Errr

Last night, upon the urging of my mother and climbing friends, I zipped over to Midstate Medical Center to get x-rays of my still swollen oddly uncomfortable foot.

For the last week or so it’s felt like I’ve had a rock in my shoe – yet… there is no rock. (I’m pretty sure this is called Phantom Rock Syndrome though the symptoms usually manifest themselves in more blatant ways)

Come 10:30pm last night I moseyed over to the ER. I gotta give it to Midstate Medical, that is one classy hospital. It’s comfortable, clean, open, and bright – but not blindingly so. I felt at ease throughout my three hour visit.

After x-rays, Julie the physician’s assistant came in to look at my foot.

“Hi Michael! I hear you hurt your foot.” She sounded genuinely concerned. My foot immediately felt better. Julie then apologized for the long wait, listened to me describe my symptoms, and took a look at the x-rays.

“The good news is that you don’t have a break or a fracture. In fact, you have beautiful foot bones”

Whoa! Thanks for making me drink my milk Mom D. Nothing impresses the ER girls more than attractive Metatarsus.

“You still have heavy swelling and you might have some blood in your joints which is never pleasant.”

She tenderly wrapped my foot, recommended some simple treatments to try, and provided the name of a foot doctor to contact if I continue to have pain over the next few days. This might be a little tricky since I’ll be traveling all over the place, but we’ll figure it out.

Either way, three cheers for no breakage!

Glory. Pain.

Today I present to you two completely unrelated pictures.

Part One.

To celebrate Shaun’s return after 5 weeks in Brazil, we had a fairly large gathering at the House of Rock. There were grilled pizzas, delicious broccoli slaw, tasty salad, beverages galore, and rock band. Today’s first picture is of Shaun L. during his highly emotive rendition of Lady Gaga’s Poker face.

That's a poker face right there.

Look at that passion!!

Part Two.

Today’s second picture is of my mangled toe courtesy of Sijeh Sue’s decidedly unforgiving elbow. During sparring class on Tuesday I approached Sijeh Sue throwing a mediocre roundhouse kick at her midsection. I believe at that very moment she may have decided to step in with a hook. Seeing my kick approaching she quickly dropped her elbow in defense. BANG.

Bruise
One of these things is not like the others.

Her elbow was fine. Thankfully, the purple on my toe has faded a bit. In a few weeks I’ll be having my black belt test, so hopefully the toe will have fully healed by then. I’m especially nervous because it looks like I’ll be traveling for the week and a half leading up to the test. Gah!

This stresses me out horribly.

The Martial Arts Version of a Coffee Cup

Ring ring!

Mike D: “Hello, this is Mike D.”
Caller: “Hi, did you loose a sword?”
Mike D: “uh… geeze… Maybe? Where’d you find it?”
Caller: “I found it on Newfield St. in Middletown. It had your name and phone number on it”
Mike D: “oh no! I must have left it on my car’s roof after my martial arts class last night.”
Caller: “well, I think a car or two may have driven over it, but I have it now.”

Ugh so stupid of me! How Ninja-ly embarrassing!

Special thanks to Lenny from Middletown for finding my sword.