Weak Ankles

So, my lower extremities (i.e. Ankles, feet, toes, etc) are not my friend. I am forever having some sort of problem with them, like broken toes, hurt ankles, etc. I have to be careful when I buy shoes. For example, I can't buy any of those cute, strappy sandal things with higher heels because inevitably my ankles will collapse for no good reason and I will fall on my face, of course hurting my ankle in the process. I can't even tell you how many bruise or broken toes I have had. Walls just seem to jump out in front of me(pretty frequently, I might add)and make my foot run into it, which really hurts my tiny little toes. Oh, I suppose it is not only the parts of me below my knees that get hurt, but from my waist down. AJ is convinced I will need a hip replacement when I am 40. LOL! Having kids really got my body all out of whack. My hips pop pout of place at the drop of a hat. I had to have physical therapy for months after having Avery, etc. My lower body does not get along with my upper quadrants.

Apparently my oldest child has this same issue. Whenever he goes outside or to a bounce house place I know that he will come back with a hurt something. He has hurt his ankles or feet numerous times in his short life. Most recently, his knees have been the problem. He has hurt his knee 3 times, I believe, in this past year. In fact, the last time was just a few weeks ago. He went outside to play football with the neighbor. Before he went out, I told him to put on his jeans with the hole in the knee because I KNEW he was going to fall down, and I did not want another pair of pants ruined. Of course he did not listen and went out in one of his good pairs. Argh. Within 15 minutes he was back in. He stepped in a hole and his knee bent backwards, which resulted in a week of hobbling and whiny-ness.

The favorite game in this house is Hide-n-seek. We play almost every night. Sunday night we were playing our toned down version, without running to a base, just plain old hiding and someone seeking. Nice, quiet game. :) We ended the game because it was bedtime. I was helping Avery find AJ's hiding spot, and Sam went downstairs. All of a sudden we heard this thump and a cry. Then this whimpering. Apparently, Sam had missed a stair and slipped, landing sideways on his foot. Then, that wasn't enough, and he went the rest of the way to the floor, again, landing sideways. He heard a loud pop and instant pain. He was crying, whimpering, and he sounded very strange, like a tiny newborn baby. Not like his normal "I am hurt" cry. We got down stairs and he couldn't move it at all. His teeth were also chattering. Um, not a good sign. Since he does this often, we just decided to wait it out and see what happened in the morning. I was a bit worried because he was acting way different than normal when he hurts his foot.

The next morning, he got up and crawled down the stairs. Bad sign, again. I tried to have him put his weight on it and limp. He couldn't He really tried, but it was really killing him. He stayed home from school. We kept it elevated and iced it all day. No better that night. Today, same thing. He can't put any weight on it at all. In his typical ankle episodes, after the first few hours he is able to at least hobble around a little bit. I could not decide whether to take him to the doctor. everyone kept telling me that I should. I knew that as soon as I did, it would not be broken and there would be nothing they could do. I called the doctor and after talking to them 3 different time, they decided they wanted to do x-rays. We drove all the way to Cool Springs for 8 x-rays. We weren't positive if it was his ankle or foot and since both are swollen, they wanted to check both. They couldn't see a break on the x-rays. The doctor said that a lot of times with these kind of injuries, you can't see the break until it starts healing, so she said if he is not doing better by Friday then come back and we will go from there. Ugh. He can't stand missing all of this school, and I have things to do. :)

Weak ankles=Stupid.