down the rabbit hole

The thesis defense went great, though I has something of a rough start to my day…

I got up at 6 to get ready and avoid the crazy election day traffic situation, but overdid the early thing and ended up on campus about an hour and a half before I was scheduled to defend. I grabbed some coffee and roamed around a bit, took some campics of a beautiful flowering tree that I found on my ramble, and decided to spend some time relaxing in one of the little wooden gazebos by the lake near the building where my department is located. I used to spend hours there when I was an undergrad and had not been around there in a while, so I thought I would reminisce and have a nice alone moment.

I stepped into the gazebo and fell straight through a rotted floorboard.

I didn’t realize what had happened for a moment. I thought I took a bad step, until I realized that my right leg was sunk into the floor of the gazebo. Up to my thigh. And I only stopped myself from a worse fall by bracing myself with my left knee.

I pulled myself out and saw the hole I feel into. Later, I realized I should have taken a picture as evidence, but I was too shocked at the moment and worried about not being able to defend that I left. I reported the hole to public safety and got some neosporin at the clinic and was off to my defense.

I really should have taken a picture. My leg is in pain. Nothing terrible, but I wonder if I may have chipped a bone since it hurts a bit much when I rest on it for too long.

Of course, my friends all assume I live in fairyland, so whenever I mentioned that I fell down a hole they would ask, “Like Alice? Down a rabbit hole?”

Seriously. I got this from a number of people. No dearies, I really fell down a hole.

The bruise is going to be epic.

But the defense went great 🙂 my director even surprised me with a celebratory lunch. And since I work for the athletics department as well, I got ice from the training room to dull the pain later this evening.

do the twist

I twisted my ankle Friday evening after an afternoon of cupcake making merriment with Em… It wasn’t as terrible as the time I twisted it when I was a kid, but I felt the snap all the way up my leg and started bouncing and screaming for a bit. Honestly, I was surprised Em didn’t hear all the fuss, but those old Gables homes seem to be pretty soundproof. It looked fine, no puffiness or bruising, and it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t make it to my car and drive home. I thought, oh well, it’ll just be a bit sore, but it’ll be fine. 

Not so. Not so at all.

I put on a brace, and went out on Saturday only to find that my ankle had swollen to twice its size when I got home. So here I was panicking, wondering if I should bother going to the hospital, or risk it and hope the swelling went away. That’s when I decided to turn to trust ol’ WebMD. Yes, self-diagnosing is wrong – don’t do it kids – but I had a bad sprain before, and this did not feel as bad as that one felt. 

I followed WebMD’s recommendations for a sprain (not like there’s much you can do when it’s not broken). I did the ice pack, elevated my foot, yadda yadda. Today, it’s much better… but I feel like an old lady! I’m all… limp limp limp. My dad came over for a visit and we limped towards each other like a pair of old fogies (he has a bad hip). This whole process has made me very lazy, I am so not looking forward to having to get dressed and go to work in a couple of hours (as always, I ask myself, why are we the only office on campus that works on Sundays?!?). Now, am I feeling lazy and not up to anything because of the ankle, or am I using it as an excuse? So easy to use it as an excuse…