On Thursday I managed to sprain my ankle with some severity (Class II, most likely) while playing softball. I slid into third base, but did so too late so I hit the bag while still going pretty fast. I must have rolled my ankle right underneath me.

At the time it wasn’t very painful. I managed to limp off the field without any problems, but soon realized that my ankle felt funny… swollen (but not painful). I layed on the ground, but refused an initial offer for ice. After another minute, my ankle started swelling and was soon quite large—maybe the size of a softball.

Intramural sports had already dispensed their only ice bag for the evening, so Rachelle had to ride over to McDonald’s to get some ice for me. Stepnick graciously drove me home.

I spent Thursday night in the dorms, but quickly realized that I’d have a much better time this weekend at home with a couch and a TV to watch. My mom picked me up Friday morning, and I have been home since.

My ankle has made considerable progress in the last 48 hours. I can now walk on the ankle in a sort of unusual fashion. It doesn’t feel comfortable enough to really use very much yet. But it can load bear without any pain… a very good sign.

I should be back and walking in another day or two. Latin dance on Tuesday might be a little crazy, I might have to sit this week out.

All in all, I feel lucky that it wasn’t anything more severe. It did ruin a lot of my weekend, including missing the Gopher Spring Football Game at the Metrodome and the Drum Major Tryouts this afternoon.

I’ll post a few pictures of the injury when I get back to school tomorrow and have access to my camera again.

Today I had the last 2 moles removed from my head. The procedure went quickly (30 minutes) and without any incidents. Jane Nemecek, MD, my former neighbor, performed the operation. She was the one who removed 2 moles and 1 cyst from my head last winter. I’ve got nothing but great things to say about Jane. She is meticulous and thorough — making sure that every last detail is perfect (which is why I probably still have hair around the areas where she removed the moles previously).

The mole on the left side of my head was pretty small, but noticeable as a red/brown bump on the side of my head. It wasn’t noticable except for a week or two after I got my hair cut. Of course, I’ll be glad to have it gone. The other mole was on the right rear side of my head. It was a little bit bigger (but still puny in comparison to the ones removed last time).

I’ve got an appointment to have the outermost stitches removed next week. If recovery goes anything like last time, it’ll take a week or two to be 100% again, but I should be able to function normally for the most part tomorrow or at worst the day after. I’ll just have to avoid strenuous activity for the next few days (to keep my blood pressure down so I don’t hurt any of the sutures).

I had originally intended to write this on Tuesday—one week after I had my braces put on. But alas I’ve been too busy.

Solid food. It’s amazing how much we take it for granted, but only when you can’t eat a piece of bread do you recognize it’s value. My diet has consisted mostly of food that I could ‘chew’ with my mouth:

• Breakfast
  • Eggs
• French Toast (the frozen kind you cook in the microwave — avoid the borders as they are still too tough to chew)
• Lunch/Dinner
• Soup
• Chili

• Eggs

Whew, I’m glad that’s over. For example, tonight I was able (with some difficulty and pain) to eat a couple of Hot Dogs at the Twins game. My incisors are still tender making it difficult to eat foods that require me to “cut” the food with my teeth. A fork and a knife have proved to be indispensable. I was able to eat some Enchiladas at Don Pablos after the braces had been on for a week.

I still can’t really eat tough foods. Twizzlers, Skittles, and peanutes are all still impossible to bite down upon. However, every day is better than the day before and with time, I’ll be back to my old diet.

I had my braces put on today in a 1.5 hour long procedure. Despite numerous warnings about how bad it would be, I found the procedure to be quite tolerable. The worst part was the boredom, alleviated only by blankly staring at the ceiling. The braces are ceramic and quite “invisible” in terms of braces. I hear that the ligatures that hold the metal wire to the braces can stain, but those are replaced at every visit.

This afternoon at the University I was treated with an assortment of jests, for example:

Mila (sounding innocent): “Does it hurt?”
Brad: “Not really.”
Mila: “Oh don’t worry, it will.”

And of course she was right, they hurt much worse now—12 hours after they were put on. I’m going to try to take a picture of the progress after each visit to the orthodontist and make a slideshow/movie afterwards to illustrate the progress.

Up next: I’m having two moles removed from my head in 2 weeks.

I just had spacers put in my mouth. 12 total, 3 in each quadrant. If you’ve never had the joy of braces, spacers are the little rubber bands they put between your teeth before attaching the actual hardware. They are used to spread the molars apart enough to be able to get various metal bands in and around your teeth later.

It feels like I’ve got food stuck between every one of my teeth. And biting sucks because it forces the bands farther into the region between my teeth causing pressure on the tooth itself. Hopefully I’ll get used to it soon.