A Frustrating Injury

There are two rules that we know well. The first is that we should take our shoes off before crossing a stream, to avoid getting our shoes wet. The second rule is never to cross a stream barefoot because you need to protect your feet.

Last week I crossed a stream and I broke the second rule of stream crossing. I crossed barefoot. I eventually slipped and smashed my toes into a stone or two which got me to yell in pain, and stumble.

I thought I was okay, and then I thought I might have really hurt myself, and then we did several kilometres of walking and I felt okay. I never felt like fainting or sleeping. I did feel pain when I pushed on the affected toe.

I thought “well if I could walk up and down the scree slope I am probably okay”. I drove home.

For the next two or three days, because of rain, I didn’t bother to go for my daily walk, to give my foot time to recover. By Thursday I was feeling quite good so I went for a walk like an idiot and that’s when it started to feel pain again. Yesterday morning it hurt when I got out of bed but not when I was walking around.

I went for the afternoon walk and that’s when I could feel discomfort. It got so bad that I had a very short walk by my standards before walking home. In the evening I could barely walk.

It’s a frustrating injury because I believed that I had recovered so I began doing normal things again and that’s when it started to hurt again. I sleep normally so that’s why I believe it is not broken.

When I have stubbed toes in the past I have felt pain for a few days so the sensation is not new to me. What is new to me is the frustration of knowing that tomorrow I should not go to do a Via Ferrata for two reasons. The first is that if I feel fine at first, I may feel pain half way up, but most certainly I will feel pain on the way down.

If I had not felt better from Monday to Wednesday I would have already been to a doctor, or at least a pharmacist, but because it did improve, that is what has me in limbo now.

And Finally

I was wearing trail glove 7 on this hike, and I took them off the cross the river but now I regret doing that. Trailgloves are fine, when wet, so I could easily have cross the river in them, and allowed them to dry naturally. Trail gloves are light and very easy to dry.

I would have slipped anyway, but at least my toes would have been shielded. That’s what I get for walking barefoot. I knew better.

The lesson I learned is that if you go to a river or stream, and you need to cross, it makes sense to keep your shoes on. It takes a day or two for shoes to dry. An injured foot takes longer than that.