Fractured!

If it isn't one inconvenient health issue, it's another! This seems to be the motto of my life. Or the other motto is, You've been living in Chicago for a long time now; aren't you used to these winters?! I'd totally be dead by now if this were the 19th century.

Scene of Evil

On Schubert and Troy near my house, there is an Evil Human who makes a lot of money by renting out tons of units to tons of people. In the summer time, their untrimmed bushes grow empty cans of beer. In the winter, Evil Human doesn't shovel snow on the sidewalk it's responsible for, so the snow gets trampled on, it turns into water, it freezes over multiple times, and it never gets any direct sunlight. I guess I was feeling sort of immortal Monday morning, and I came to Evil Block, thinking I could get across without a problem. And then I did it--I slipped and "fell funny on my leg." I even heard a crunching sound!

Panda pants courtesy of Maddi

So my left ankle (my non-drumming, non-piano-pedaling ankle) is fractured. I was afraid they were going to have to cut up my Hunter boots and my favorite gray jeans, but I only lost a sock overall. I was in a bootleg temporary cast from Monday until this afternoon, and now I have a heavy but fashionable hot pink cast on my left ankle. Apparently, surgery is a common necessity to fix broken ankles, but I don't seem to need it. Three people have already mentioned pins and crap being stuck in your bones for that. Sick! I didn't even know surgery was a possibility--I had been in blissful oblivion for three days.

Come sign my cast!

When I was young, I always looked at other kids on crutches with a little envy. Doesn't it kinda look like fun? It isn't so hard walking in crutches, but it turns out that continuing to walk in them for even a short distance is exhausting. By the time this is all over, I'm going to have one skinny ankle, a weak left foot, a weak left calf, a really strong left quadricep, a strong right leg, and buff arms. The funny thing is, I'm going to be in better shape now than my pre-crippled days (can I say that?).