I feel like I’m explaining this a lot, so I’ll put it all in one place.

I was commuting home on the Metro. I was at the Gallery Place/Chinatown station where the escalator is broken. So there’s just one, turned into stairs, and people are going up one side and down the other. It’s crowded and I was angled to the side trying not to hit anyone going the other way. Near the bottom, the stairs were irregular heights (since it’s an escalator, not stairs really) and I lost my balance and fell.

It happened really fast and all I remember is saying “I’m OK!” before I hit the ground. Also, somebody moving out of the way so I didn’t fall on them. And a guy going up the escalator saying “Ooooooohhhhhh shit.”

I was embarrassed so I hurried away as quickly as I could, but noticed my foot wasn’t cooperating. I managed to get a seat on the metro, but an older woman was glaring at me (I think she expected me to give up my seat.) Miraculously, my boyfriend John was on the same car so I was able to say, “John! I hurt my foot!” and kind of explain it.

I iced it and elevated it all evening. But in the middle of the night, when I got up to use the bathroom, I realized it was a lot worse. And really swollen. So on Friday, I went to the doctor. Well, John took me. Since it’s my right foot, I can’t drive!

Now the doctor was really stumped — I couldn’t get an appointment with an ankle specialist so I saw a sports medicine doctor. He said I either had a bad break or an extra bone in my foot, and after two X-rays, prescribed an MRI. He also gave me an air-cast and crutches and forbid me to put any pressure on it until we knew what was up.

We stopped by the apartment to pick some stuff up, but when it was time to drive to the MRI, my car wouldn’t start! Luckily, some friendly maintenance men jumped it for me… but told me the battery was dead and it wouldn’t start until I got it replaced. So we detoured at an auto-parts store on the way.

The MRI went smoothly, but I couldn’t get an appointment with a foot specialist to interpret it until today. The specialist said I have a sprained ankle and the ridiculous swelling and pain are from an extra bone in my foot, which is raised where the tendon is swollen. He told me I can walk in my air-cast — no crutches needed, but I am getting a second opinion tomorrow, so it might be back to the crutches.

I learned that having an extra bone in one or both feet is actually pretty common! The foot I have it in is almost a half size larger than my other foot, so I guess I should have seen that coming.

Of course, I might find out tomorrow that I actually have a broken bone and need surgery or something, so it’s not celebrating time yet.