Prior to our holiday travels to Texas to end 2022, I totally thought I would do a little travel blog of our adventure. Then the actual trip happened and I did not have the capacity to pull that off on top of all the other things, in part because of a bum ankle (I know; doesn’t keep you from typing, but troublesome and time-consuming all the same). I mention that now because, had I been able to keep that travel blog, you’d already know about the ankle and how I hurt it the night before we left (Christmas Eve Eve) and was in a brace the whole time we were there and for a week and a half after we got home, too. I didn’t exactly twist it or roll it but I seemed to sprain it while packing and had a mighty mad tendon in my left ankle as a result.

Then, last week, I would have told you things were feeling better and that maybe all was on the road to being well because that was also seemed to be true. At least until Saturday night when I got another zinger of pain that told me, nope; not OK. And since that was all I knew, I decided it was time to seek out a professional opinion because treating ankles is definitely not in my wheelhouse.

Even though it was my idea to go, at first I thought it was going to be totally pointless, that the doctor would tell me that I just needed to be patient (also not in my wheelhouse) and give it more time. Except then that is not at all what the doctor told me. He said that I have a torn ligament in my left ankle and to avoid ending up with an arthritic ankle (yikes; I am only 40!), surgery to repair it is the best path forward.

You should have seen my face after that appointment. Total shock I tell you. But I guess I am glad I didn’t just brush it off as no big deal just because I couldn’t point to an exact moment of injury. This is probably built up from years of various activity, but the good news is, I’ll be able to return to yoga and walking just like normal once I get through this and my recovery period which will take at least four weeks.

I have about a month before the procedure which I guess gives me plenty of time to wrap my brain around this latest development and prepare the family, house, and our freezer for me being sort of out of commission for a bit in late Feb/early March. But I’m glad to know what is going on now and to have answers about what can and should be done to fix it. There’s great comfort in that alone. It is also reassuring to know that once I get through this, I’ll be back to myself and my normal activities, just like before because my goodness, this ankle and I have many, many miles to go and we want that journey to be as peaceful and pain-free as possible!