Ankle

What a bummer of a weekend. A month or two ago, I won a local Poker tournament to get an entry into the finals for a trip to Vegas. There were to be 20 "winners" who would face off this Saturday at St. Croix Casino in Turtle Lake, WI. I was all fired up to play, maybe even go a little early to play a little poker at the real tables before hand. I had no show Saturday Night, so there was no need to rush out.

A snow storm was coming in Saturday and they were threatening 10+ inches of snow starting at around noon (the tourney was to start at 5:00). Holly and my mother were both concerned about me driving on the back roads of WI to the casino. It is a little over an hour if the conditions are fine, so it would probably take me 2+ hours to get there because the snow started coming down at 9:00 a.m.

Before I left, I decided to do a few things around the house that I had been putting off for a while. I needed to change the oil in the snow blower, take the furniture off the back deck, and bring in the garden hoses. Yes, I was very late on all of these. As I was carrying the four folding chairs from the back deck, I was waling along the retaining wall that declines as you go to the front of my house. As I went down far enough to where I thought I could just jump down (maybe 9 inches off the ground), I heard and felt my ankle snap and I fell over with the chairs in my hand. A million things ran through my mind as I was falling over, mainly "You are an idiot."

Holly was feeding Quinlan, it was about 10 degrees out and I was only wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. I was a little scared that I was stuck outside until Holly realized that I was out for too long. I was also nervous that I broke my ankle. Something I was very sure of because of the sound I heard as I rolled the ankle. I stood up and limped into the house while supporting myself with the retaining wall and then the cars in the garage. I ended up making it to my couch in the family room and raised my foot onto the couch. It hurt like hell.

Then the weird thing happened. I started having my fingers and head feel cold and numb. Next thing I know I am waking up in a panic. I had no clue where I was or what was going on. I had apparently passed out. That freaked me out because why was I passing out over a rolled ankle? Holly eventually finished with Quinlan and I called her down to the family room. I told her what happened and she called my mother to bring me to the hospital (it was too much to try and bring me and Quinlan to the hospital).

We went and waited only for a little bit, which is surprising because I remember going to the ER as a kid and waiting 3+ hours. We did some X-rays and we found that I did not break it, but there is a chance I tore some ligaments. We will not know for a little bit because you have to wait and see if it heals OK over the course of the week. Most likely, it is just a nasty sprain. I hope there is no ligament damage because that requires surgery.

With the combination of the ankle and worsening weather, I ended up staying hope and resting the ankle all day Saturday and Sunday. It drove me nuts to wonder what would have happened in the tournament. Odds are that I would not have won, but it would have been nice to give it a shot. I think I could have driven with the ankle, but my concern was if I spun out. How the hell would I get out of a ditch with a bum ankle?

This is what I get for procrastinating so badly. Fricking idiot.