Treatment for a dislocated or broken toe

Have you recently dislocated or broken a toe? I did -- Christmas Day. I walked into a chair leg and it went between my toes. I immediately thought that I had to go to the hospital but I researched treatment on the internet. I was rather discouraged with what I found so that is why I am writing this post based on my own experience.

First though, I will share my research:

• eMedicineHealth:  Broken toe
• MedicineHealth: Broken toe
• The Toe Doctor: Dislocated Toe
• Our Health Network: Toe Dislocations
• PodCare: Broken toe

The rest of this post is a combination of the advice of the above websites, my doctor and my own personal experience. I am not a doctor nor a healthcare professional nor do I claim to be. This is just my experience that I decided to write down and share with others.

What I learned from this experience:

Immediate action: PAIN! 

• Go to the emergency room - depending on the severity. You don't need to call an ambulance but if you punctured the skin then you might want to see a doctor. Prepare to sit there for a long time though because this is not considered a serious injury. I personally did not go to the emergency room because we were able to pop the toe back into place. At the very least, call your doctor and make an appointment TODAY.
• Assess if the toe is broken or dislocated. I was able to move mine so we determined that it wasn't broken but it really hurt to do so.
• Tape the toe back into place. We did this immediately and this is what saved my toe. Use medical tape and tape the toe to the entire foot -- I personally didn't like buddy-taping (taping two toes together). If the toe is broken, the toe might be taped with linen tape then buddy-taped.
• Ice the area for 15 minutes every hour or two hours.
• Sit down and elevate the foot.
• Don't walk on it or walk with assistance.
• Take a sick day from work.

Day 1-3: The toe will swell up and turn a variety of colors from blue to purple. You may also notice bruising on the other side of the foot. Half of my entire foot was blue and the toe was numb.

• Rest; try not to walk unless absolutely necessary (ex. going to the bathroom).
• Ice the affected area every 2 hours for 15-20 minutes.
• Keep the toe and foot elevated when you sit.
• Take Ibuprofen for the pain. It's an anti-inflammatory.
• Tape the toe or group of toes together with medical tape.
• Wear comfortable slippers that have padding around that area to give you a cushion should you happen to step on it. Don't wear shoes -- they will most likely not fit anyways.
• Get into the doctor. Although, don't be disappointed when he/she notes that there is nothing that can be done for this kind of injury (unless you have one fabulously broken toe or toes). Make sure to talk to your doctor about physiotherapy and get a referral.
• If you work in a job that requires you to be on your feet, you need to call your employer to tell them about your injury and ask if there is anything that you can do while you are sitting. If not, you may have to take more sick leave for a few days.
• If you have a foot bath with jets or a tub with jets, take a bath. Put your toe over the jet -- does it hurt too much? Then wait a week. If not, let the jet do the work.
• Consider wearing compression socks like those for diabetics.

Day 4-7: still swollen but not as much. The bruising is still there but it should be purple, not blue. It still hurts but not quite as much.

• Keep taping the toe. I thought that I didn't need to but believe me, tape it. It helps a lot when you try to walk. It also helps when you involuntarily wiggle your toes. Don't believe me? You will and you won't believe how many times you just wiggle your toes around without thinking about it per day. Taping keeps this from hurting.
• Ice the area a few times per day for 15 minutes.
• Wear comfortable, roomy shoes if you have to walk. Do not wear closed toe shoes or anything that pinches that area. Your entire foot is most likely still swollen.
• When you walk, try to find a method that does not put pressure on the toe. This means that you will be limping (which is fine). After walking though, massage your calf muscles and do some ankle exercises. I found that by limping I really strained these areas.
• By limping, you may notice that your whole body is out of whack. Now, because I can't walk correctly, my calves and ankles hurt, by back hurts, etc. So try not to walk much or stretch these areas really well as often as you can to keep limber.
• Call the nearest reputable physiotherapy clinic and make an appointment for an assessment.
• Try to wiggle the affected toe. You should be able to move it gently by this time without too much pain. A few times per day, consciously make an effort to move it back and forth. If anything, this boosts your morale that your toe will heal.
• If you are working, wear slippers at work. Wear shoes only when you absolutely have to.
• If you take public transport, try to find a way to carpool. I can tell you, working was fine but taking the buses to work and all of the walking that I did sure did not help my toe. Plus, I looked like a hunchback walking around with a limp.

