The Life of Ann Marie

Ann Marie was a 26 yr old single mother. She had a daughter named Jasmine. Her daughter was now 6 yrs old.

Ann Marie fell pregnant accidentally whilst attending university. Ann decided that she wanted to keep the baby, albeit bad timing in life she couldn’t bring herself to end its life.

The father Andrew was around for the pregnancy, but soon after he took off with another university girl leaving Ann and jasmine to fend for themselves.

Fast forward and its now jasmines 6^th birthday. Ann has put on a party in the back yard for jasmine and her friends.

The party is going great there are 8 girls in total and there is the usual stuff a 6-year-old likes. Candy and chips and even a clown was hired to add some excitement to the day.

Ann is out the back chatting to one for the other mothers that helped out with the party. Without warning a gust of wind blows through the yard, Ann without looking twists her body around and steps back with her right foot to reach the table with her hand. Her high heel wedge she is wearing lands directly on one of jasmines small toys and her ankle rolls out slightly. Ann feels an instant pain in her ankle and grimaces lightly as she repositions her left leg. “Oh shoot”, she exclaims.

Barb, short for Barbara, seen the whole thing happened and moves closer to ann. “Are you ok Ann”.

“Yeah I think so.”

Ann lifts her right foot up slowly, reaching down for her ankle. She runs her hand down to her ankle and gently feels around the outer anklebone. “Oh it’s a bit tender, “ she exclaims. Barb concerned also has a closer look. “ There is a little bit of swelling starting to show around your ankle, I think we should sit you down on a chair and get that ankle iced.” Ann now starting to feel the pain in her ankle gently lowers it. She nods her head in agreement. Barb gathers two chairs and places them next to the table. All Ann can think about at this stage is that she doesn’t want to ruin Jasmines birthday.

“Where do you keep the first aid kit Ann ill go get a bandage and some ice”

“Its underneath the sink in the bathroom.”

Barb heads into the house immediately.

Ann sits on the chair and looks down at her ankle now starting to be more noticeably swollen.

Barb grabs the first aid kit and some ice from the freezer and heads towards the back door. At the base of the door is a pair of Ann’s ballet flats so she grabs them as well.

“Ok here we go, got some ice and a bandage and some flats for you to wear. Now lets get that ankle bandaged up. “

Barb brings the second chair closer in front of Ann and helps her lift her right leg up resting her right foot on the chair. Barb gently lifts Ann's leg and slides of the wedge she is wearing. Her naked foot now resting on the chair, Barb tries to keep her mind off the ankle. “I like your toe nails did you do that yourself?”

“Yes, its really quite simple.” Ann goes on to tell how she has learnt to do nail art just like the professionals.  Barb sits on the side of the chair and cradles Ann’s foot in her palm lifting Ann’s foot onto her knee.  Barb continues to keep Ann distracted from the minor injury. “If you don’t mind me saying you have really soft feet, ann.”

Ann smiles, “thanks”.

Although she is a single mother, working part time to cover the bills Ann makes sure she has time to take car of herself as well. She keeps active by walking when she can, and also she is a waitress part time so that keeps her active as well. She is around 5’6” size 7 shoe. Her feet and hands always manicured. Her feet are slim but not boney, rather nicely proportioned and filled out.

Barb starts to wrap Ann’s foot in the bandage, starting above the ankle and working her way down. Using a few figure 8 wraps around the ankle joint to stabilize the ankle finishing off back up the top, leaving Ann’s heel and toes exposed.

“How’s that feel?”

Ann looks at her now bandaged ankle, perfectly wrapped not a crease anywhere. “That feels good thanks barb. You look like you know what your doing with a bandage.”

Barb smiles, “Well I was part of the cheerleading squad and bandaging and tapping ankles was a daily occurrence.  Needless to say I have lost count how many times I have sprained my ankles.”

“Oh really, well this is my first.”

“Well the best bit of advice I can give you Ann is to take it easy and let it heel. Even if it means a few days off work.”

“Pppfffttt, I can’t afford to take time off work.”

‘Well dear just make sure you rest and ice it as much as possible and keep it bandaged until it feels good again. OK!”

“Ok thanks barb, I really appreciate the help.”

After about 15 minutes of small talk Ann can feel her ankle getting numb from the ice. The sharp throbbing pains have reduced to a dull ache.

Ann looks at her watch and sees that it’s almost time for the clown to leave.

“Sorry to be rude Barb but I have to pay the clown and get jasmines cake ready.”

“Do you want some help dear?” Barb kindly offers.

“Oh no its fine, you have done too much already.”

“Oh its fine, I’m always happy to help.”

“Ok well I guess you could maybe get the cake out of the garage fridge and get the candles ready and ill get the clown sorted.”

“Consider it done.”

Ann lifts her foot gently down, resting the ice pack on the chair. Her ankle feels very stiff, although not very painful. She slips both ballerina flats on and starts to stand up. Barb extends her arm for help.  Ann uses the chair and barb for support as she stands up. Extending her right foot forward she takes a step. “arrgghh”

“You ok Ann?”

“Yeah, just feels a little stiff and sore with pressure on it. “

“Maybe you should stay here and ill get the clown sorted as well.”

“No its fine it will loosen up a little, ill be ok”, Ann insists.

Barb releases her hold on Ann and heads for the kitchen. Ann slowly and limping moderately, makes her way to the clown just as he is packing up his stuff.

She sorts out the clown and then heads for the kitchen to check on the cake. When she arrives barb has it all ready to go. “Thanks again for your help barb”.

“That’s ok dear any time.”

Barb lights the candles and picks up the cake and Ann grabs the plates and follows behind slowly as they head out the back of the house.

“Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear Jasmine Happy birthday to you.”

All the girl’s cheer and jump around the table.

Ann limps into position to take a photo while jasmine blows out the candles.

“Ready, one, two, three”.

Jasmine blows out the candles and Ann snaps the perfect picture.

The girls mingle around eating their cake and a few of the other mothers start to arrive to collect their children.

One by one the girls leave until its just Ann, Barb, jasmine and Jake barbs son.

“Do you want some help to pack up Ann.”

“Oh no its fine thanks barb, you have helped too much already. Besides my ankle is feeling ok, ill be fine.”

“Ok Ann well take care of yourself and if you need anything just give me a call, ok.”

“Ok I will, thanks again,” and Ann waves goodbye as barb and Jake leave.

Ann starts to clean up the backyard, by this stage jasmine is exhausted from the day, and is fast asleep on the couch.  She cleans up everything and its now 7pm.  She goes to the lounge and picks up Jasmine and takes her to the room, and tucks her into bed.

Exhausted her self, Ann retreats to the lounge with a glass of wine and some ice from the freezer. Her ankle now begins to be more painful and stiff from walking on it.

She sits on the couch and starts to remove the bandage from her ankle. As she gets to the bottom layer, she can see some indentations left in her skin from the bandage being tight due to her ankle swelling some more.

She inspects her ankle, which is a bit swollen around the outside but doesn’t appear to be too bad. She props her foot up on the couch and rests the ice gently onto her ankle. 

The next thing she knows she wakes up on the couch and its 2 am. She stands up and steadies her self before retreating to her bed.

