My Wet Coast Life

It is snowing today. Even though the forecasts said expect rain, looking out my window, I begged to differ. Normally, I would not care that it is snowing but last night I had an unfortunate sports accident. Playing my weekly volleyball and only the second night of the 2011 season, I went up for a block on a spike, only to bang knees in mid-air. I came down like a sack of potatoes and ended up twisting my knee like a corkscrew. The sound was very unpleasant and was immediately followed by sharp, 4 letter word inducing pain. This is one big cup of awesome I didn't want or expect.

I collected myself assuming just a decent knock; it's okay; I can walk it off and be back playing in 10 minutes. Standing up proved it could be more than that. I made my way to the sidelines and a fellow player grabbed me some ice. After about 10 minutes, I decided to try this walking thing again and looked like a newborn giraffe. After some more choice 4 letter words, I regrettably hobbled out only half way through playing. By the time I got home, I had 3 decent golf ball size areas of swelling and one looked like a pyramid was stuck under my knee (sorry, I did not get pics). After some more ice, I made a pathetic attempt at trying to sleep. You never realize what muscles get used for what until you injure them. Then you find out the most mundane task is done by muscles you would assume had no reason to be involved. Once again, I have learned these muscles I have injured have multiple roles too.

What felt like I had only just fallen asleep, good old mother nature decided to send me a quick message that she feels like some snow instead of rain. With my back's weather message notification system kicking in, I got the reluctant advance warning snow was on the way and I was awake again. Thinking the injury was all just a dream, I got out of bed and was quickly reminded it was not a dream. "Ahh...crap" went through my mind as I fell back onto the bed with that 4 letter word pain coming back. Now what is usually the first thing you need to do within a couple minutes or less when you get up? Yeah, me too. My problem was my speed had been reduced to a turtles and I had drank a lot of water the night before. Not a good combo. After bearing the pain and doing some impromptu speed hobbling, I thankfully made it. Not the kind of start I wanted with this injury but I guess I didn't have a choice and could have been worse. I could at least still stand. Somewhat.

Follow up:

For me, it has been awhile since I had a major injury. Last one I would say was when Wallace and myself were mauled by an English mastiff at a dog park around 2 years ago. The dog tried to rip Wallace's face off and went through my hand and up my arm before being pulled off us. That took a good couple months before I could use my right hand again and over a year to fully heal. Luckily I am a lefty so it was not as much of an impact on daily life, more of a nuisance after a while. Now why do I bring this up? More or less things have to be done differently and adjusted when you are injured. Usually I go down the stairs in the morning, coffee in one hand, Wallace's breakfast bowl in the other. But now with only one good leg, this proved to be a good task of balancing and trying to avoid the quick way down. Now most would think common sense, make two safe trips. But I didn't want to and neither Wallace nor I wanted to give up our morning sustenance. Slowly I made it with a very impatient dog letting me know he needs out. Not looking forward to the coming days and weeks this could take to heal.

Fast forward a couple hours and with medication finally starting to kick in, I tried to enjoy a nice snowy and slippery shuffle to the clinic. After a 20 minute wait, I finally got in to see a doctor. After the doctor put my leg through it's range of motion, or lack there of, I was damn skippy glad I medicated before I went. Normally, I prefer not to medicate if I have to see a doctor as I find it can mask some pain or the reason I went in the first place. But I was glad I did not opt for that route today as even medicated, it was how should I put it; Not a pleasant test of finding out the extent of ones injuries. The doctor informed me I've possibly torn 1, maybe up to 3 muscles and/or tendons (cannot recall names and terms, started with an M). Well, she definitely confirmed that big cup of awesome for me. But now I need to wait for a referral to see an orthopedist to find out the the extent of the damage. Is it torn? Just strained? Only 1? More? In the mean time, I just have to follow the recommended healing instructions of staying off my feet, rest, ice, blah blah blah. I hate waiting for medical related issues.

So annoyed with this injury and not so good outlook, I decided to try and distract myself and finish the last of my edits to an updated version of this blog's template. I've been wanting to clean up the design for awhile and decided to go with a similar layout and colors. One of the main changes is a new banner using an image from my friend robotrogoue collection. You can heck out his work on his Flickr feed and his own gallery site is coming soon.

So let me know what you think of the new design. Feedback is appreciated.

Anyways, enough of this for now. The new design is up and I think it is time to go make some hot chocolate and try and take it easy listening to some laid back acoustic and cover tunes. One band I am liking that will be on the playlist, which I was only recently introduced to, is called Boy and Bear. Here is the cover of Fall at Your Feet. The banjo just fits in my opinion. Enjoy.