The Mystery Problem

In mid-December I had a bruise on my ankle, that I didn't think much about. I am always running into things or getting hit by things that jump out at me, so bruises are nothing uncommon. Well towards the end of my Christmas break (so now we are getting close to mid-January), I notice that it is still there and it is kinda a hard bump. I don't think much of it, but decide to let Dr. Adams see it when he is in the training room to see what he says. I start to do light massage (when I can talk someone into it), laser therapy and game ready (compression & ice at the same time) to see if that will help. Then the "bumps" begin to multiply and spread. I finally see him see him about the beginning of February or so. I have no recollection of hitting it or anything like that, so that makes the diagnosis a little harder. Although, as I previously said, it very easily could have happened without me realizing it. He says he thinks it is a hematoma and to continue to massage & ice it, but don't do ultrasound becuase it will cause it to scar more, to start taking 2 naproxen sodium (Aleve) twice a day. He said the laser therapy shoudl be fine to do.

Well it doesn't seem to be getting any better, and starts to turn more red and go all the way across my ankle, swell, hurt, get kinda warm, etc... Well I being the athletic trainer that I am, I don't necessarily take care of myself like I should. I have 11 other girls to take care of right now and they are pretty time consuming. I had one have surgery on her foot the Wednesday I left for Austin (I didn't get to watch her surgery which I was very disappointed about) and had another have some health problems come up on Friday while I was in Austin, so I was trying to get them squared away. I showed it to my mom at the state tournamend and she became very concerned. Then it became show-and-tell of Brooke's ankle in the suite. Everyone had their own opinion about what it was, but everyone insisted that I see the doctor. I said I would when I got back to Columbia. Well of course our doctors either left the training room before I got back over from practice or they didn't come that day. Dr. Adams came on Wednesday and I showed it to him again. He decided to do x-rays to rule out a stress fracture or something else going on in there. He knew it wasn't that swollen or red the first time he looked at it, so he was a little concerned with it going on for 3 months. So Thursday I got x-rays....everything bony looked normal but there was definitely some soft tissue swelling so he ordered an MRI for Friday. He wanted to make sure I didn't have a blood clot or bad vein.

Friday around lunch I had an MRI. Around 3 that afternoon Dr. Adams' nurse, Donna, called to tell me the results. I had an inflammed blood vessel. An inflammed blood vesssel? Who gets those? Apparently me. Donna tells me that inflammed blood vessels aren't very common and they aren't sure what caused mine becuase I don't remember doing anything to my ankle. So they start me on NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) twice a day for a week and then once a day following that. Gotta love Celebrex. I started those on Friday. I think they are helping for now. Friday was by far the worst day I have had, I think because I had to hold my ankle in one uncomfortable position VERY still for 45 minutes while they did my MRI. My ankle isn't near as red and the swelling and pain has decreased. I will Dr. Adams again when I get back after spring break. Hopefully the medication solves the problem!