The morning comes and it’s back to the normal Monday routine. Ann gets up to her alarm, as she swings her legs off the bed she looks at her ankle. The swelling has reduced almost completely. She stands and takes a few steps, limping moderately. She stops and moves her ankle a little as it feels a bit tight still. She heads in to wake up Jasmine and she also starts to get ready for school.

Ann gets dressed for work in her waitress uniform and sits down on the couch to put her black sneakers and socks on that she wears for work. She sees the bandage on the couch and remembers what barb said. Just as she is about to pick it up jasmine comes running into the room.

“Mummy, I’m hungry.”

“Ok lets get you some breakfast. “

Ann quickly finishes putting on her shoes and socks forgetting about the bandage.

The girls eat their breakfast and then Ann makes sure jasmine has her lunch and bag sorted for the day.

This week Jasmine is getting picked up by one of the other car pool mums, so that she can just go straight to work.  And at the end of the day she will get dropped home. This allows Ann to work about 7 hours a day waitressing.

Ann walks jasmine out the front to say goodbye and waves her off before heading back into the house to get her stuff. She grabs her bag and car keys and heads for the car. She gets to the car and puts her key in the door to unlock it. Just as she opens the door a cat jumps out from under the car, Ann gets spooked and lunges backwards.  Her right foot lands on the edge of the driveway, her body weight shifts to her right leg and her shoe tilts of the edge of the driveway. Her right ankle folds over 90 degrees, she lets out a gasp as she hears a pop sound come from her ankle. Ann crumbles to the floor, “Oh shoot, crap, I don’t need this”. She sits there for a moment holding her ankle. She can feel her shoe starting to get tighter, but she is afraid to look at her ankle.

“Ok, I need to get my self up. I can’t afford to miss work at the moment.”

Ann slings her handbag over her shoulder and grabs her car keys of the ground. She manages to move her herself so she is on her knees. With one go she gets herself standing. Just resting her right foot on the ground she instantly feels the blood rush to her ankle. She brushes her hands against her long black pants removing any dirt and grime.

She slowly lifts her right foot up and moves it forward. She Transfers her weight and takes a step. She winces and moans as she limps heavily. Three more steps and she reaches the car. She stops and holds the car door for support resting for a moment. Determined she prepares herself mentally, “Ok Ann you can do this is just a little sprain. Think about jasmine.”

She slides herself into the car and closes the door behind her. Luckily her car is an auto so she can manage to use her left foot to drive. She starts the car and heads for work.

She arrives and finds a park close to the door. She is the opening waitress today so she is the first one there. She looks through her bag for some painkillers. She takes 3 tablets straight away hoping it will ease the pain. She opens her door and swings her legs out. Using the handle and door for support she props herself standing. She maneuvers her self away from the car slowly limping moderately. Ever step sending jolts of pain through her ankle and leg, but determined she continues.

She goes through the usual morning prep, cleaning the tables and making sure they are all set. The first customers of the day come through the door and she greets them and takes them to their table.

At around 1130 a second waitress arrives for the busy lunch period. She greets Ann as she walks in, “Hi Ann, how’s it all going?”

Ann looks up and smiles, “Everything’s ok Beth.”

They have a brief chat before some people start to come in for lunch. Ann continues to go on despite her shoe now feeling very tight and her ankle continuing to throb. By about 2 pm the busy period has finished Beth is just tidying up the register area and she looks up to see Ann limping quite heavily. Ann makes her way over behind the counter where Beth is.

“Are you ok Ann, you are limping quite heavily. Is something wrong?”

Ann looks around to check that no one else is nearby.

“You have to keep this between me and you, but I think I sprained my ankle pretty badly this morning on the way to work. But I can’t take time off work, I have jasmines school fees to pay in a month and excursions, I just cant afford to not work.”

Beth looks at her with this saddened look, but also see’s how determined she is and that she will do anything for her daughter. “Oh Ann that’s terrible, how are you even walking.”

“Determination maybe I just keep thinking of jasmine and I’m the only one who can provide for her.”

“I think you should go to the ER Ann and get it checked out.”

Ann slowly lowers her head down, and then looks back up.

“I can’t afford to Beth, I don’t have medical insurance for my self only for jasmine.”

Beth ponders her thoughts for a moment and then goes over to grab her handbag. After a few seconds she pulls a small medication box from her bag.

“Here Ann take these,” as she hands the box to Ann.

“What are they she asks.”

“These are the pain killers that I got when I broke my arm last year, I only used them for the first two days so there is almost a whole box there. I carry them around incase I ever get a nasty headache at work.”

“Thank you Beth.”

She grabs a glass of water and takes two tablets straight away. 

Ann shuffles around limping very heavily.

Beth’s heart sinks a little watching Ann limp around. “Do you have a bandage on your ankle?” Beth asks Ann.

“No it literally happened when I got into my car this morning and I just came straight to work. I haven’t even looked at it. I’m afraid what I might see.

“I think you should let me have a quick look.”

Ann ponders the thought while she wipes and sorts out some cutlery on the counter. “Ok”

Ann turns around and leans on the counter, Beth takes a knee on her right side and watches as Ann pulls her pant leg up to her knee exposing her ankle.

As soon as Beth sees the ankle she says, “ Oh Ann honey, you cant be working on this ankle.” Ann looks down at her leg. As her eyes follow the contour of her pants down her leg, to her knee then along the skin of her lower leg then she sees her ankle. The outside of her ankle is the size of a tennis ball. The swelling sticks out about an inch. Ann closes her eyes for a moment and then re-opens them. Pretending she didn’t see anything. She drops her pant leg down again as Beth stands up.

Ann looks Beth in the eyes, “how bad do you think it is?”

Beth looks back at Ann, “Well I had a grade 2 sprain in high school and it wasn’t that swollen so I think you may have a grade 3 sprain.”

Ann not really sure what the different grades of sprain mean ponders her thoughts for a moment. “ Well anyways I can’t take time off so ill be ok and just manage it myself.”

Just as they finish talking sally walks in the door. She is on after Beth starting at 3 and working through till 11pm. She greets both of them and they break into some light shit conversation. 3pm comes and Beth sees Ann before she leaves, “I think you should consider taking a day or two off Ann and rest that ankle or you could make it worse.”

Ann nods, “I’ll see how it feels in the morning.” and smiles at Beth.

“Ok honey well take care and I will see you tomorrow at 11am.”

They wave goodbye.

As the rest of the waitresses arrive for the night shift Ann continues to limp around. The painkillers Beth gave her have helped to dull the pain enough for her to try and cover up her limp best as possible. 4pm comes and its time for her to go home. She grabs her bag waves good bye to the others and heads out the door.

She gets into her car and heads for home.

She pulls in the driveway with only a couple minutes to spare and decides to wait out front for jasmine to be dropped off saving her the extra walking.

She starts looking on her phone and gets onto the internet and googles ankle sprains. She clicks a link that talks about the different grades. She reads through briefly but is more interested in the healing times. She reads the grade 3 healing and it says that you should be on crutches for 2-4 weeks and resume normal activities in around 6. “Oh good I hope it doesn’t take that long.”

