Note the swelling. My foot & ankle aren't that big!

So what am I to do with this unsightly looking bandage wrapped around my left foot?

What happened, you ask?  Well, it’s actually quite stupid.  I was working in my office yesterday and often have a bad habit of sitting on one foot while working.  While on the phone with Apple Tech Support, I noticed my foot had fallen asleep (those tech support calls aren’t quick.)  I got up to work the pins and needles out of my foot and, well, I guess I didn’t realize just how asleep my foot had gotten.  When I went to take a step, it was like, from the knee down, my leg was like rubber.  My foot turned in from under me causing all my weight to go down on the outside of my foot.    While all this was going on, not wanting to lose the call with the tech guy at Apple, I somehow managed to keep talking to him, convinced I had broken something and making sure I could at least wiggle my toes.  Not missing a beat, I tried to walk it off and grabbed a bag of frozen spinach in the freezer (It may as well be used for something, right?) and started to ice my foot.

The injury seconds after it happened. Notice the lump on the side of my left foot and the swelling?

After the call, I was finally able to address my injury and noticed what appeared to be a lump on the side of my foot that was hard to the touch and extremely painful.   Thankfully, because I had done a radio show on feet with one of the best podiatrists in NY, Dr. Lester Dennis (listen to the show), who also happens to be the father of one of my dearest friends, I was able to text this photo to him asking him his thoughts.   I expected him to say, “Eh, it’s nothing, ice it up, elevate it and take some Motrin.”  Therefore, imagine my surprise when he told me that he suspected it was broken!  Broken?  I’m a New Yorker, we can’t break our feet?   I started to run through all the things that required my feet to be my mode of transportation, the fact that I live on the third floor of a walk up and the fact that I had a meeting I couldn’t miss the next morning.  Broken???  Eff no!

By the time I got to Dr. Dennis’ office this afternoon, this is what my foot looked like, my fat, Shrek-like foot.  The second he walked into the examination room, after receiving a kiss hello (no promise that he does that with all his patients) he said, “Well it looks like you have a broken metatarsal.”  which is the the bone that runs along the outside of the foot.   I was devastated.  I haven’t broken a bone since I was six.  Yet, x-rays thankfully proved otherwise and I guess I have pretty durable bones.  I was diagnosed with a gruesome sprain, got a plaster wrap with an ace bandage and hobbled on my way home.

Yes, I can walk, I can, thankfully, get a shoe on even though my shoe options (along with my motion options) are limited.  It makes me wonder what my shoe expert bestie Meghan Cleary would suggest I wear.  Hmm, I’ll have to ask her.  I’m thankful it wasn’t worse.  I may have to avoid my sexy platforms (which for the record I was NOT wearing when I tumbled) and withstand having one even fatter ankle for a while, but it’s not that bad at all.

In the meantime, I got incredibly curious (because I’m bored and couch-bound) how someone with a worse injury could try to look stylish with a cast.  I’ve never been asked to style someone with a cast before.

Well, it seems there are some interesting cast covers out there.  I thought I’d put some looks together using  a cast cover.  Wow, this sounds like a Project Runway challenge, doesn’t it?

Forget opaque tights!  You’ve got this great mod cast cover!  Throw on this cutie tee dress from J. Crew, a bright bangle like this one from Urban Outfitters and a ballerina flat (just one for the uninjured foot) and you’ve got a stylish look going!

Have a wrist injury?  I thought this leaf pattern cast cover was stylish with a spring flair!  Worn with any business casual look like this cardigan by Tory Burch, a simple tank, a pair of ivory jeans and these fun shoes and it all harmonizes.

Florals are hot for spring and it seems that the cast cover world has their finger on the pulse of trend.  I love taking this floral cast and putting it with this denim dress from Anthropologie, a pair of Bloch ballerina flats, only the MOST comfortable flats on the planet, a bright cheery handbag in yellow, and some Kate Spade earrings and bracelet.