If I could give you a piece of advice today, it would be not to try carrying four ninja turtle figures in one hand, a big folding Radio Flyer wagon in the other, and then walking down uneven, slippery stone steps. Because I did that two days ago, and I sprained my ankle.
I think it’s a mild sprain - I could walk on it after just a couple of minutes, though not without pain. It swelled up but wasn’t discolored at all. NSAIDs and acetminophen both help. Ice made it feel worse and walking on it feels better than trying to stay off of it.
I’ve had a more intense sprain before, where I couldn’t put any weight on it. The treatment for that was an air cast ankle stirrup splint, crutches, and over the counter pain reliever. I went to my local medical supply store yesterday and picked up an air cast. Walking on it immediately felt easier once I switched from a fabric ankle brace to the air cast. Crutches while keeping up with a three-year-old seemed like a bad idea if they weren’t totally necessary, and since I can put weight on it, I don’t think they are. My mom loaned me a trekking pole that is helping a lot. I’ve got ibuprofen and acetaminophen that I can take in alternating cycles so when I hit the mid-point of one’s effectiveness I take the other. My dad encouraged me to consider going to orthopedic urgent care, which I will if it seems to get worse instead of better, but right now it seems like the swelling is going down and the pain is decreasing, so I’m hoping that won’t be necessary.
I’m pretty relieved that I knew what to do here. I think knowing what to do and where to get supplies made this whole thing much less scary than it would otherwise be.