“Beep Beep”, Joan pulls into the driveway with jasmine.

Jasmine hops out of the back seat and runs over to Ann.

“Thanks Joan, ill see you tomorrow.”

They wave at each other and Joan pulls out and heads off down the street.

Ann limps heavily as she walks into the house with Jasmine.

She sends jasmine off to get changed and showered and ready for dinner. Ann unpacks jasmines bag and gets it ready for the following day. Her ankle now starting to really throb, sharp pains shoot from her ankle with every step. She thinks about taking some more pills but wants to wait till she sits down. She stands at the counter and grabs the leg pant on her right leg and slowly pulls it up. She looks down at her ankle. The Swelling has increased. It is sticking out still about an inch on the outside but it’s a lot wider. Looking straight down her leg she can’t see the outer side of her shoe below her ankle or the tongue of the shoe on the front of her ankle.

She hears jasmine coming towards the kitchen and quickly drop her pants.

Over the next hour she prepares dinner for the two of them and her heavy limp turns into a hop as she is struggling to bare weight on her ankle due to the pain.

They clean up after dinner and she tucks Jasmine into bed. Jasmine talks a bit about her day at school and his fun excursion they have coming up. After a few minutes she starts to dose off and Ann gets up leaving the night light on and closes the door. Ann stands in the hallway after closing the door, her head slouches down into her hands. Tired and in pain not really sure if she is going to be able to work tomorrow.

She tries to take a step but its way too painful. Her shoe feels like it’s chocking her foot it’s that tight. She slowly hops to the kitchen and gets her phone, an icepack and a glass of wine. She then slowly hops to the couch and sits down.

She takes a sip of her wine and knows she has to get her shoe off but is not sure if she will be able to get it back on tomorrow. She reaches down and supports her leg as she lifts her foot onto the sofa. She pulls her pant leg up enough to expose the swollen ankle and gently rests the ice pack down. She reads a bit more about sprains mainly the difference between grade 2 and 3. One thing becomes alarming as she reads a few peoples stories about spraining their ankles and all have said that with a grade 3 sprain you commonly hear a pop from the ankle when it happens. Was that the pop sounds that she heard?

She closes the phone and decides it time to get her shoe off. She lifts up the ice pack and starts to loosen her shoelaces, one by one feeding them out as loose as possible. She feels around her shoe, which doesn’t seem to have gotten any looser even after untying the laces. She lifts her leg up gently with her left hand and with her right grabs the back of her shoe. She tries to gently slide her shoe of but it doesn’t budge. She grabs it a bit tighter and starts to try and work it off. “Oh god, damn”

She pauses for a moment. Every movement sends waves of pain down her ankle. She takes another sip of her wine to settle her nerves and grabs the back of her shoe. She takes a few breaths and then holds the shoe tightly, she forces the shoe forward, causing her ankle to move sending mass amounts of pain up her. “Aaarrrgghh, god,” with one last push she yanks the shoe of throwing it to the ground. She grasps her ankle with her hands and rests it down slowly. She Rocks back on the couch, squeezing the pillows in her hand, clenching her teeth and rocking her head back. Her ankle aching very badly, she breathes deeply for a few moments. She releases her grasp on the pillows and has another sip of her wine. She leans forward and looks at the sock on her swollen ankle, its very tight and needs to come off as well. She lifts her leg again with her left hand and with her right fingers she grabs the back of the sock. She slowly works the sock down until she gets to the heel and then it wont budge anymore.

She braces briefly, and then with one foul swoop she yanks the sock off her foot. She cringes in pain, lowering her foot back onto the sofa. “Oh, arrggh, oh my god. Damn, it’s so painful.”

She tries to compose her self but her ankle if now really throbbing. She looks at her ankle briefly. It’s massively swollen on the outside of her ankle. It sticks out at least and inch and her anklebone in completely engulfed in swelling.  The inside of her ankle now becoming more rounded as well as the swelling spreads out with the shoe removed.

She picks up the ice pack and feels that its melted so she decides she needs to get another one and some more tablets. With both hands she supports her leg and lowers her foot onto the ground. She pulls herself standing and starts to hop to the kitchen. Every shake of her foot sends more pain radiating from her ankle.  She makes it to the kitchen and fetches some fresh ice form the freezer. She takes 2 pills from her handbag and swallows them with a glass of water.  In this part of the kitchen the space between the benches is narrow enough that she has support on either side of her. Pondering whether she will be able to work tomorrow she decides to try some weight on her ankle.  She moves her right foot forward and places it flat on the ground she slowly transfer weight to her ankle. She manages about 50% of her body weight before she pulls away. “Arrgghhhh”.

“Maybe its just too sore from removing my shoe.” she convinces herself.

She grabs the ice pack and heads for the couch slowly hoping trying to move her right foot as little as possible.

She lays down propping her foot up high with the ice pack resting on her ankle.

After about 30 minutes the ice and pills start to take effect and the pain reduces to a mild ache. She nods on and off until she falls asleep.

At around 5am she wakes up to a throbbing from her ankle. She opens her eyes and pulls her self up slowly the melted ice pack still resting on her ankle. About to pick up the ice pack she hopes her ankle is looking a little better but as she removes the pack she realizes its not.

The swelling not as localized as it was last night but rather has spread to her lower ankle area, her heel and inner ankle. Her whole ankle now fully engulfed in swelling. She tries to move it around a little, first wiggling her toes then she tries to move her ankle. She manages about half and inch of movement either way.

She sees a line of bruising starting to develop along the outside of her lower foot and on the inner side as well.

She gets up and gently lowers her foot down, although still throbbing it is not as painful as it was last night when she removed her shoe. She stands her self up and slowly hops to the shower. She showers and tries to move her ankle a little bit trying to loosen it up. After showering she manages to get dressed and grabs a pair of ankle socks and the bandage and heads for the kitchen. She takes two more tablets and grabs a fresh ice pack before retreating to the sofa.

She has to get her shoe on to be able to go to work. She gets the bandage and starts to slowly wrap her ankle trying to leave her heel as exposed as possible to get into the shoe. She gently slides the tiny sock on it reaches just to her heel which is enough and easy to get off later. She picks up her shoe and removes the laces completely and opens it right up. Then she places the shoe flat on the floor and with one hand supports hers ankle as she lifts it up, she guides her toes into the shoe. She tries to work her foot down into the shoe but it just wont budge, she pushes a little harder but the pain is too intense. She stops and rests her foot down on the floor. She slumps back into the couch, covering her face with her hands.

She removes her hands from her face and thinks for a moment. “Come on Ann you can do this. You are the strongest person I know.” She talks herself into a good state of mind again.

She leans forward and decides to try without the bandage to see if it helps. She slowly unwraps her ankle again and places the bandage on the sofa and refits her sock. Aided by her left hand she guides her toes into the shoe and pushes the heel in slightly. This time it goes in a little, she has a little smile on her face. “Ok now just to get it all the way on.”

She pushes her leg down harder, then grabs around her shin with both hands and tries to work the shoe on. Slowly it goes on just a little bit until it stops again. “Damn, just let me get this shoe on.”

