INJURIES SUSTAINED

Broken Toe # 2, or:
How in the epic battle of "Car Door vs. Biker vs. Moving Traffic" my foot got crushed in an SUV
(written about a week after the event)

I was about 4 blocks from the church where Ancora rehearses. I was coming up to a stoplight, riding between the cars at the red light and the parked cars on the left side of the street.  Someone opened a car door right in front of me just as the light turned green.  I swerved to hit the car door, but it caught my back tire, and I hit the SUV that was just starting to move with traffic with my upper body. As I fell, somehow I ended up getting my foot underneath the rear tire of the SUV, which rolled over most of my foot and then STOPPED right on top of it (now that they finally realized there was a biker crashing into them).  So I banged the side of the car and yelled until they rolled backwards so I could get my foot free (it was probably only 5 seconds or so).

Lots of people stopped to help me and get me off the road.  I think the person driving the SUV checked to see if I was okay, then left (no, i didn't get their information, I'm not very savvy in situations like this where my nerves take over and I'm just trying not to completely break down) - it wasn't quite a hit and run, but they did take off very quickly and they didn't offer me their information, which is mostly upsetting because there were a bunch of kids in the backseat and think that's a pretty shitty example to set, in retrospect.  I know that the person who opened the door was one of the people that waited to make sure I was okay and if i wanted to call the cops, even though I don't remember which one he was.  But I could stand up and put weight and pressure on my foot still, so I legit thought that I was okay and made everyone leave me alone except for one guy who insisted on walking my bike and me to the church.  I was still thinking that my foot was bruised for sure, but probably fine.  (Hahaha, oh adrenaline, you sneaky chemical.)

Once I was in the bathroom at the church having a little private freakout-decompression I finally got a look at my foot, and realized that it the very least my toe was broken, as it really shouldn't stick way out from the rest of my foot like it was doing.  I got it cleaned up a bit and wrapped the bandage I found in the first-aid kit around it, then came up and asked for a ride home (THANK YOU SARAH!  Who also cleaned it up and put a better bandage on it for me).

This morning, my friend Sheila tooke me to the doctor and got X-rays and one of those big plastic boots. Luckily, it's just a broken pinky toe.  Unfortunately, it's a VERY broken pinky toe, up on the bone that's more inside my foot, and it's a "displaced fracture" - it's really in two different pieces and they're not right next to each other anymore. I'll see a specialist on Tuesday, and they'll tell me more about how to heal it. There's a small chance it may need surgery, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that that is not the case.

Mostly it just kind of hurts (although so far ibuprofen has been able to handle the pain, although I have stronger pills if I need them), and it means I'll be pretty immobile for a while.  I really appreciate how concerned and generous everyone has been - I have pretty awesome friends.  :)