Weeks 1-4:

• Keep doing all of the above from days 4-7: icing, taping, etc. You might not think that it is necessary but it sure helps.
• See a physiotherapist at least twice per week and do the exercises recommended.
• Do some stretches for your back, hips, thighs, calves and ankles because they most likely hurt from the limping. Do this as often as you can.
• Stuff your shoes around the toe. I did this because my boots didn't fit quite right and I needed to support that toe or it REALLY hurt to walk. I found that this helped whenever I needed to walk.
• If you have stuffed your shoes, try your best to walk normally. This will help your body re-equalize. 

*This is where my experience is right now. I will update when I have more information.

And, until your toe is completely healed and you are walking (even running) without any pain, don't do any of these activities:

• Exercise that requires your feet. This is walking, running, snowshoeing, skiiing, etc. This includes dancing to songs (even if it's with your feet) or getting up too quickly out of a chair. 
• Foot massages. Especially if it's a professional masseuse that does a hard massage.
• Pedicures from a professional. Get a friend to do it.
• Get on your knees for something then get back up: try it then you will see why. How do you balance to get back up? 
• Go barefoot. That's how I got into this predicament and my doctor told me to always wear slippers around the house.

Guilt-free Rewards for a Job Well Done

One of my problems with it comes to weight loss is struggling with the idea of rewarding myself for a job well done. It could be that I finally finished a long, arduous project or that I finally did 4 workouts this week. The first thing that I think is: I should reward myself, time for a Coke. Or, a chocolate bar. Or ice cream. 

Well, that just damaged the good chore that I finished. So, I took some time to make a list of guilt-free rewards to give myself for a job well done. I know I am not the only person thinking about this so I will share it with you.

Some of these options require finances but some are also free. What you could do is while you are working towards a goal, decide on the reward that you want to give yourself. Then put aside money for it while you are working towards the goal. For example, as a reward to myself for finishing a large project at work I can save money on the side to get my hair done at the salon. Once the goal is reached, then I can go for a morning of pampering and not worry about the finances.

• A long bubble bath with a yummy scent and candles, perhaps my favorite music in the background
• A mug of steaming hot apple cider or a hot chocolate with marshmellows (the diet kind)
• One uninterrupted evening of doing an activity that I secretly love (like writing)
• Talking on the phone with a best friend or on Skype
• Throw a party with all of your friends -- perhaps a pot luck, movie night, etc.
• One uninterrupted evening (or afternoon) of starting and finishing a project
• Watching a new movie at home. This could mean renting it then giving it the full new movie treatment (for me, this is turning out the lights, stopping all projects and just watching a new movie). 
• Going out to the theatre to see a new movie with friends (or with my husband)
• Have a nice meal at a new restaurant
• One uninterrupted evening of browsing my favorite websites
• Buying and reading a new magazine
• One evening of planning an upcoming event (like Christmas) and planning all of the items that I want to make to decorate the house or give as gifts
• If it's summer, one afternoon sitting and tanning under the sun with a nice book or great music
• Signing up for a class in a topic that I want to learn about (like yoga, knitting, or a language of choice)
• Crossing an activity off of the bucket list (skydiving, rockclimbing, running a 5K, etc.)
• Digging out the old "To Do" list and tackling one of the older ones that you've always said will never get done (ex. organizing the filing cabinet). 
• Reading a new book (or, one of your old favorites)
• Take on a new knitting project or spend an evening knitting
• Take the dog out for a walk in a new area (or put on rollerblades and run with the dog) or to the park
• Learn a new hobby from a friend (or teach a friend how to do one of your hobbies, if they are interested)
• Have a game evening on the Wii, Xbox or whatever you have with the family. See who will win. 
• Return to a hobby that you love but haven't done for a long time (for me, that would be genealogy or cross-stitching)
• Try a new recipe out of a magazine for supper
• Spend an afternoon at the local bookstore -- not buying anything -- but sitting with a coffee, paging through some books to see what is new and checking out the ones that you've always wanted. 
• Spend a lazy afternoon on the couch doing a hobby, snuggling with the kids and the pets
• Watch a movie that was your childhood favorite (perhaps even introduce it to your kids or your husband)
• Trying something new with your significant other (I don't think that I need to elaborate on this one)
• Go for a massage or spa treatment. 
• If you are a woman, try a new makeover on yourself or go and get one at Sephora or another store with that option. 
• Go to bed early or sleep in. Get your significant other involved in this to make sure that you are able to sleep in (or go to bed early) without any distractions. 
• Spend an evening researching a topic that interests you but you've never had time to think about it (like a historical event, a famous person, etc.)
• Get your hair done with color, highlights or a perm. Ask for the full treatment with the scalp massage and special conditioners that most salons do for free and enjoy the trip.

