Ok, ok…so everybody keeps asking me about my ankle, so here it is:
We arrived in Honduras Thursday, January 9th. Saturday, the 11th, the kids decided they wanted to go swimming at the “lake” (picture a pond at a golf course). That sounded awesome, so my team decided to go too. So after we piled into a pick up truck and some of the kids climbed onto their bikes, we headed off.
When we arrived at the “lake”, the fence was closed and locked. The owner was nowhere in sight, but since we had gotten permission, the kids decided to climb the fence to get to the promised land. So one by one, the kids climbed the 5 1/2 ft fence and hopped over. Then it was my turn. Now, it’s kinda my fault that I broke my ankle, because my brain was definitely telling me that the fence was too high. Apparently, my brain knows physics. But I thought, “all the kids are doing it…and they’re fine”. Stupid thought. I realized just how stupid the second I hit the ground.
My left foot came down flat and my right ankle rolled a little. Insta-pain. After a few minutes of allowing the pain to settle, I decided to walk it off. It still hurt walking on it, but it wasn’t terrible. I even walked around the pond when Gabby wanted to go for a walk. When I put my ankles in the cool lake water, I started to feel some pain.
Over the next few days, my ankle didn’t swell or bruise much at all. I figured I just sprained one or both of my ankles. After a day or so, I realized keeping my ankle straight (not pointing my toe or moving it the other way) felt better. So I limped around for a few days, finding that when I sat down, my ankle hurt more and more. Finally on Wednesday, I found out ice was an option. When I put the ice on, I felt this deep pain that brought tears to my eyes. I knew something was wrong. So off to the doctor we went. After 4 x-rays and an exam by the doctor, he decided I had either a hairline fracture or a compression fracture. He said the x-rays weren’t clear and there could be a break that their machines couldn’t pick up.
So for the next 2 weeks, I limped around in a boot, first without crutches, then with crutches (once my brain caught on). I kept it up as much as I could and got super frustrated that this took me away from working with my team.
Finally, 2 weeks after I got the boot, I got the stomach bug (later found out it was parasites &/or amoebas). Can we talk about how fun and unsuccessful it is to try to rush to the bathroom with a broken ankle. Yep. By Thursday, I was completely frustrated. I felt awful, I was dehydrated, my ankle hurt, I was isolated, and I had pooped my pants more times than I’d like to admit. I wanted to go home. I wanted to give up and go home. I didn’t care what that meant, I was just so miserable. Thankfully, I have some amazing teammates that were able to talk me down from that ledge.
Thursday afternoon, Jason came to my room to see if I needed anything. Then he asked if he could pray for my ankle again. He had prayed for it before, which helped with the pain, but my ankle wasn’t healed. Later he said he felt God had something he wanted to teach me first. So when Jason asked to pray for my ankle again, I was up for it. I figured that maybe the pain would go away, at least.
Jason started praying. I started to feel more peace. He prayed more. Slowly, I started to feel something move in my left foot. It was like 4 twitches within my foot-it was the weirdest feeling. When he finished praying, he asked if I needed anything at the store. And as I started moving my ankle to test it (something that had caused intense pain the day before), I dumb-foundedly answered, “no”. I couldn’t believe it. I pointed my toe up and down- no pain. I moved my foot from side to side and then in a circle- no pain, only stiffness.
When Heidi came in a few minutes later to see if I wanted to join the girls outside, I was so excited. She asked if I needed my crutches and boot and I told her that I didn’t think I needed them. So ever since, I’ve been walking and running on my ankle. I had some stiffness for about a week or so (from having my ankle immobilized for 2 weeks), but otherwise it’s been fine.
So for all of you that want to know, MY ANKLE IS HEALED AND I’M NOT LOOKING BACK!
Jesus is awesome, isn’t He?
