X-Ray Anyone?

I was at the dojo Tuesday. It was a very good class. Our chief instructor was there - a fourth degree black belt from Chicago. I like him. He's a really nice guy. His Aikido is excellent, and he's a pretty good teacher, too.

After class I worked on my upcoming test techniques with a brown belt student. I neglected to work on my test in December, and now I feel as though I've gotten worse rather than better. I've got to get back up to my November form, then improve more if I want to pass. March will be here in a flash, and I've got a lot of work to do to get ready.

He was demonstrating how I could improve when he made a misstep. His back was toward my right side when he took a step back. His right heel landed on the smallest toe of my right food. Then he shifted his weight on to that same foot. We both heard the crack. Maybe it was a pop, but we both heard it. It came from my little toe. At first he thought it was dislocated, then we entertained the idea that perhaps it was broken. He felt bad. I said 'don't worry about it.' I was told that I would know more after I slept on it for a night, but everyone said what I already knew: get a doctor to look at it.

I had my lovely wife call the doctor Wednesday and schedule an appointment for me. My toe was swollen and very black and blue. I stoically went to school, making sure to wear shoes with a lot of toe room. It wasn't too bad, leading me to think it probably wasn't broken. I just had to walk a little slower and take smaller steps.

I went to the doctor after school. After commenting on the color of my toe, he manipulated it to see if he could get a reaction out of me. It only hurt when he pulled it out to the side, away from the rest of my toes. He didn't think it was broken either, but sent me to x-ray anyway. The tech took four x-rays, and we both looked at them on the computer. She zoomed in on each x-ray and we looked together. While neither of us is a radiologist, we both agreed that it didn't look broken - at least not in an obvious way. When I broke my collar bone, I saw the x-ray and it was painfully obvious where the break was. My toe looked fine. The doctor thought it was just a serious deep tissue injury, and after looking at the x-rays, it seems he was right. Could it be a hairline fracture? I suppose.

It's Saturday and it's still black and blue. It's still swollen. It still hurts a little. I should be back on the mat next Tuesday. I'll tape my toes together for a while and hope that no one steps on them. Class was canceled Thursday due to the snowfall.