Injury roundup, post US

(Some of the pictures in this are pretty gross. You have been warned.)

I've had a couple of injuries since I've been in the US. Interestingly enough, not all of those were derby-induced. Here I think is the roundup of total injuries I got in the last 3-4 months (although some were caused by other things, as indicated in italics):

1. Concussion (snowboarding)

Picard doesn't understand why I am onTeam Munted so much.

2. Whiplash with messed up neck and shoulders (snowboarding)

3. Arm bruise from crashing into a cast iron bench, as seen here.

4. Shin bruises from some unknown but derby-related cause, as seen here.

5. Munty wrists from falling on them without wristguards (snowboarding). I have to stop putting my hands out to stop myself faceplanting in the snow. It might just be safer to faceplant in the snow. Ugh.

6. Mystery claw foot. I've narrowed it down to being under my little toe on my right foot, and under the ball of my foot on my left. So, it's not really to do with my arches getting sore, I don't think. I've been getting a can of beer out of the fridge and rolling my foot on the side of the (cold) can, and that seems to help. I put the beer in a glass before I drink it. :P

7. Nose infection (Some unspecified underby thing) I managed to also give the inside of my right nostril an infection. I know this sounds stupid and gross, but basically I lost my nose ring so I was trying to use the straight metal bit of a safety pin as a temporary spacer until I could get a proper nose ring put in. I had wire cutters and cut the pin to the right length and voila, spacer. Except that the wire cutters cut the end of the pin to a flat thing that looked like the blade on a flat head screwdriver, and the inside of a safety pin is not stainless steel or whatever. In a few days, I was wondering why everything smelled like rust. Then the piercing started closing so I poked the pin through it, tearing the inside of my nose skin, which, because the pin was rusty, got infected. Ew. It hurt, but it wasn't mega unsightly, and I managed to fix it. Phew.

This is actually not bad, given my record. Here are my most recent ones:

8. Munty shoulder
Remember how I dislocated my shoulder ages ago at VDL? Well, snowboarding made it worse because I fell on it again, and now it is deliciously crunchy. Audibly so, when I rotate it. It seems to have all its mobility though, so I'm not sure what I need to do (if anything) about it.


9. The biceps bruise
I got this bruise flipping tires two weeks ago at SCRD! I think it's because my arms are too short and the tire comes up to my bicep and probably caught on my skin and tore it. It's actually darker than in this picture, and it has little abrasions in it from random grit in the tire. Yes, I cleaned it out and it's now healed:

Also, I have tiny biceps muscles. Yay.

10. The MEGA GROSS BLISTER
Okay. I'm not kidding about this being gross. Seriously. And there are pictures.

On the first day I wore my Antiks, I got a blister on my right foot at BAD training, just under my ankle (on the inside of my foot). I thought it felt weird and then when I took off my socks at the end of training a piece of skin about the size of a quarter fell out of my sock. WTF. It fucking hurt like the dickens to shower it, and it was stinging more than anything I think I've ever experienced. There was a lot of swearing. Anyway, the next day it looked like this:

Because I am a really, REALLY smart cookie, I decided to bandage it up with toilet paper and strapping tape and then go to SCRD training that night. Yes, I know. Facepalm already. When I was done, I took my sock off at training and the bandage was covered in yellow leaky stuff. Ew, gross.

On the way home ze boyfriend got me some of those blister bandaid things. I put one on after I cleaned the area:

The blister bandage was pretty nice. They're waterproof, and really helped with the stinging on the raw skin. They're pretty clingy though, so when I tried to stand with my foot flat on the ground it would pull on the skin near the blister, and that hurt. I've been trying to not use my right foot, or when I do I am using the outside of it. I bet it is pronating my foot. Bah.

Oh and then two days after I put it on, the bandage got all fat and puffy and started leaking clear yellow stuff. So after I had a shower I peeled off the blister bandage (which also hurt a bit because it didn't cover the entire blister), and my foot looked like this. Hold onto your lunches:

Seriously, WTF. I look like someone has shot me in the foot. There's actually one angle if I am sitting with my foot kind of on the ground where you can see a hole and the skin flap around it with the watery shit coming out. Actually, because I am mega gross, here is a picture of that blister again, but closer up so you can see the watery meaty goodness shit that is inside:

It also smells a bit weird, but nothing mega terrible. I tried cleaning it but it obviously stings a fuckload and is more swollen than before. I think some of the soggy white floppy skin is it healing, but it's pretty fucking infected. That yellow shit around the outside is like congealed watery yellow pus stuff that has been leaking out of my foot for the last three days. Ew.

Anyway, I made myself a little moleskine out of toilet paper and strapping tape, to air it out today (I think the blister bandages seal the blister and all the bacteria-y watery shit stays in the raw meaty area. Yum). Then I strapped it with this cute athletic tape that ze boyfriend got me (it's like porous and attaches to itself, how handy):

It also matches my nail polish, yay.

Yes yes, I am going to go seek medical attention and whatever. Actually, I called the health provider people and was like "I'm wondering if I need an appointment" and then I told them about my foot, and they were like "YES YOU DO NEED TO COME IN" and stuff. Ugh. Then I was describing my injury to the nurse on the phone and she cut me off because it was so gross. Hahahaha. I think I'll probably need antibiotics for this fucker at this rate.

Update: I went to the hospital and the doctor cut off all the dead skin (that spongy, pasty white floppy stuff around the hole). He had like fancy medical tweezers and really pointy scissors and I was a little worried that he was going to stab my "foot meat"--yes, now it is a medical term. The doctor actually called it that. Apparently I took off like pretty much all my epidermis which is why the stuff underneath is also shiny and red. Anyway. So he cut it, and all this leaky stuff was stuck in the layers of dead skin and poured out. EW. The blister was like twice the size with all the skin off. But yeah, the reason he needed to cut all the dead skin off was so he could clean the wound. WITH SALINE. WTF. Like, can you say THIS FUCKING STINGS or what?

I stopped taking photos when he actually started doing it because I thought it might be rude to photograph someone hacking at my foot.

But he was nice about it, and then after he cleaned it he put some ointment on it and gave me these giant clown bandaids the size of my hand to stick over the whole blister. The bandaids are breatheable which is probably going to help drain stuff from my foot.

AND THEN I HAD TO HAVE A TETANUS SHOT. SERIOUSLY. NOW MY (GOOD) ARM HURTS TOO. FML.

I also got this SUPER FASHIONABLE foam shoe thing to wear! It apparently stops my toes from bending so it keeps my foot skin nice and flat, so I won't tear it while it heals. It's also a little bit more elevated than my chucks, so I have a bit of gump foot. It was also raining last night and wearing a foam sandal and socks in the rain was a little bit crappy. But hey, I'm not a Canadian.

Update #2: I have to clean it twice a day and replace the gigantic blisters. The next day, I undid the bandaid and it looked like this:

It's much less angry now, although it's twice the size with all the dead skin cut off. But it looks like it's on the mend. Hooray. I'm not allowed to skate for 1-2 weeks while it heals, and after that I can actually put my foot back in my skate boots to mold them. And actually skate.

Actually, most of this post was just to get to this point where I could post pictures of my disgusting blister. I've had a couple of derby injuries, but this one takes the cake in terms of ridiculous self-inflicted pain and grossness. Huzzah.