Anniversary of a Broken Foot

hiking in Shenandoah NP with the kiddos

It's now been a bit more than a year since I broke my foot.

It hasn't bothered me in months, though every now and then it'll swell up a bit where the broken bone was (it took months for the swelling to go down in that spot after I broke it).

There's no pain, though if I twist and turn my foot at just the right angle I can feel a bit of stiffness still. It's not a natural twist and turn though, so it's not like it's something that happens every day ;)

As disruptive as it was to break my foot, I am grateful I did. I think I've mentioned that before, but it is the truth.

If I hadn't broken it, I really don't think I would have been diagnosed with narcolepsy as easily as I was.

That's relative of course, since the process still took a couple months and I've actually had it since my mission, same as celiac disease. But because my schedule changed so drastically and I was still so tired all the time, it was so much easier for the doc to acknowledge that yes, something is actually wrong, rather than just brushing it off as I'm a super busy mom who never gets enough sleep (which is true, but doesn't address the root of the matter).

So yes, I'm glad I broke my foot a year ago.

I'm still working on getting back on a consistent running schedule, but that's more the narcolepsy's fault than my foot. My energy levels changed so much last summer, just before the Great Smoky Mountains Half (which is why I finally talked to my doctor about it), and I'm still figuring out what I can do on an ongoing basis without burning out. It's taken a lot longer than I thought to find my new baseline, but I'm getting there.

It's interesting what children remember. Ocean knows I broke my foot, but he talks more about my knee. In recent months when we've talked about my broken foot he's commented several times that I broke my knee. I didn't, but it was gouged and bloody, so apparently it made an impression on him. The scars have finally faded, but they'll always be a reminder of this experience.