If you’re at all squeamish, you may want to skip this post.

Throughout my life, I’ve had my fair share of injuries (perhaps more than my share). Everything from concussions to sprains to broken bones to pinches nerves. You name it, I’ve probably experienced it. The one exception was a dislocation…until Friday past.

Somehow, whilst following Logan into the bathroom, I managed to catch the little toe on my left foot on the door jam and dislocate it. Not just a dislocation but also tear the ligament that supports the toe, since it got hyper-extended so much. Not only was I wearing socks throughout this ordeal, but I didn’t even realize I was walking that close to the wall! Perhaps I wasn’t fully awake, or maybe it was because I wasn’t yet wearing my glasses. Needless to say, pain was instant and when I was trying to figure out if it was broken, stubbed or dislocated, I managed to knock it off to the side again and really freak out Logan. Whoops! Magically, I remained calm and didn’t swear at all! I won’t post any pictures of my dislocated toe, it wasn’t that exciting to look at anyway. It didn’t stick straight out to the side, just looked twisted.

Did I mention this happened bright and early on the first day of my four-day-weekend? I really need to learn how to better enjoy a long weekend!

Back to the toe, Kaiser, couldn’t get me in until late Friday afternoon, so I got to hobble around to the vet, and the DMV before getting medical attention beyond my own first aid treatment. Thankfully, the toe popped back in on its own (“beautifully” according to my doctor), about an hour after the incident. I’m glad I didn’t have to sit through someone else wrangling it back into place. I have a high pain tolerance but I’m not a masochist!

The lovely people at Kaiser also fitted me with what I called the “fashionable flipper”. It’s a post-op shoe I get to wear for two weeks to ensure the ligament heals and my toe doesn’t get banged around.

Hard to tell, but the “flipper” sticks out about three inches past the end of my toes. It provides quite the calf workout as my leg has to compensate for the lack of foot flex. Thankfully, my job is allowing me to continue to work with this apparatus, even though my injury is not work-related.

And in case you were wondering, I would chose the pain from a dislocated joint over a migraine.