As most of you know, 5 weeks ago I had just finished coffee with a friend and was 1.4 miles into my morning run when I turned my foot and 'snap!', I broke my fifth metatarsal.
It was a beautiful, warm sunny morning and I was just warming up. I don't really think there was anything in the path that caused my foot to turn, just a quick unfortunate step the wrong way. I hobbled up the the bus stop (after a quick scan at the organic shop for something I needed) and took the buses home. When I got off the bus in Limpertsberg, I was pretty worried about how bad the "sprain" must be, but managed to get home to ice and elevate. After 45 mins, I tried to stand up and tears came flooding! I was less upset about the pain, but the fact that this was a serious injury and I had no idea how I could pick up kids from school in 3 hours.
Jeremy was at a conference in Munich where he was so quarantined that we had barely said hello each morning. He would not be able to leave for another 36 hours, so I needed to figure this out! I tried to gently put my foot down and started crying again. I decided that I had to call him. He was sweet enough to know I wouldn't call if it wasn't an emergency. He booked the next flight home and my sweet friend, Jeannie, took me to the hospital.
Jeannie called her Doctors office and they recommended a hospital. Upon arrival, we were not amused (at the time) to find out that while we went to the "Urgences", they were not an Emergency room today. Huh? But we were at an emergency room--right? Well, apparently Luxembourg has a unique system of rotating which hospital is considered on-call for emergencies. You have to call the emergency line in order to know that information. Wow. Maybe a tip the doctors office should have given??
The clinic wasn't busy, so they were happy to see me and order an X-ray...no guarantee of a doctor, but we proceeded. It was an obvious break on the X-ray and the head traumatologist orthopedic surgeon came to see me. The German, no non-sense, doctor explained that the distance of separation of the bones necessitated surgery to screw it into place and we would do that on Monday. I would not bear any weight on this foot for 6 weeks. He also assured me I chose the best Hospital in Luxembourg with the finest doctors. Later, I would form my own opinion on the subject.
Still not thinking much about my foot, but completely freaking out about how life will change for the next 6 weeks... who will bring kids to school, cook, help clean the house, and the worst part--what on earth will I do?
I'm so thankful to have so many neighbors and friends who called daily to see how they could help and if they could take kids to the park, etc. Amalia immediately started calling people to find me some help! By Sunday, we had hired a sweet gal who came 2 days a week to help with house keeping and to take the boys out to ride bikes and play.
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