10 Great Presents for your Parents

I like to spoil my parents at Xmas. Each year I like to spend time thinking of some great things to give my parents for the holidays. These are some of the great ideas that I have thought of:

1. Homemade Videos on DVDs: take all of the videos that your parents took of you when you were a child and take them into a camera or video store that migrates from a video to a DVD. Get them to digitize the video and burn it onto a DVD for you. If you can, get the digital copies of the video as well. 
2. Scrapbooks: take pictures of when you were young or from the past year and create a scrapbook for your parents. 
3. Digital Picture Frame: load up a digital photo frame with pictures from the past year and let your parents enjoy seeing what you have been up to - this is a bonus if you have kids. Whenever you have new photos or visit home, load up the frame with new photos for a gift that keeps on giving. 
4. Restored Old Family Photos: scan them at a very high resolution and either get a photo editor to restore them or you can try it yourself with a program like Picasa or Adobe Photoshop. Get the photos developed and frame them for a surprising gift.
5. Genealogy scrapbook: building on scrapbooks and restored old family photos, why not create a scrapbook detailing your family history complete with old photos, stories and old recipe cards.
6. His and her scarves: knit a scarf set: hat, scarf and mitts for each parent. You can use a different pattern for each of them in their favorite colors.
7. Recipe book: if your parents never wrote down their recipes, perhaps you could do it for them. Write them down and assemble them in a journal, perhaps complete with photos. You can also do it in a spiral notebook with tabs to divide meals, desserts and holidays.
8. Old TV shows and movies: buy them a collection of movies or TV shows that they grew up with. Movie studios are releasing many older TV shows on DVD so it's great for your parents to relive their childhood or youth. 
9. Lessons or Classes: pay for them to take a class in a topic that interests them, or perhaps a topic that they've wanted to learn more about. 
10. Time: turn off the TV and put the computers away then spend the afternoon playing all of the games that you grew up on: Monopoly, Sorry, Battleship, Checkers, etc. 

10 Tips for Practising your Second Language

Canada is a bilingual country but not many of us are actually bilingual. Most public servants are required to be bilingual but usually everyone either speaks English or French. Some people try to learn another language and get frustrated because they lose it after time.

I don’t consider myself fully bilingual but I hope that I am pretty close. Here are some of my tricks for maintaining my language level and perhaps they will help you too. Also note that as this is a Canadian article, I am referring to practicing my French but you can apply this to any language:

1. Read the news in French. Some websites are: Radio-Canada, Cyberpresse and Le Devoir.
2. Do you have any friends that speak French? Work out a deal to always speak in French to this person. If you see this person often then try immersing yourself by speaking in French for one entire week with them, and English for a week then back and forth.
3. If you are brave enough to try it, move to a French area. Then you will be forced to speak French in your daily life and you will meet more people who speak the language. A good way to ease into this is to go to university in a French place that is relatively bilingual like Montreal.
4. If are into Facebook and other social media, try switching your interface into French.
5. If you have a DVD collection, look for the ones that have been dubbed in French. Watch the movie but switch the language into French. If you have problem, add the French sub-titles. I did this during university and it really worked. I highly recommend the blockbuster movies (ex. Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings, etc.) as the French dubbing is really good.
6. When you are interested in a particular topic and you have a little bit of time, look up the French words. I call this a brainstorm. I start by writing down all of the words on a particular topic that I can think about, for example about weddings. Then, I look up all of the words in a French-English dictionary so that I have a vocabulary list. I can study it whenever I want to know that it is created.
7. After reading your favorite books in English, trying reading them in French. Good online bookstores in Canada are Renaud-Bray and the French books on Amazon and Chapters. I read a chapter in French and I underline all of the words that I don’t understand so that I can look them up later. If this is a book that I borrowed or that isn’t mine, I note them on a paper pad as I am reading.
8. Develop a language binder with vocabulary lists. Flip through it from time to time to refresh your brain.This really helps if the vocabulary lists are about topics that you enjoy, in my case, sewing and knitting.
9. If you talk to someone in French and you pick up new terminology, write it down. Add it to the vocabulary binder so that you won’t forget it.
10. Take French language classes. If you are a student, trying making it your minor. If you are not, try an evening class.