Life Lately – that time I broke my foot in Mexico and got the flu of death.

By Lee Funke

Published 3/16/2016 • Updated 12/30/2021

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The last time I did a life lately post was WAY TOO LONG AGO. My goal for these types of posts are once a month and I am failing miserably. It’s March of 2016, which means I’ve got 1 month to live it up before I’m in my upper 20’s. 26…OH EM GEE I’M GOING TO BE 26 NEXT MONTH. 

I broke my left foot. My 5th metatarsal to be exact.  

This is probably the best story I am ever going to tell because 1. it happened in Mexico 2. Drugs were involved and 3. I got the WORST stomach flu of my life 12 hours later that lasted 6 days. 

Davida, Linley, and I decided we wanted to do one more workout before we left Mexico the next morning at 5AM for our trip home. We decided on a sunset trail run at El Jardin Botanico, which was just a mile up the hillside from where we were staying. We walk/ran there on the cobblestone street talking about what the rest of our night was going to look like. During this low impact time, I tripped on a rock and almost face planted. My response to that was: “I should probably start picking up my feet.” We laughed and continued on.

We finally got up to the recreational area and decided to pick things up to a jog. The plan was to run down to the lake and do a circuit of sorts and run back. We got about 30 seconds in and BOOM. I stepped on a rock funny and CRACK. I heard and felt a crack in my left foot. I instantly fell to the ground and said FUCK SHIT FUCK DAMNIT really loud. I took my shoe off to check things out and at this point adrenaline was kicking in. I convinced myself that I was fine, put my shoe back on, and said let’s just turn around and run home. I got one step and WAM…I realized I couldn’t put any pressure on it. Lin and Davida helped me hop to the entrance, where I took my shoe and sock off and watched my foot swell into a giant balloon. Lin went to find a taxi to take us home and Davida sat with me as I started to hyperventilate. At this point I was absolutely HYSTERICAL.

My foot is broken.

How am I going to workout?

How am I going to walk around the lake?

OMG do I need surgery?

My life is over.

My foot is broken.

I want my mom. 

OMG I’m dying.

As I was verbalizing all of these thoughts to Davida, she sat there like a champ and tried to calm me down. I called my mom and told her I thought I broke my foot, but that I was going to be okay…At least that’s why I hope she translated my panic to. A few minutes later, Davida and I watched this couple stroll out of the garden playing a flute (not even kidding) with their dog. We’re talking two hippies straight out of the 70’s. They saw us, walked to their car, and then came over to see what had happened. I explained that I thought I broke my foot and then the woman pulled something out of her bag. It looked like aloe vera and she said let me put some of this on my foot, it will take the pain away. 

IT WILL MAKE ME BETTER? SURE PUT IT ON MY FOOT.

She rubbed the stuff on my foot and then Davida asked her what it was. “Peyote”…was her response. Uhhhhh Davida said…”is that legal?” LEGAL? At this point I was like WTF IS PEYOTE? The woman’s response was: “Don’t tell anyone I gave you this.” She walked away and Davida looked at me and said YOU JUST DID DRUGS. Lolz. Apparently Peyote is a hallucinogenic if you ingest it, but that if you apply it to your skin it can help relieve pain. #onlyinmexico

Finally Lin came back in a taxi. Literally she was hanging out the window fist pumping that she got us a car. We drove back to Lin’s in-laws and then hopped into their car so that we could go to the emergency room. Note: We were leaving in 12 hours for the airport.

The Mexican hospital was actually an amazing experience. They saw me hobbling in..plopped me in a wheelchair no questions asked and brought me right back to get ex-rays. I didn’t even have to wait! It took all of 15 minutes. Unfortunately we had to wait for a doctor from the town over to be able to prescribe me meds and translate the ex-rays. Merp…that took 2 hours. The verdict was that I fractured my 5th metatarsal and that I was to wear a boot for 4-6 weeks completely non-weight baring because there was a chance I also partially tore a ligament (this was our English translation from the Spanish speaking doc). Great. I decided to just get a walking boot because I was going to go see a specialist in the states when I got home for another opinion. Air-cast it was and off we went. 