She goes for one last effort and with both hands pushes her foot down into the shoe, she screams out loud, “aarrrrrrhhhhhhhhhhh”.

“Shit shit, arrgghhh, breathe Ann.”

“Ok, your ok Ann, its on now.”

She grabs her laces and starts to feed them through her shoe.

“Mummy are you ok?”

“Oh morning my little princess, yes mummy is fine just a little boo boo. How about you go get washed up and ready for school and ill make us some breakfast ok. “

Jasmine smiles and nods and runs off to her room again.

Ann ties the shoe laces up on her right foot, they are only just long enough to reach due to how swollen her ankle is. She puts the left shoe on and stands herself up.

“Ok now to see if I can walk,” she tells her self.

She moves her right foot forward, and transfers some weight and takes a step. Waves of pain go shooting through her leg. “aarrggghhh”

“Ok another one”

“aarrhhh, damn”

She manages to walk to the kitchen limping very heavily. She makes some breakfast and tries to walk as much as possible. By the time they have eaten her ankle is already starting to throb again. She takes 2 more tablets with some water, and gets jasmine ready for school.

They make their way out to the front of the house, Ann trailing slowly limping heavily, cringing with every step. Once again Joan arrives to pick up jasmine, Ann gives her a kiss and waves good bye. She limps her way to the car door and takes a seat. She supports her leg with her hand as she swings her right foot into the car.

Ann Arrives at work and pulls into the closest car park to the door. She aids her right foot out of the car again and then slowly makes her way inside. Once inside she starts to get things organized for the day. By about 10am her ankle is really starting to ache and walking is becoming almost unbearable. She Takes 2 more tablets with some water.

Beth arrives at 11am on time and gets straight to work. Today is busier than normal so they haven’t had a chance to talk other then a hello and Beth asking Ann if she is ok.

Ann’s ankle starts to get worse and worse as the day goes on. She tries to rest it as much as possible; behind the counter she hops and tries to keep the pressure off it. By 2pm she is really struggling, the pain is becoming too much again. As she digs through her handbag bath finally gets a chance to talk to her.

“Its bad isn’t it Ann?” Beth asks.

Ann turns around and swallows the two tablets.

“Its ok I’m managing, albeit slowly”, she squeezes out a little smile.

Beth can see how much Ann has been struggling in the last couple hrs she is surprised she can still bare any weight on her ankle.

Out of nowhere Ann starts to sob, and then some tears start to run down her cheeks. She sniffles and tries to wipe the tears away.

“Oh Ann,” Beth consoles her. She reaches around and gives her a hug.  They break from the hug and Ann dries her eyes, “ I’m sorry Beth.”

“woooo, ok pull yourself together Ann”, she peps her self up again.

Beth takes a knee by Ann’s right leg and slowly pulls her pant leg up.

“Oh my god Ann, no wonder your in so much pain.” She looks at Ann’s ankle squeezed tightly in that shoe. The swelling is now starting to bulge outside the shoe again. This time the inside of her ankle is bulging outwards as well.

Beth stands back up and looks at ann. Wait here ill be right back in a minute. She goes into the kitchen and returns with a box. In the box is an icepack that’s soft and squishy and when you squeeze it, it activates the chemicals and goes instantly cold. She rips it from the box and works the ice pack in her hands. Within seconds there is ice crystals forming on the outside. She grabs some tape from the cupboard and then takes a knee next to Ann’s right leg. Ann lifts her leg pant up to expose her hugely swollen ankle. Beth places the pack around her ankle and then secures it with a bit of tape.

She stands back up and asks how it is. “It’s helping thank you Beth.”

“That’s ok, you stay here at the counter and ill cover the floor ok.”

“No Beth its ok I can help.”

“No I insist you rest here for the next hour until I leave ok. No buts.”

“Ann smiles, thank you Beth.”

Beth scurries off and takes care of the floor herself. Beth mans the counter and register and does as much as she can. Hopping the whole time keeping her foot on the ground as much as possible.

The hour goes by very quickly and Beth stops to see how Ann is doing.

“How is it going Ann?”

“Better I think keeping off it and the ice has helped.”

Beth kneels down to check the ice pack and finds that it’s not very cold any more so she removes it and puts it in the freezer.

“We can leave that in there for tomorrow.”

“Ok Ann I’m sorry but I have to go I can’t stay today will you be ok by your self for another 1hr?”

“Yes ill be ok, thanks for everything Beth.”

“That’s ok, ill come in a little early tomorrow ok.”

“Oh you don’t have to do that Beth, you can’t come in early and not get paid for it.”

“Non-sense its fine.”

“OK well see you in the morning,” Ann waves good-bye.

Just as Beth leaves a surge of people arrive. She bounces into action limping around the room trying to serve everyone. She takes a phone call at 0345pm, “Hi its sally here Ann, I have had some car trouble can you cover me for another 2.0 hours?” Ann thinks for a moment, she would have to organize some thing with Joan to see if she can take jasmine home for a couple hrs.

“Ok ill see if I can get jasmine looked after for a couple hours and ill call you back.”

She hangs up the phone and rings Joan. Joan is happy to keep jasmine for a couple hours and Ann will swing by and pick her up on the way home. Ann rings Sally back and tells her that it is fine.

 She hangs up the phone and starts to wonder if her ankle will hold up that long. She peps herself up with some self-motivation and gets back to it. Its now 530 pm and Ann is really starting to struggle. She struggles with every step. Her heavy limp now looking more like a hop as the can barely put any weight on her ankle. Sally can’t get there soon enough.  5 minutes to 6 and sally walks in and waves at Ann. They briefly meet as sally heads out to start work, “ Thank you for covering Ann.”

“No problems see you tomorrow.”

Ann grabs her stuff and makes her way out the back door. She closes the door behind her and sighs, “ooh thank god that day is over.”

She makes her way to her car only 5 meters away, but her steps are so short that it seems like an eternity.

She heads off in her car and swings by Joan’s place. She beeps the horn when she gets there and Jasmine and Joan come outside to greet her.

“Thank you so much Joan, I really appreciate the help.”

“That’s ok Ann anytime. Jasmine was hungry so we had and early dinner so no need to feed her tonight.”

“Ok thanks very much, see you in the morning.”

Ann heads home with jasmine.

When they get home Ann gets out and tries to take a step, “aaahhhh.” Her ankle has stiffened up from the drive and every step is agonizing. She slowly makes her way into the house and tells jasmine to get ready for bed. She unpacks jasmines bag and then goes to tuck her in for the night.  Jasmines tells her about her day a school and then gives Ann a hug goodnight.

Ann closes the door leaving the night light on for jasmine.

Now by herself now she hops back into the lounge and sits on the couch with her phone and a glass of wine. She pulls up her right pant leg to her knee and tucks it in tightly so it stays there. She looks down at her ankle now 3 times its normal size. She reaches down to untie her laces and realizes they are actually not tied up at all and her shoe is super tight on her foot and ankle. She feeds the laces out and then tries to hold the shoe down while she pulls her ankle up. The shoe is so tight its practically glued to her foot. She tries to work the shoe off pushing harder and harder, the pain building greater and greater. Until she stops, she slumps into the couch and tears start to roll down her eyes. She sobs for a few minutes, trying to regain her composure her ankle agonizing from all the walking on it today. She picks up her phone, and searches for Barbs number.

