The Snapchat I took of my foot’s x-ray.
I’ve never broken a serious bone before. However, I’ve broken the baby toe on my right foot. Twice.
The first time was in freshman year, and it definitely didn’t happen because I kicked a table accidentally. The second time was on Friday night while with McDaniel friends in New Jersey. Maybe I was wrestling a bear and it stomped on my toe. Maybe I was swimming in the ocean and a shark bit me. Maybe I fell fifty feet down a ravine (like I did last summer–I still have those scars!) Or maybe I was wearing really nice woolen socks and I slipped down the stairs. You’ll never know.
Whatever this incident was, it happened around midnight on Friday night. I fell really hard and initially my whole entire right side hurt. I don’t like people fussing over me, so I waved my friends away and made it to an armchair. When I refused to go stargazing at the beach, something I’d been insistent on doing each night, they realised something must be wrong. By that point, everything else had stopped hurting, but my toe was in complete agony.
I woke up on Saturday morning early, intending to watch the sunrise, but when I tried to stand up, I immediately put the warm ice pack back on my foot and took a painkiller. There’s little you can do for broken toes except to tape them together; however, I decided that I wanted to go to an urgent care clinic as I was practically unable to walk due to the way my skin was pulling and I wanted to get a proper shoe, especially since I only had very well-fitting hiking boots and flip flops with a strap that applied pressure directly to where I thought the break was.
I felt really bad about asking my friends if someone could take me to urgent care since it was a 20 minute drive and I knew I’d be lucky if it took less than an hour. However, they were all really supportive even though I think the baby toe is the dumbest thing possible to break. I had an x-ray done and though you can’t see the break above, I actually apparently have a very clean break in my toe, which is also missing a small piece of bone, likely from its first break. Oh goodness.
When I got back to campus today, my friends were incredibly supportive, offering to get me food from the pub, offering to bring me sushi, providing me with ice packs, and just generally being available and as useful as possible. Though walking around McDaniel is NOT going to be fun–it’s called The Hill for a reason!–I’m glad to know that if I need anyone to help me, I just have to ask.
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