My son had a very badly sprained ankle one year when he was in high school and the doc told him it might be 6 weeks before he could walk without crutches. We did castor oil packs on it and he was walking in 3 days.
Get well soon my friend :)
Deni
PS The "snippet" I posted today is NOT about you! Promise.
Isn't tag (in some form) a universal game?
Lois Lane