The Toe

The broken toe, that is. Ugh, yes, I have a broken toe: distal metatarsal on the third toe of my right foot. I broke it exactly two weeks before classes. No, there's no interesting story. I'd like to say that it was run over after I grabbed a child out of the way of an out-of-control bus. Like something out of the movie Speed. But no. The real story is, well, pretty dumb.

I came home, took off my shoes, and took a step. Unfortunately, I happened to step with my full weight onto a sharp little rock. This came as a surprise to me, along with the intense pain it caused. I reacted by freaking out and sort-of jumping off the rock and sort-of kicking my leg out. No problem, except that there was a door frame occupying the space where my leg kicked out, and my foot smashed into it. The worst part of all this--aside from my broken toe--is that there was no damage at all to the door frame. C'mon, at least a crack? No?

(What was a rock doing in the house? My guess is that it was leftover gravel that was on the roads from last winter. The city does a lousy job of cleaning it all up in the spring in my neighbourhood, and there are piles of sand and gravel everywhere. Rocks get stuck in the bottom of running shoes and fall out onto the floor of the house. I found the rock and kept it as a "souvenir" but then my wife threw it away. It was pretty big. For a little rock.)

The X-ray showed it was broken, so I was off to the medical supply store to get my strappy boot. It's actually pretty comfortable. I may continue to wear it even after my toe heals.

The worst part was not the pain, but knowing that classes started in two weeks. That's not enough time to heal up. I'd have to hobble around campus. Even worse, one of my classes was in the Fine Arts Building--1 kilometre from my office, door-to-door. Ugh. I timed it: it took me 25 minutes to limp there, and another 25 to shuffle back.

(Yeah, Google Maps says 850 m from building-to-building, but my Fitbit says 1.0 km door-to-door.)

The prognosis is 4 to 6 weeks for recovery. It's already been 4 weeks, and I am starting to feel better. I know this because the other day, on the way to that faraway class, I actually passed a couple of bros in HUB Mall. Sure, they were wrapped up in their conversation, but this was the first time I passed another human being in a month!

I'm actually supposed to be doing better than this, but my medical advice was to "stay off your feet." Ha! As if. Tell that to the people in Exams and Timetabling who assigned me a classroom on the opposite side of campus. Here's a typical result from my Fitbit:

(14,641 steps is not exactly "staying off my feet.")

Being temporarily disabled, however, has given me perspective on what mobility challenged people face every day. There are a lot of stairs on campus. North Campus is pretty spread out. And even just psychology courses are scheduled in buildings all across campus. It's really opened my eyes.

So if you see someone who has a mobility aid, or is just hobbling along maybe hold the door open for them. Some people may not want--or need--any help. But a limping guy in a fashionable boot would appreciate it.

Why aren't you studying?

(P.S. In a weird twist, I'm not teaching in FAB anymore. But that's another post...)