The Result of a Bad Accident (broken bone pictures included)

The news is in. I resigned myself to going to see an Orthopedic Foot Doctor. In bizzarro world I was hoping he would say "you're fine, just a little sprain", pump my foot full of cortizone and send me on my way to Toughmudder. In the real world I was pretty sure it's a broken bone and praying that I don't hear "we need to operate tomorrow." In a similar incident 7 years ago, only with my wrist, I was told by the first doctor I saw that it was fine. I went and saw a second doctor three weeks later and he said "we need to operate tomorrow." I thought he was kidding until he told me without surgically repairing the bones the fragmented pieces would die and they would have to fuse the joints together later.

Yesterday I made the appointment in desperation from my foot hurting terribly and being swollen up like a red foot shaped balloon.  So of course this morning it was back to normal size and mostly stopped hurting. I was actually mortified that the doc might think I'm crazy.  I nervously showed up to the appointment using my crutches, even though I could have limped without them.  The friendly nurse took my vitals and asked me to describe the incident leading to the injury (you can read the backstory about the stumble that broke my foot here).  I got three x-rays taken and chatted with the x-ray technician about my mustache and Movember. She said her husband is doing it and she hates it. Is that every female's response?

Back to the room, she pops the x-rays up on the computer monitor and tells me the doc will be in shortly. I of course immediately go to the computer to examine all three of the x-rays. Well, nothing is smashed to bits and I can't discern any obvious breaks. Dang, looks like I came in here and spent all this money for nothing. I'm gonna be told to take some ibuprofen and take it easy.

Short while later Dr. Smarnek comes in to see what's up. He does not make a bee line to the x-rays for answers like most docs. Instead, he does a thorough examine of my foot and ankle and has me tell him everything leading up to the injury.  I was concerned it might have been from a stress caused by my new running form and he would tell me not to do it anymore. He had me walk to and from, stand on my tip toes, splay my toes, and stand on one foot; all of which I could do with very little pain!  Funny, because yesterday my knee was buckling from the agony of each step.  How in the world can I stand on my tip toes today? Damn I feel foolish being here.

Then came the bending and pressing on all the bones. I knew the 3rd metatarsal was where it hurt. He jammed his thumb down into the middle of the long bone running down the middle of my forefoot and I was seeing stars! It's like the lights came on. Nothing else on my foot hurt. He had me bend and twist and push and pull in every direction imaginable. Now he decides to take a look at the x-rays. Pulls up the view looking directly down on the top of my foot, zooms in (why didn't I think to zoom in?), and clear as day is this:

So yep, that bone is broken. And he knew it before even looking at the x-ray. No other breaks. Here is the prognosis. Injury should take about 6 weeks to heal. I'm two weeks in already (the bone is showing signs of healing too) so he wants me in a walking boot for the next four. He says it has no signs of looking like a stress injury and is not concerned with my forefoot strike when running. He believes it happened when I tripped and twisted my foot; the result of a bad accident.