Last week, I trucked it to Maseru to have most of what I had to say completely ignored by the medical staff and to be told that I needed an x-ray of my foot at the hospital. They had sent them to Bloemfontein, so the results would take a few days. I called yesterday to be told that the radiologist was on vacation. Great. But then later that day, the PC doctor called me and told me, in a distinctive Eastern European accent, that the x-ray showed no fractures. Duh. I knew that. I told everyone it was my ligaments and not my bones. I knew exactly what was wrong with my foot one day one and no one listened to me. I asked the doc how I should proceed- keep wrapping it, perhaps? “Wow, what a good idea,” he replied (he didn’t actually say that).“Yes, wrap it up and keep taking ibuprofen and elevating it at night.” Ok…but that’s for swelling. It’s far from being swollen any more. And, as far as the wrapping my foot with the ace bandage, that’s not even a good idea. It’s not strong enough (too stretchy) to provide any support, but if I stretch it tight enough to do anything, it’s just elastic enough to make my entire foot hurt and turn my toes blue. I’ve been wrapping it in the cloth athletic tape I brought from home because the paper tape in the medical kit is worthless. If I didn’t know the basics of taping injuries (thank you once again, gymnastics, for many a life lesson), simple anatomy, common-sense first aid skills, or god forbid how to google things, I’d be absolutely screwed to be at the mercy of this medical office. The internet (not any doctor that I saw) tells me that I have a midfoot sprain with one or more of my plantar ligaments, and that the treatment is to keep off of it as much as possible for about 6 weeks, wrap it in tape in a certain way, and wear stiff shoes to avoid stretching the ligaments farther than necessary so that they can repair themselves. This is just adding to my feeling that the only person I can really rely on is myself. Ugh. End of rant.
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