At this point…my foot was black and blue and very swollen. It actually didn’t hurt unless I put pressure on it or turned it in a funny way. Lin and Davida decided they were going to pack my stuff up, while I iced and laid in bed. I decided to bypass on the Vicodin and just take more Advil because I hadn’t really eat in a couple of hours. Plus, I was exhausted and figured I could just sleep it off until…

I woke up at midnight with a very uneasy feeling in my stomach. I convinced myself that it was because of the advil and no food in my belly…but BOYYYY was I wrong. Straight to the bathroom I went for pretty much the rest of the night. Thank goodness I had Linley there cheering me on as I vomited and had #2 until morning. The next morning I woke up a complete hot mess. I was literally FREAKING out because 1. I hate being sick and 2. traveling while sick…that’s just wrong!

We had a 3 hour drive from San Miguel to the Mexico City airport followed by two 2.5 hour flights. Boy was that rough…and not just for me! About half way into the drive we had to stop because not only was I about to shit my pants (I am sorry for the graphics, but it’s the truth), but Linley now had the same exact thing I had. Poor thing. We finally arrived to the Mexico City airport, where I plopped myself into a wheelchair (God bless wheelchairs), said goodbye to Davida who was flying out of a different terminal and skipped every line because we got to go in the handicap lane. Did I mention Linley literally carried 100 pounds worth of carry-ons (hers and mine), while pushing me in a wheelchair as I am bawling my face off because I hate being sick and I convinced myself that my life was over because my foot was broken? Definition of HOT MESS. For the next few hours we took turns in the bathroom. Feel bad for us. Very, very bad.

We finally arrived home in Minneapolis after a 16 hour travel day. My godsend of a sister picked me up and slept over because I was a basket case and was still super sick. Literally I couldn’t stop crying. I spent the next 3 days sleeping on and off and still feeling like absolute shit. Day 4 rolled around and I decided I needed to go to urgent care because I couldn’t keep food down and I was worried about dehydration. Lin was recovered by this point and accompanied me to urgent care. CHAMP. After taking literally every test possible…turns out I just had a bug (A 6 DAY BUG).

I got g re-exrayed and also got a CT scan for my foot while I was there. Why not kill two birds with one stone? Foot was still broken and I did end up tearing a bit of a ligament…but good news was…NO SURGERY! And I could walk on my air cast if it felt good. I decided I was going to stay off it as much as I could when out and about and use a sweet scooter the man candy’s parents sent me instead of crutches, which suck. 

I ended up resting a few more days after that fiasco of events and woke up Tuesday morning a BRAND NEW WOMAN. Now it’s been over two weeks and I am feeling even better! I am now able to walk on my foot in an air cast with pretty much no pain. If I go to the store or anywhere with distance…I bring my scooter (whom I named Arnold) because I move so slow, but my recovery is on track. I have an appointment scheduled at the beginning of April with the doc. Crossing my fingers for a short, 4 week recovery. Workout-wise, I have been working with my trainers at PEC and doing modified workouts. Lots of upper-body, core, and single-leg lower body stuff. I did discover last week that I can row with 1 leg…so now cardio isn’t that bad! 

There are a couple of lessons I have learned in this short 2-week time that I’ve been been all casted up.

It’s okay to depend on others. One of the main reasons why I had such a freak out at the beginning of my injury was because I am so independent. I like doing things for myself and I like doing things for others…not the other way around. The people in my life have taught me that depending on others in times of need is OKAY and HUMAN. And sometimes- it’s kind of nice. 

Slow down! – physically and mentally. I move at the speed of light and sometimes I miss the little things. Being in a cast has shown me that I am still able to get things done and that I don’t have to do it at record speeds. It’s also helped me realize that taking a physical break from always being on the move is a good thing. Oh, and I like Netflix…a lot 🙂

Life is good. In the big scheme of things. Life is good. Other than my foot (which is temporary), I am HEALTHY. I have amazing friends and family and I wouldn’t chose any other life for myself.