Many of us have heard the famous acronym for traumatic joint/muscle injuries:
I recently badly sprained my ankle and added a "T" to the mix for "Thanksgiving". Because of circumstances, the "T" was about all I could do.
You see, we were walking on one of the Old Roman Roads just outside the Colosseo in Rome when I hit a pothole and sprained my ankle worse than I can ever recall (it has become crystal clear that I can no longer recall things in the recent or distant past; it is likewise true that I do recall lots of things that never happened).
I sprained my left ankle walking to see a three-layer church building dating back about 1500 years. We were offered a walking tour of the nearby area by and Italian whose family predated the founding of Roma itself. We saw the prison which likely housed St. Paul in Roma. The next day we also had a meeting several metro stops away and tickets to see the Roman Forum. Then the CRU Summer Project students wanted to show us a park a few blocks away.
No RICE for me!! IT wasn't a tough decision. I would hobble from place to place, enduring the pain for the sake of seeing so much wonderful history and art. I knew I was Exercising, Not icing, Expanding (swelling) and Dangling (ENED); but as I said, the decision was easy.
Over the next days, we continued to walk miles a day, sometimes quite vertical. So, 10 days later, the ankle is still not mended. No surprise really. We violate the rules to our own detriment. The tyranny of the urgent indeed.
I disobeyed man's rehab guidelines to my own detriment. BUT, I'd much rather violate man's rules than G^d's rules. "Obedience is better than sacrifice" says Deut 28 and many other passages.
Now, if I can just reduce my own hypocrisy...!
- Rest
- Ice
- Compression
- Elevation.
I recently badly sprained my ankle and added a "T" to the mix for "Thanksgiving". Because of circumstances, the "T" was about all I could do.
You see, we were walking on one of the Old Roman Roads just outside the Colosseo in Rome when I hit a pothole and sprained my ankle worse than I can ever recall (it has become crystal clear that I can no longer recall things in the recent or distant past; it is likewise true that I do recall lots of things that never happened).
I sprained my left ankle walking to see a three-layer church building dating back about 1500 years. We were offered a walking tour of the nearby area by and Italian whose family predated the founding of Roma itself. We saw the prison which likely housed St. Paul in Roma. The next day we also had a meeting several metro stops away and tickets to see the Roman Forum. Then the CRU Summer Project students wanted to show us a park a few blocks away.
No RICE for me!! IT wasn't a tough decision. I would hobble from place to place, enduring the pain for the sake of seeing so much wonderful history and art. I knew I was Exercising, Not icing, Expanding (swelling) and Dangling (ENED); but as I said, the decision was easy.
Over the next days, we continued to walk miles a day, sometimes quite vertical. So, 10 days later, the ankle is still not mended. No surprise really. We violate the rules to our own detriment. The tyranny of the urgent indeed.
I disobeyed man's rehab guidelines to my own detriment. BUT, I'd much rather violate man's rules than G^d's rules. "Obedience is better than sacrifice" says Deut 28 and many other passages.
Now, if I can just reduce my own hypocrisy...!
Wow, how were even able to walk on it?! Looks terribly painful.
ReplyDeleteI didn't appreciate your description of it on the phone. Yikes.
Yep, it's been kinda rough, but in the famous words of Monty Python:
ReplyDelete[after slicing one of the Black Knight's arms off]
King Arthur: Now stand aside, worthy adversary.
Black Knight: 'Tis but a scratch.
King Arthur: A scratch? Your arm's off.
Black Knight: No it isn't.
King Arthur: What's that, then?
Black Knight: [after a pause] I've had worse.
Me: Yep, I've had worse.