What a nasty bit of bad luck for my daughter! Just as her cheerleading squad is in final preparations for their competition next month, a chance bad fall during some kiddish horsing around outiside with her friends last night and she's either got a bad ankle sprain or a slight fracture - the doctor's aren't sure which. She came home with a huge swelling on her ankle so we were quick to ice and wrap it. Today, we spent the afternoon at the emergency dept getting x-rays and assesments. The doctor said he's 75% sure there's a slight fracture in the growth plate area of her ankle bone - either way, we're scheduled for a consultation with the orthopaedic surgeon and for sure, she's not going to be doing any weight bearing exercise for at least 4-6 weeks. Right now it's splinted in a half-cast and she's learning to get around on one leg. Tomorrow, I'll be off in search of crutches. Hopefully, it's not fractured but I kind of fear she won't be able to actively compete this year and that's a shame since she's worked so hard since making the varsity team in September.

But these things happen and they do feel devastating - I remember spraining my ankle just 4 days before our national championships in 2000! Thankfully it was just a moderate sprain and I was still able to compete once I got it taped for competition. I'm not sure if taping will help for her - we'll have to see after the consultation, maybe she'll be able to participate in the last competition of the season. For the most part, although it feels like the end of the world at the time, we just have to shrug, move forward and focus on healing.

More about: Ankle Sprains
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