I was crossing Telegraph at Haste not half an hour ago when I fell somehow and landed on my ankle. I’m not really sure how that happened, but this is what I think: I was about to cross the street when someone handed me a flyer. I took it and kept walking, but she said something else so I turned my head. My feet kept going, though, and I stepped off the curb without knowing it. When the street was not the distance from my foot that my foot expected it to be, I fell. This is how it felt: walking and feeling good, feeling suddenly surprised, finding myself on the floor with things scattered next to me (including my glasses, which I had tucked into my collar since I was wearing my sunglasses), in that order. I don’t know what position I was in when I fell, but I don’t think I sat down and I didn’t land on my hands, so it must have been mostly on my legs/ankles/feet. I know this because I was wearing a knee-length skirt and I know I didn’t flash anyone.
It took me a moment to register that I’d fallen and that my ankle was hurting. Then I realized that even though at the time there were no cars, I was definitely in the line of traffic, so I shoved all my things into my shopping bag and hoisted myself up. The curb was a couple of feet away so I managed to get myself back onto the sidewalk, then I leaned against a convenient fat light pole while I came back into myself. I felt my ankle swelling up. Mentally I ran through my options in case I couldn’t walk home for a while: sit there on the sidewalk and pretend to be nonchalant. Read Edward Said’s Orientalism, the only book I had on me. I was thirsty and wearing a skirt, so maybe hobble across the street to a cafe and sit there for a while? Then the swelling feeling began to fade a little. I flexed and rotated my ankle and tried it out and decided I could make the two blocks it would take to get me home.
It’s a good thing I was able to get myself home because no one around me offered any help, or even asked if I was okay. One man looked at me sympathetically but said not a word, making me wonder if he even speaks English. It’s funny because I run into a lot of nice people walking around Berkeley, and the last time it rained I saw someone slip and land on her rear and there were people making sure she was all right. So I think I just happened to be in a particularly uncaring crowd. When I did get across the street, anyway, a man sitting on a crate in front of Amoeba asked me if I was all right. It was reassuring to know someone cared enough to ask. Actually I think this particular man has lifted my spirits before-last year when I almost got run over by a car and was just having a really bad day I ran into him and talking to him a little made me feel better. I think he’s the person who goes by Jokémon. I should take him to lunch sometime.
currently: elevating my ankle (yes, I iced it too) and feeling anxious about it
[This post was imported on 4/10/14 from my old blog at satsumabug.livejournal.com.]
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
Ouch. I’ve had scary moments walking in high heels where I hit an uneven part in the sidewalk and my ankles go at abnormal (and dangerous) angles, but nothing severe has happened. I hope you didn’t sprain it too badly or anything!
You need to be in tip-top shape to get around certain parts of Berkeley…
Yeah, I wasn’t even wearing heels! But reading your comment makes me remember why surprise was the first thing I felt–I knew the first part of the feeling, because it’s the funny-ankle feeling that happens when you step in holes in the sidewalk. Then I kept falling and that’s when the surprise hit me, “hey, it’s different this time!” Then my next thought was probably, “Ow.”
I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. Hopefully it was just a little twist and it’ll be completely better within a few days. As long as I don’t wake up tomorrow morning and find it huge and unable to move…
moo.
now don’t do anything to further stress your ankle. and i like kikimasu’s picture. it’s so cute!
take care of yourself! because i can’t make it over there to help you myself. :] *hugs*
~Shra
Re: moo.
Thank you. 🙂 I ‘ve been elevating and icing it for a few hours now and I just tried rotating it and it feels not worse, so hopefully that’s a good sign. The silly thing is, since I didn’t hurt it in dance, it’s a good thing I’m dancing since that means I’m good at hopping around on one foot! ;b
this is a little dated, but glad that you’re ok- it could have been broken!
Yes, I was lucky. It could have been worse in so many ways–not least because I fell on a busy street!
[…] desperately and doing God knows what else to try to: (a) stay upright, or, failing that, (b) not land on something that might break (including my back). Fell spectacularly toward the ground, but did indeed manage to prevent falling […]