She presses the call button, “Ring ring, ring ring”

“Hello”, Barb answers the phone

 “Hi Barb,” Ann sobs through the phone.

“Ann, are you ok?”

“Not really,” Ann sobs a bit more.

“Yesterday on my way to work I fell out the front of my house and hurt my right ankle again. I think it’s a grade 3 sprain.”

“Oh dear, are you ok. Have you been to the hospital?”

“No I don’t have medical insurance for myself, only for jasmine. I have been working the last two days because I can’t afford to take time off due to jasmines school fees that need to be paid next month.”

“Oh dear, you must be in terrible pain. Stay right there ill be right over.”

“Beep beep beep,” the phone goes dead as barb hangs up.

Barb only lives 4 blocks away and has her own family of 3 children, two boys and one girl. Barb is also a single mother, but also runs a successful advertising business, which allows her plenty of flexibility to look after her kids.

About 10 minutes later there is a knock at the door.

Ann gets herself up slowly not putting any pressure on her ankle, and hops towards the door. She opens the lock to let Barb in. Barb enters with a large bag and some crutches.

Barb looks down at Ann’s exposed ankle and sees how swollen it is.

“Oh you poor thing.”

Barb hands the crutches to Ann.

“Here use these to get back to the couch I have already set them at your height.” Ann takes the crutches and places them under her arms. She slowly works out how to use them as she makes her way back into the lounge. By the time she gets there she has the hang of them already.

Ann rests the crutches against the couch and then slowly sits down.

“What happened dear?” Barb asks.

“Well I was getting into my car and a cat ran out from underneath and frightened me as I stepped back I stepped on the edge of the driveway with all my weight on my ankle.”

“Was there any noises when it happened?” barb asks.

“Well it made a popping sound.”

“Give me a hug dear.”

Barb pulls Ann in for a hug. Barb is like a mother figure to Ann. They have only known each other for about 3 years but have been close friends. Ann doesn’t have any family close by and not a very good relationship with them due to her young pregnancy. So Barb has offered her a lot of advice over the years.

“Ok lets have a look at this ankle but first I need some ice and a bucket.”

“There is a bucket in the laundry.”

“Ok great”

Barb heads off and returns with the bucket half filled with water and ice from the freezer. She places it on the floor next to Ann and then fetches a towel.

Barb sits on the couch next to Ann and helps her bring her right foot up and rests it on her knee.

“Ok we need to get this shoe and sock off and then get your foot in that bucket ok. Ill try be as gentle as possible. You hold my hand if you have too ok.”

Ann nods, “ok”.

Barb looks at the laces, which are practically completely removed already, and pulls them out. She tries to spread the shoe apart as much as possible to free it from Ann’s swollen ankle.

She holds the sides of the shoe tightly and spreads them apart, “ok on 3, 1, 2, 3”

“arrrghhhh”

Barb slides the shoe off in one go. The pain radiates up Ann’s leg. Barb reaches and grabs Ann’s hand, Ann squeezes tightly from the intense pain.

Barb gently removes the sock, which comes off easy due to it being only half on.

She inspects her ankle gently prodding and poking. She presses on the region where the anterior ligament is. Ann grabs the pillow tightly in her hand, “aarrhhh, that’s really sore there.”

Barb moves to below the anklebone and presses on the Calcaneo Talo Fibular Ligament, “How about here?”

“Aarrhhh, yeah a little but nothing like the first one.”

“What does that mean?” Ann asks curiously.

“Well the first place I touched was where the Anterior Talo fibular ligament is and the second one was the Calcaneo Talo Fibular Ligament. And then there is also another one behind the ankle called the posterior ligament. They are the three main lateral ligaments in the ankle. The first one that was really painful, that’s the most common one that is injured. ”

“Ok one more test to do, its called the anterior drawer test. Basically tells us how bad it is by comparing both your ankles and seeing how much movement there is.”

Barb gently raises Ann’s leg and rests it down on the floor. She takes a knee in front of Ann and removes her left shoe and sock as well.  Barb picks up Ann’s left leg and straightens it out, and positions her foot in a neutral flat foot position. Her left hand holds the front of her shin and the with her right hand she runs it down the outside of her foot and cuffs her fingers around the back of her heel. Holding the shin still she tries to slide the foot forward.

“See how little movement there is in this ankle.”

Ann watches as she does it, “yeah not much at all.”

Barb changes to Ann’s right ankle being as gentle as possible. OK this might hurt a little. Ann braces holding the Couch and barb tests the ankle the same way just changing her hand position so that this time her right hand is on the shin and her left had is cupping the back of the heel.

Ann tightens her handgrip as barb performs the test, “ahh that hurts alot”.

Barb does the test and her foot slides forward about ¼ of an inch.

“Yep as I suspected”, Barb exclaims resting Ann’s right foot gently back down.

Ann speaks out, “It’s a grade 3 sprain isn’t it?”

“Yes dear I think you have completely torn your ATFL.”

“Oh god I don’t need this.” Ann starts to sob a little.

Barb hugs her, “its ok dear, ill help you through this.”

“I have torn both ligaments in my left ankle, I know what you’re going through but we will get you through it ok. “

“Ok lets get that foot into the bucket of ice.”

Barb helps support Ann’s ankle as she lowers it into the ice water. The water comes up to her calf muscle well above the ankle. 

“Ooh that’s cold.”

They start to talk about Ann’s Job.

“You shouldn’t walk on this for a least a few weeks Ann to give it time to heal properly.”

“I have to work barb, I have school fees to pay for jasmine, bills to pay. I have no other money. I managed today ill just have to keep trying.”

“Ok I figured you would say that ann. So lets work on what you can do to help. Barb unpacks her bag there are a couple 4” wide bandages and a black air cast ankle stirrup.”

She shows Ann the air cast and explains that it was what she was given to wear when she tore her ligaments. The only thing is it wont fit in your shoes but I think I have a solution for that as well.

After about 20 minutes barb helps her remove her foot from the bucket, and then gently massages her ankle to help break down the swelling. After 20 minutes of massaging and some general talking she helps Ann lower her ankle back into the bucket.

“I’m Just going to go home for a minute ok”, as barb scurries out the door. About 10 minutes later she returns with a pair of black sneakers almost identical to Ann’s.

“Ok these will work, they are a size 9, this way you should be able to wrap your ankle and put the air cast on and still get a sneaker on your foot for work.”

“And I got some ibuprofen and some other pain killers I had last time I tore a ligament.”

“Thank you so much barb. How can I ever repay you.”

“Don’t be silly, happy to help.”

Barb helps Ann remove her foot from the bucket again and this time moves the bucket out of the road. She uses the towel to wipe her foot dry. Then she rests her foot back on the ground.

Barb shows her how to wrap her ankle so that it will fit in a shoe and how to fit the air cast.

“How does that feel Ann?”

“Very good and supportive thanks.”

They go over the last few things.

