I barely slept last night due to the extreme discomfort in my ankle. In short, it hurt like a bitch!!! I wanted to be a hardass so I didn't ice or bandage my foot yesterday after my hooping accident. I'm the type of person that believes a little pain is good for your health. As a result, the injury swelled and I had a baseball on the side of my foot. I put a topical NSAID on the damaged area, took a Celebrex, and slept with my foot on two pillows while there were none under my head. Resting the injured extremity above the heart allows the swelling to drain away from it. Today, I only have a golf ball-sized modification on the side of my left ankle.
I was still walking on my foot taking care of how much weight I put on it. It hurt a lot but I had to use it. I'm an au pair which means I'm still taking care of kids. I also drive a stick-shift so I needed my left foot to press down on the clutch. I hadn't planned on seeing anyone because I knew my foot wasn't broken, but when I woke up this morning, the wounded area was black and blue. I tried to suck it up but the slightest movement threw sharp pains up my entire body. After I took Gregoire to the creche, I decided I'd go see a doctor--just in case. I'm the type that tries to avoid medical care but everyone's concern made me paranoid.
I decided to see if there were any English-speaking doctors in the area and searched on the expat site. Luckily, there were two. I decided to call Dr. Lottes whose office was in nearby St. Marc de Jaumegarde. I wanted to find an English speaker so that I could fully comprehend the diagnosis and treatment plan. Dr. Lottes is an American physical therapist who moved to France after retirement with his wife who is a radiologist. We did some x-rays and from the films, Dr. