Heads, shoulders, knees and ankles (knees and ankles).

Okay, so, some stuff happened.

Firstly, and this will come as an ENORMOUS shock to you if you were friends with me during my peak basketball playing years of about age 2.6-age 17. I sprained my ankle during my basketball game on Wednesday. It was about the middle of the second quarter, against the London Mets, who are presumed better than us simply because they are from London. It was your typical I went one way, my right foot went the other kind of scenario. However, due to the tranquilizing amount of ibuprofen I regularly take before any athletic competition that requires me to be doing anything besides sitting on a bicycle or in a boat, I had successful masked (any) pain (or feeling) in my entire body and returned to play for the entire second half. We lost by 8. I iced my ankle not once but TWICE after the game (and before the girls basketball team met the boys basketball team at Vinnie's, the illustrious members only men only varsity club that made me want to burn my bra upon entry), and assumed I was in the clear. And it is important to be stated that ice is nearing delicacy status in this country it is so hard to come by. Well, I wasn't in the clear. By the time I got home I literally couldn't walk, and I thought my lovely normal ankle had been switched with Kate Gosselin's 9 months pregnant with 6 kids gross CANKLE. The next morning, after half crawling/half hopping to the bathroom, I decided go to the doctor.

Ah, the National Healthcare Service (NHS), how I have long awaited our first date. To be honest, it wasn't all that is was cracked up to be. Try this on for size, I had to go to the doctors office first to see my "GP" because apparently there's been some national announcement to do that. But it was 10am, I was on crutches that stop at your elbows and in pain, and the first available appointment was at 1pm. So, partially unwilling to wait and partially wanting to go to an Emergency Room visit that I (or my parents) will not have to pay for, decided to take a cab to the A&E (Accidents and Emergency) at the Hospital. I was dropped off at "minor injuries" where I gave my name (no identification needed) my address at the university, and my phone number. Then I sat for about a half an hour until a nurse called my name to give me some ibuprofen and ask what had happened. Then about an hour after that I was taken to get an XRay. Then about 45minutes after that I was seen by a nurse practitioner who told me my ankle wasn't broken (which I knew) I had a very bad sprain, and that I should "take it easy" for a couple days and stay on the couch or in my bed until the weekend. The experiences ended up being about 2.75 hours in total. The last time I was a Newton Wellesley hospital for a sports related injury I believe was a dislocated finger, I'm pretty sure we got out of there in about 2.85 hours. I'm not going to use this venue to make some bold healthcare and political statements, but .10 of an hour is 6 minutes, I won't even make you do the math.

Anyhow, I spent the rest of Thursday and all of Friday in bed, and was delivered food and movies by many friends here. I was visited by my scout (the person who comes and vacuums my room once a week and takes out my trash every day) who changed my sheets, the accommodations manager, who asked if I wanted to be moved to another floor, the nurse (twice) with ankle wraps and more pain medication, and my lovely Australian tutor Terry, who told me that he had broken his leg one week before his big move from Cambridge to Oxford (typical), and that I should not worry about anything until I am mobile again. It is now Sunday and I am up and walking and pretty much recovered, although I do get to go see an NHS physiotherapist (physical therapist) this week.

That's all for now because I need to get back to all of this reading, but I will provide some more updates soon.



TRICK OR TREAT (I'm in the library writing an essay, but lots of people on my floor are heading to a club in some very standard Halloween costumes (cat, mouse, ghost, witch) for a night of spooky fun.)