Basketball Injury

so its been like 4 yrs since i've twisted my ankle. but just two weeks ago i was playing at a church, 3 on 3 at a half court sized gym that pretends to be full size. wasnt very competitive and so i wasnt driving like i normally do, just shooting jumpers. but the very last game, for some stupid reason, i decide to take this guy off the dribble and sure enough, end up stepping on some dude's foot as i go up for a layup. didnt even get off the ground, just stepped on it on my way up. but i was going full speed and all my weight was shifted to that foot as i prepared for takeoff (yes, some people have described my going into flight for a layup as a jet taking off- beautiful yet catastrophic). as soon as it happened tho i knew it was bad. i've twisted my ankle many-a-times before and its never hurt that much. right when i did it i simply hopped right out the door to sit down on the couch in the lobby for the next 10 minutes. i almost felt a little nauseous. meanwhile it totally swelled up to like twice the size my foot normally is. the next couple days it got all bruised and nasty looking. even my toes turned purple!

the next day i found some crutches in our house, so i decided to employ their services as i went to campus for classes. problem was they were about 3 inches too short, so all my weight was on my arms. after 2 blocks i was dying! how the heck do people use those things? and never before had i noticed people on crutches on campus, but for some reason that day i saw at least 4 people using 'em. we'd walk by each other and give a little nod, as if we belonged to some exclusive club and therefore had an immediate connection. it kinda felt like when your driving a motorcycle and you wave at other bikers. i dont know why people do that, but i like it. makes you feel cool, like they got your back or something. anyways, i guess i kinda had that feeling with my fellow gimps on crutches.

so today i decided to go in and check it out since it still feels rather tight and stiff. he checks it out and says i have a partially torn cfl, or calcaneofibular ligament. i posted a picture so you know what i'm talking about and not think i'm just making up some random word to make it sound cool.

he said to rehab it and give it another month to see how it feels. he also said to wear a brace to stabilize it in the meantime. so i'll be the only moron wearing an ankle brace while NOT playing any sports. i can hear it now:

"watch out for the stairs buddy, wouldnt want ya to slip and twist an ankle!"

"dont be jumping around on the way to your next class, you dont want to come down on someone's foot!"

"hey nice brace man, that looks really cool. should i wear one just for fun too?"

but if thats what it takes to get back to my d-wade type of game, then so be it. the doc even said as i'm leaving, "try and stay away from the 360 dunks for awhile." i know he was being sarcastic, but i'm not. even with only one good foot i can still throw down a mean 360 windmill!

one thing he did say that bothered me is that sometimes the swelling in the ankle wont go away. ever. as in it'll be there the rest of my life. that sucks! i dont want a fat ankle till i die. its still a little swollen, but i'm hoping it goes down. if not i might have to buy a size 11 shoe for my left foot and a size 12 for my right from now on!

but here's what it looks like: (notice the discolored toes in the second picture. very attractive when i wear flip-flops)