Our Alone Vacation. . .and Turf Toe

I mentioned that for part of our three week vacation this summer, my parents watched the girls for us so we could get away for a few days by ourselves! It was so great to know the kids were in good hands, and it was nice for us to be able to reconnect without constant interruptions. We went to the beach, relaxed and basically did whatever we wanted to!

One of the fun things we did was go parasailing! Neither one of us had ever been parasailing before, and I'm so glad we did it! We even got dipped into the water before being pulled in. :-)

We spent time walking on the beach, we rented some bikes and went for a ride along the boardwalk, we went shopping and we went out to eat. It was wonderful.

By the time we returned back to my parents house, it was obvious I had hurt my foot somehow. I couldn't imagine what I could have done to it, and all I could think was that something had happened while walking in the sand. After a few days I couldn't walk on it at all, and it hurt even when I wasn't using it. My big toe and the area around it swelled up so much I couldn't even get my sandals on. It was incredibly painful, yet embarrassing because it's my toe, for goodness sake!

Eventually I went to urgent care and they did an x-ray and said it wasn't broken (whew!). His diagnosis was "turf toe", so named because athletes often get it from playing on artificial turf. He said it was a sprain of the tendons and ligaments often caused by overextension of the big toe, which is consistent with walking on dry sand at the beach. He recommended I stay off that foot completely for 7-10 days. Say what?! I have four young kids! Easier said than done!

Thankfully, my sister had some crutches I could borrow, and while I was in the house, I tried to wheel around using my dad's wheelchair at least some of the time for the next couple of days. I found a video online telling how to tape the toe to immobilize it, and that helped some, too. I was also thankful that we were at my parents' house, so they could help out with the kids.

Admittedly, I wasn't great about staying off my feet completely, though. Life goes on and so must I. The swelling went down after a few nights of icing and heating it, but even now, over a month later, it is still sore if I am on my feet a lot (which is most days as a mom). And this brings me to another point. . .

I've been on the hunt for some new sandals, since my old ones were giving out anyway and certainly weren't supportive enough for my toe. Shopping for sandals at the end of summer is easier said than done. I thought it would be great since they'd all be on sale and I'd find something for a great deal! Wrong. I've been to countless stores, tried on probably 100 pairs, and I can't find anything that is supportive enough and doesn't hurt my feet. It reminded Ted of an old Steve Martin short story, called Cruel Shoes. One of the quotes from the story is, "Well, that's every shoe in the place. Unless, of course, you'd like to try the cruel shoes."

The moral of this story? Walking on the beach hand-in-hand with your husband, though healthy for your marriage, can be detrimental to the health of your toe, and to shoe shopping forevermore. :-(