“So for the next two weeks you need to wear the bandage and air cast everyday. As soon as you walk into that front door you need to be off your foot completely. Use the crutches as long as you need them. Every night after work do the ice bucket with water for 20 mins on 20 mins off until the water gets warm. Keep doing that until the swelling is all gone.”

“Ok ill check on you tomorrow night. Just give me a ring if you need anything.”

“Thanks again Barb. I don’t know what I would have done with out you. “

Barb leaves Ann resting on the couch with her foot up high on some pillows.

The next morning Ann awakes to her alarm, which means she had a good night sleep. Her ankle still nestled tightly in the bandage and air cast. She gets up and uses the crutches to go to the shower and get ready for work. After showering she gets dressed re-wraps her ankle and goes back to the lounge to try her shoe on, She gets the size 9 right shoe that Barb brought over and she slides her foot in comfortably. She takes a couple tablets and then gets breakfast ready.

Her and jasmine eat, and as they leave the front door Ann places the crutches next to the door. Her first step was comforting, still very painful but manageable and her ankle felt very stable.

Jasmine heads off to school and Ann to work.

Beth comes in early as promised to see how Ann is going and Ann tells her all about what Barb did and told her. She gets through the day ok, her limp grows noticeably worse by the end of the day. Practically unable to bare weight on her ankle by the time she gets home. She follows the routine strictly, ice bucket, crutches as much as possible and wearing the air cast and bandage. Barb checks in on her every couple nights and she is seeing some progress. The swelling is down a fair bit and the bruising starting to reduce as well.

Week three and Ann has been pushing too hard, not using the crutches at home as much as she should probably. She has noticed the swelling starting to come back a little.

By week four she isn’t using the brace anymore and now wearing her own shoes again. She doesn’t bandage her ankle anymore but rather just takes it with her incase its required.

Its Tuesday morning and things seem to be going ok again, she hasn’t missed any work, which is great. Things have picked up at work so now Ann and Beth both open up the shop at 9am. They get into work as normal and start all the setting up as normal. Beth has a mop and bucket out cleaning up some sticky stuff on the floor that was missed by the cleaners the night before.

She squeezes the mop in the bucket and then mops an area between 2 tables. She turns to rinse the mop again. Ann starts to approach her from behind not realizing that’s where Beth just mopped. Her left foot slips outwards, she puts her right foot out to catch her self but she lands almost on her toes but pointed inwards slightly. As her body weight comes crashing down she goes completely over on her right ankle and a loud POP echoes off the floor and Ann crumbles to the ground. She grasps at her right ankle in her hand holding it tightly. “Oh god, no..” Beth turns just as it happen and goes to her aid.

“Ann are you ok?”

“No, it’s my right ankle again.”

Beth tries to consol her as she lay on the floor holding her ankle, the pain starting to visibly show on Ann’s face.

“I’m so sorry Ann, I didn’t see you coming I would have warned you.”

“It’s ok Beth its not your fault,” Ann reassures her.

“Is it bad Ann, “ Beth curiously asks.

“Help me up so we can have a look.”

Beth repositions herself by Ann’s side, and helps her stand up slowly she puts no weight on her ankle. She hops to the nearby chair and takes a seat.

“What do you want me to do Ann?” Beth asks.

“I need you to support my ankle while I lift it onto the chair.”

Beth reaches down and supports her ankle; Ann slowly lifts it up, “aaahh yeah, that’s bad.”

Ann rests it down on the chair. She looks down at her ankle and within minutes of it happening her ankle has swollen to the size of a tennis ball. Beth grabs the ice pack from the freezer and gently places it on Ann’s ankle.

Ann knows that if she removes her shoe she wont be able to get it back on. She looks at Beth who is a bit freaked out and concerned that she caused it.

“Is it broken Ann? It made a terrible noise.”

Ann looks at her ankle again, the pain starting to radiate up her leg, identical to last time.

She looks up at Beth and says, “ I’m pretty sure its not broken, but ill have to try and walk on it. But I think I just tore my CTFL.”

“Oh Ann I’m so sorry.”

“It’s ok Beth accidents happen.” Thinking that she will be able to manage like last time.

“Help me up and ill see if I can put some pressure on it.”

Beth removes the ice pack from Ann’s ankle which has continued to grow in size.  She helps support her ankle as she lowers it down. She stands up and holds Beth’s arm for support. She moves her right foot forward and takes a step limping very heavily. “arrhhh, yeah. Its defiantly a ligament.” She takes a few more steps not showing any improvement. She sits back down, and asks Beth to get her phone.

Beth returns with the phone. She goes into her contact list and rings Barb.

“Hi barb its Ann.”

“Hi Ann how’s everything going? How’s the ankle?”

“Well that’s what I’m ringing about.”

“Oh, have hurt your ankle again? Are you ok?”

“I slipped on some water and went over on my right ankle again. It popped again and swelled instantly to the size of a tennis ball.”

“Oh dear, are you ok? Do you want me to come and pick you up?”

“Its very painful but I can’t leave work, ill try and manage today but can you come over tonight around 7 pm again.”

“Yes of course, ill have my phone with me all day if you need me Ok.”

“Ok thanks”, and she hangs up the phone.

Beth looks at Ann and starts to apologies again. “I’m so sorry Ann, ill cover you today on the floor ok, you just stay behind the counter as much as possible.”

Ann acknowledges by shaking her head.

Beth secures the ice pack to Ann’s ankle with the tape as best as possible.

She cradles Ann’s swollen ankle in her hands as she lowers it to the ground. Then standing next to her she helps Ann stand onto her left leg. Beth pushes the chairs back under the table and out of the road. Ann slowly slides her right foot gently forward and tries to take a step. “Aaarrrhhh, damn, no I cant”.

Her ankle pounding, her calf and leg radiates the pain right up to her hip.

She tries again, “come on Ann you are stronger than this” as she peps herself up.

She transfers about 50% of her weight and tries a step. She limps very heavily and almost resembles a hop. She lets go of Beth and makes her way very slowly to the counter. With every step she takes she needs a minute to recover. Letting the pain settle before attempting the next step. Once behind the counter she stays off her ankle as much possible using the bench for support hopping as best as she can.

She reaches into her handbag and takes a few pills, 2 ibuprofen and 2 stronger pain killers. She removes the ice pack from her ankle and places it back in the freezer.

The lunch time busy period sets in and Beth is racing around the floor as fast as possible to try and cover all the tables but it’s just too much for her. Ann grabs her note pad and pen and starts to walk out from behind the counter. The painkillers helping for the time being reducing the absolutely agonizing pain to a moderate to high ache. She rounds the corner of the counter taking very small steps slowly she makes her way around to a few tables. After about an hour the crowd starts to ease off, and Ann is really starting to struggle to walk. Her shoe feels like its 3 sizes to small it’s so tight, and the pressure of it pressing on her badly swollen ankle is agonizing. Ann and Beth convene behind the counter briefly, and Beth notices the pain on Ann’s face.

“Are you ok Ann, do you need to sit down for a bit?”

“No its ok,” she sobs lightly.

Beth takes a knee to look at Ann’s ankle, she slowly lifts up Ann’s leg pant.

“Oh Ann that looks terrible.”

