in all my 28 years i have only had one broken bone. i was a precocious three year old trying to open a window when said window shut on my thumb. i was in a cast up to my armpit for two months. to this day i still cannot bend my thumb all the way.

this past wednesday i was feeling quite ill with a cold and headed downstairs to grab a glass of juice when my pinkie toe on my left foot decided it was absolutely not going to go where i was. a coup was staged and my little pinkie toe caught on the carpet and bent all the way backwards. the worst sound in the world is that of a bone breaking in half. at first i thought i just jammed it but 30 minutes proved something was amiss. i knew very well that there was nothing i could do…they just don’t make tiny casts, but i was deadset on going to the doctor just to prove that it was broken. after six x-rays the doctor came in and proved that i was right…it was broken. the doctor went ahead and gave me pain meds and checked the wheezing and coughing from the cold. hey, when it rains it pours.

thursday i stayed home to rest up in hopes that i could return to work on friday. i even picked up a pair of crutches from the local pharmacy as walking further than my couch to the kitchen was quite painful. on friday i returned to work maneuvering the crutches like crazed metal appendages. it seemed that using the crutches were much more of a pain than the actual broken bone. i could’nt take my pain meds while at work because they make me so sleepy so i tried to tough it out by taking eight ibuprofens to no avail. around 1:00 p.m. my toe had had enough and was beginning to talk my foot into joining the pain game so i went home.

for the past three days my toe has taken on the image of a grape. today it is a little better. not nearly as swollen. they don’t call me “grace” for nothing.

not so much a grape as it is a raisin

the underside of the evil pinkie toe

the bulge in the toe is due to swelling around the broken joint