Before I hear "you're not supposed to move during earthquakes!", let me give some background:
- I've never gotten up during an earthquake before. I'm used to them. I know doorways are of little help, and that the floor is often the best place to be (as long as you're in a structurally-sound building of course)
- This was the first "big" earthquake we've had in this house - and that we've been home for.
- It was 1:30 a.m. Our bedroom is above our garage, and we have a large ceiling fan over our bed. Finally, our house is built into a hill.
- This quake was super long (as far as earthquakes go).
I woke up around 1:30 a.m. to the sound of freight train in my bedroom, and all our furniture and knick knacks rattling. And to boot, my husband was still asleep! After pushing him awake, we waited to see if it would stop. It didn't. At that point, the hubby decided we should at least get down to the main floor, "just in case".
So I grabbed my phone (of course), and my slippers (just in case), and we ran to the stairs. (By the way, the only objects that fell in our house were the picture frames in our room - and that was from us running past them.) I was second down the stairs and the sound of the earthquake became even louder as we got down the stairs. Hubby still tells people he remembers seeing the light fixture in the dining room swinging "cartoon-style". I do too, but what I remember more was thinking "there's one more stair, move your feet one more time". But alas, it was 1:30 a.m. My right foot did not cooperate and I landed toes over foot on top of my right foot/ankle on the dining room floor.
At this point, hubby turned around and asked me why I was on the floor... I thought I had twisted my ankle, so I asked for his help to hobble to the kitchen island and sat down on a chair. After a couple of seconds in the chair, I realized my foot hurt so bad I wanted to vomit. So hubby had to help me down a few more stairs to the nearest toilet in case I puked. Thankfully I didn't, but we are thinking I passed out or something while I waited for the pain to (somewhat) subside. After some splashes of water and a lot of just sitting and saying "I'm okay", I realized that I was awfully tired, yet still in pain, and wanted to go back to bed.
So, with hubby's help, I hobbled back up a flight and a half of stairs and went back to bed. A few hours later I woke up to visit the bathroom and thought "Dang, my foot still hurts. I should look at it." I don't think hubby ever fell asleep after the quake as he was awake at this point and we decided to look at my foot. THIS is what we saw.
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| A few hours after the fall - you can even see that I cut a few of my toes when I landed |
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| A few hours after the fall |
After sleeping off and on, and taking some ibu profen, I finally decided to go to an urgent care (it was a Sunday after all) - at 5 p.m. They took some x-rays, and told me I had likely broken a couple of toes and tore the ligaments and tendons in the upper right portion of my foot. I went home on crutches that night with a very puffy foot.
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| The evening after the earthquake (before going to the urgent care) |
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| The evening after the earthquake (before going to the urgent care) |
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| I came home from the urgent care with crutches |
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| Lots of ice and elevation |
Throughout the next two weeks I worked from home (with one attempt at working from home mid-week, I learned my lesson that it was too soon), with crutches to assist me around the house - and all our stairs.
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| A few days later |
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| Treats from my sister who came to visit while I was stuck at home for days |
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| Apparently when I fell, I wrapped my arm around the banister. I didn't even notice this bruise until days later. |
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| One week after the earthquake |
The swelling finally decreased enough to put a very loose tennis shoe on after two weeks, and I was able to go back to work with shoes on both feet, yet still on crutches.
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| Two weeks after the earthquake |
After one month, I went crutches (just in time for a vacation to Texas), but the swelling was still so much that I could only fit into the loosest of shoes that I owned.
Finally, four months after the earthquake I decided to go see a podiatrist since I was missing wearing my other shoes (and I still kept my foot elevated at work and home). This wonderful woman did some quick x-rays, and a lot of pushing and prodding my poor foot and told me that I when I fell I had jammed my pinkie toe into the floor, causing my right fifth metatarsal to impact down, creating a gap and impacting the metatarsal itself! Her concern was that if the metatarsal continues to impact that I will put pressure (or cut off) the artery in the area, and cut off the blood flow to the bone, killing it - which would then require me to have surgery! So, now I'm stuck in stiff-soled shoes and compression socks for the next two months and I cannot go barefoot (uh, hello? it's summer time!) during that time either.
Moral of the story: Don't go down a flight of stairs during an earthquake....