Her ankle has tripled in size. The inside and the outside of her ankle is now completely swollen like a grape fruit. The swelling also extending up her usually slim lower leg. Beth gets the ice pack out again and tapes it to Ann’s ankle as best as possible.

“You stay here Ann I should be able to cover all the tables now that it has quiet down a little.

Ann nods and wipes a tear from her eye, knowing that she cannot bare any more weight on her ankle.

Beth moves back into the floor and continues serving tables.

By 3.30pm the place is dead no customers for the moment. Ann still perched behind the counter holds her foot steady on the ground. Beth kneels down to remove the ice pack and looks at the swelling. It hasn’t reduced but hasn’t increased either. She stands back up and helps Ann get her stuff together as the girls prepare to finish. Sally walks in followed by another girl and they take over the floor allowing Beth and Ann to leave out the back door. Ann takes micro steps shuffling out the back door inch by inch until they are in the car park.

“Let me drive you home Ann,” Beth asks.

“No its ok, I can manage plus I need my car incase any thing happens with jasmine.”

“Ok well at least let me help you hop to your car and get you in.”

Beth positions her self by Ann’s left side and puts her arm around her waist. Ann hops slowly towards the car being careful not to cause any movement in her ankle.

Beth helps her in the car and says goodbye.

Ann drives home slowly, the pain starting to build again. She reaches the driveway and positions herself to get out hoping around slowly using the car for support. She opens the front door and then waits out front for jasmine to be dropped off.

She sees Joan coming down the road and watches the car pull into the driveway. Jasmine comes running out for a hug and then takes off inside. Ann thanks Joan and waves her good bye. She slides her right foot forward and tries a step. Her limp is getting much worse. She gets within two steps of her front door and shuffles her right foot forward again. She transfers some weight to take a step, her ankle offers no support and has no strength left. As she tries to take a step her ankle begins to giveaway and starts to roll out, she catches her self with her left leg letting out a moan of pain, “Arrrhhhh, god damn it.”

She hops one step to the door and rests her ankle on the ground gently. A tear runs down her cheek and she starts to sob. Not because of the pain but because she knows she wont be able to go to work for a while. She hears jasmine calling out to her, and wipes the tears from her eyes and composes her self. She reaches out to grab the crutches still located just inside her front door and crutches inside.

About 10 minutes later the doorbell rings. Ann crutches to the front door and opens it and Barb is standing there with two bags in her hand.

“Barb, Hi you are early.”

“I hope you don’t mind Ann but I got some take out on the way and thought I would come early to help you with jasmine.”

“But what about your children, “ Ann asks concerned she is putting her friend out too much.

“Their fine my eldest daughter who is 16 now is baby sitting for the night. Anyways enough of that lets get you on the sofa.”

Ann crutches slowly but gracefully to the sofa and takes a seat. Barb goes straight for the kitchen and returns with an ice pack. Ann slowly pulls up her leg pant and exposes her badly swollen ankle.

“Oh Ann you poor thing. That’s very swollen.”

She places the ice pack down gently on her ankle. She then tells Ann to just stay there while she gets jasmine sorted. She gets some food for jasmine and gets her bathed and ready for bed, tucking her in tightly and reads her a quick story to put her to sleep.

Barb returns to the lounge to find Ann sobbing quietly. “Oh honey are you ok.” she gives her a big hug.

“What am I going to do Barb. If I can’t walk I will have no job.”

“Don’t worry about that at the moment, we will work something out and I have an idea anyways but first lets get this foot into a bucket of water.”

Barb fetches a bucket of icy water and places it on the floor.

She positions herself on the sofa so that Ann’s right foot is resting on her knee. She removes the ice pack and starts to untie the shoelace peeling them out one by one until the shoelace is completely removed. She tries to peel the shoe apart as much as possible but it’s even tighter than last time.

“Ok dear I’m sorry but this is going to hurt.”

Ann braces herself grabbing the chair in her hands and squeezes tightly. Barb starts to work the shoe off but it’s very tight. She grabs the heel of the shoe and starts to push it off.

“Aaarrrhhhhhhhh,” Ann screams in pain as the shoe releases and slides of her foot. Tears well up in her eyes and gently roll down her cheeks. Barb wastes no time and goes to work on her sock immediately. She grabs her handbag and removes her manicure set and retrieves a small pair of scissors. She slowly starts to cut the top of the sock until it is released from Ann’s foot.

She inspects Ann’s ankle and foot. The swelling the size of a grape fruit there is no definition left in Ann’s lower leg, ankle and foot, the swelling reaching all the way from her toes to her calf. On the outer edge of Ann’s heel there is dark bruising forming already. On the inside of her heel there is also some bruising showing and it extends along the arch of her foot.

“Ok lets get this in that bucket.”

Ann slowly lifts her leg up with the help of Barb, as she lowers it into the bucket she sees how swollen it is from behind. The rear of her heel which is usually 1 inch wide is almost 3 inches wide. Her entire foot and ankle engulfed by the swelling.

She continues to lower her foot into the icy cold water. As it starts to numb she feels some relief from the pain. After 20 minutes Barb helps her to remove her foot from the bucket and gently massages her foot, ankle and lower leg to try and reduce the swelling. Then it goes back into the bucket. They do this for the next 2 hours until the water isn’t cold anymore. Barb helps Ann rest her foot gently down on some pillow on the sofa. Ann looks at the inside and outside of her ankle and tries to move it but can budge it at all. She starts to sob and break down into tears. Barb hugs her to consol her again.

“What am I going to do Barb? I can’t possibly go to work on this ankle.”

Barb pulls back from the hug, “ Ann you are going to work for me. That way you can have some time to let your ankle recover.”

“Oh Barb I cant do that you have done so much for me already. I can’t possibly repay you for any of this,” she sobs through her hands.

“Non sense Ann, you are the toughest mother I know. Hell you went to work as a waitress on a severely sprained ankle for weeks. That’s more dedication and motivation than I can get from all my staff put together. “

Ann smiles a little and wipes the tears from her eyes. “I guess I never really looked it like that I just keep thinking about jasmine and wanted to give her everything she wants.”

“Ok well you are now my fulltime assistant and then we will get you trained up to do the marketing side as well.”

“Thank you so much Barb this means the world to me. I hope that one day I can repay you some how.”

“I’ll drop off some reading material in the morning and you can read that for the next two weeks while you sit on the couch and keep off that ankle.”

Barb helps Ann wrap her ankle in a bandage and then puts on the air cast for her. “Ok dear, ill be around first thing in the morning to check on you ok.”

“Ok, Thanks for everything barb.”

When barb leaves Ann lays on the couch exhausted from the day. She picks up her phone and send a message to her boss tell him that she won’t be coming into work anymore.

She pulls her self up and gently lowers her foot down to the ground. She grabs the crutches and heads for the kitchen. She takes a couple pills and then makes her way to her bedroom.

She props her foot up on some pillows and lays on her back starring at the ceiling thinking about this next chapter in her life and what will it bring.

She doses off to sleep for a few hours before she is awoken by agonizing pain in her ankle. She sits her self up and looks at her foot. Her toes are very puffy and turning purple. The portion her heel that is exposed is also very swollen and badly bruised on the inside and outside of her heel.

