We went for a walk in the park....you'll never guess what happened next!

Went for the clickbait title! I wasn't actually sure how I might cleverly title my relation of these events. I debated whether I'd write about this at all, actually, but here we are. In a way it's embarrassing, and it's certainly a cautionary tale. You see, about two weeks ago I sprained my ankle while walking Elka.

This lovely picture? I took it about half an hour before the Fateful Moment. (Though it really is my new "good" picture of her; it's the shot I wanted, and I actually got it for once.)

We were striding merrily along, like you do. Working on recalls, because I always always work on recalls. Working on Down, and "Down for more than thirty seconds, yes your elbows too please" (cue wise, that's Down, and Wait). A little bit of Hello. It was an absolutely beautiful day, by the way. Weather I could spend the rest of my life in. It had rained a bit in the morning, and then the mist burned off and it was clear, sunny, and in the 70's. 

We were coming to the end of our time in the park. There are some pavilions with picnic tables, and nearby grills, and we walked past those. Elka wasn't paying attention and almost clipped a tree, and her obvious "well where'd that come from?" was funny, so I laughed. Then I stepped in a hole. I hadn't seen the hole ahead of time, or I would have avoided it. My left ankle rolled to the left in a way that was distinctly Not Okay, and I felt the tendon stretch. You know in pirate or adventure movies, when there's a rope over a surface, stretching dangerously, and somebody has to finish using it at the last minute? That's what it felt like inside my ankle. I think I had the presence of mind to just go limp. I don't really know.

Can you find the hole? I took a couple of pictures, just to prove I didn't fall over for no reason.

But, it resulted in me sitting on the ground in the (empty) park, thinking some very not nice words and thinking perhaps I'd broken my ankle. See, I've never really hurt myself before. I get my lovely regular range of headaches, and the pain was definitely Worst Migraine level but, y'know, in my ankle. After a couple of minutes, it abated some, and I called Elka over. She hadn't bolted when I fell (we were attached via leash anyway), but she also hadn't mobbed me. I had her Brace so I could get up (mobility assistance for the win!) and I leaned on her to hobble over to a picnic table. It took a few minutes to find the best position in which to sit so that the ankle hurt the least, and then a few minutes to hold my phone in the best arcane way to get reception in that part of the park, and then I called for help.

Some x-rays, resting, and ice later it's just a sprained ankle. It swelled alarmingly, and then bruised alarmingly when the swelling went down. I saw an Orthopedic Specialist on Wednesday, and she was very happy with my strength and range of motion, and with how it looked in general. We spent some time looking at my x-rays, which was fun (why wasn't I a doctor again? Oh yeah, high school grades.....), and I don't need a follow-up. She did give me "homework", to work on flexibility and strength and range of motion. And there we go. 

I'm very glad I taught Elka mobility assistance. She was the reason I was able to get myself up so easily at the park, and she's been so very helpful in the house. She was calm and focused and just did what I needed her to do. Her ability to take and carry things has been great as well, and picking things up. And that's why I hadn't really been to the store yet for her real birthday toy #confession