She grabs her crutches and heads for the kitchen. She takes a few ibuprofen to try and reduce the swelling, and takes post on the couch. She gently undoes the Velcro holding the air cast on and slides it off. Then gently peels away the bandage until its removed. There are deep grooves in her skin left from the bandage and caused by the ankle swelling over night. She has bruising all over her ankle and foot, and up her calf.

She props her foot up on some pillows and turns the TV on trying to take her mind off the pain. Over the rest of the night she doses in and out of sleep.

When morning arrives she is already awake. Her ankle swelled a little more overnight and is now showing some deep purple bruises. She prepares for her morning ritual and showers and get jasmine ready for school. She leaves her foot naked for the moment until Barb arrives.

Barb arrives with a box in her hands and asks how she is going.  She shows her the stuff she can go through over the next couple of weeks to get up to speed. She also hands her a check for 2 weeks pay.

Barb re wraps Ann’s ankle and applies the air cast again after having a quick look at her ankle.

Over the course of the next week Ann stays resting on the couch, reading over her material. Her ankle remained quite swollen for the first couple days and then started to reduce dramatically. She continues the ice bucket treatments and has been 100% on crutches not putting any weight on her ankle.

On the Friday Ann has finished all of the reading barb dropped off. When barb comes over she brings a brand new laptop with her. “Hear you go honey, I have got it all setup for you. Now you can start receiving emails and correspondence and I can take you through what is going on in the business on a day to day process.”

Barb inspects the ankle again and notices the swelling reducing. She is starting to get some definition back in her lower leg and ankle. 

The following week continues as normal, Ann still using the crutches and staying off her foot. The swelling has started to reduce dramatically and now her foot it starting to look more normal like. The bruising is starting to fade away slowly as well. She has continued to work with barb.

That weekend Barb goes over to see Ann and they discuss her coming into the office on Monday. Barb has a desk lined up for her, and she can sit and put her foot up. Ann agrees that she is ready.

Monday comes and Ann is dressed in a nice short skirt that goes just below her knees, and nice top and a ballerina flat on her left foot. Her right foot is freshly wrapped in a 4” bandage and the air cast to keep it all locked in place.

Barb arrives to pick her up and they head into the office.

Barb has organized a bit of a meet and greet morning tea with the rest of the staff. And everyone is very friendly and nice and all asking about her ankle.  She likes the attention she gets while on crutches; everyone looks at her legs and her bandaged ankle.

She settles into her desk and Barb goes over some more stuff. Barb wants to train her as her replacement when she isn’t around. Someone she can trust to run the business just the way she wants it done. So she focuses a lot of Ann training on how the business is run and what they can offer. Ann dives straight in and is all over it in no time. She also does some personal admin work for Barb including managing her busy calendar.

As the week goes by Ann is feeling much more relaxed about the new job and is going great. Barb is very pleased with her motivation and her work out put is great. She is a quick learner.

By the end of week 3 her foot and ankle is looking better. Only minor bruising is still visible and most of the swelling as gone including around her toes. She has continued to stay completely off it and now just wears a bandage on her ankle. She has been working on some exercises to loosen up her ankle as well and actually has pretty good range of motion considering the severity of the sprain.

Saturday morning Barb stops by to say hello. Ann is keen to try some pressure on her ankle, so Barb suggests she use the crutches at first and try some pressure slowly. Her ankle still bandaged she stand up and tries to put some weight on her ankle. At first just a little bit and it feels not too bad. Then she tries about 50 % of her body weight and she is surprised at how good it feels. A bit of pain and still a bit of stiffness but all in all she is happy with the progress.

Barb suggests that over the next week she tries to bare a bit of weight using her crutches. And build up that ankle strength again. She takes the advice on board and by the following weekend she is able to walk with out the crutches. Still limping lightly but moving around quite freely.

She continues her work and is loving the new job along with the flexibility. She now can pick up and drop of jasmine everyday and is able to work from home if required.

Her ankle improves over the next few weeks until she is almost back to normal. Her new job is putting more money in the bank and she is very happy with it. Also she has gone back to studying part time to finish her business degree.

As the months turn into years, all is well. Her ankle never as strong as it used to be causes her some issues now and then. Once or twice a year she accidentally rolls it ending in some light swelling and her using the crutches for a few days but all in all pretty good.

Now she has finished her degree and is taking on more management role at the business including hiring new staff and organizing contracts for work and even doing some advertisement selling herself.

It’s a Wednesday morning and everyone is at the office except for barb. Ann’s mobile phone starts to ring and she pulls it out of her pocket and sees the caller ID, its Barb.

“Hi barb, how are you today?”

“Hi Ann”, Ann hers her sobbing on the other end.

“Barb is everything ok?”

“No I fell over in the back yard, I need you to come and help me. Its my right ankle.”

“Ok ill be right there.”

Ann hangs up the phone and grabs her keys from her desk and takes off down the road. She swings by her place and collects the crutches, air cast and bandages that Barb brought to her years ago when she injured her ankle.

She arrives at Barbs house and makes her way through the side gate. In the middle of the yard barb is sitting on the grass. Her right leg stretched out in front of her resting on her heel.

Ann hurries to her side placing all the stuff on the ground and has one look at Barbs right ankle. She is wearing sneakers and ankle socks and the out side of her ankle is the size of a softball. The swelling sticks out at least 1 inch.

“Oh Barb what happened?”

Barb goes on to tell how she was just out the back tidying up as she went to step she stub her right foot into the ground and her body weight transferred and went right over on her ankle.

Ann consoles her briefly as barb wipes the tears from her eyes.

“Did u hear a pop Barb?” Ann asks.

“Yes there was two distinct pops, Ann. I’m pretty sure I have done both my ATFL and CTFL ligaments.”

An obviously in the know now understands exactly what she is saying.

Ok lets get you up on these crutches and inside.

Ann helps barb stand up slowly. Keeping all her weight of her right ankle. Ann adjusts the crutches for Barb as she is a bit taller than her and she was the last one to use them. She watches as Barb crutches inside like a pro. One inside she sits at the chair in the dinning room and rests the crutches on the table. Ann remembers exactly what to do and fetches a bucket of icy water and places it next to barb. She takes a knee and slowly unties the shoes laces on Barbs right sneaker. She supports the ankle and lifts it up towards her, and spreads the shoe apart a much as possible. Ann looks up at Barb and she nods back as in to acknowledge that she is ready to remove the shoe.

Ann starts to work it off slowly. Barb clenches her teeth and Ann works the shoe off slowly. Once the shoe is removed she manages to get the sock off easily with out too much discomfort.

Ann looks at the swelling and prods around Barbs ankle. She presses in around her ATFL and Barb flinches and clenches her hands, “Arrhhh.”

She then moves to the CTFL and again Barb flinches in pain and lets out a moan.

Ann positions her hand to test the movement in the ankle joint. Barb yells as the pain shoots up her leg, “Oh god, I forgot how much this hurts.”

She looks down at Ann, “ what do you think Ann?”

“You have a double ligament rupture.”

Barb already knew the answer to the question.

She looks down at Ann and says, “I told you one day you would be able to repay me.”

The end.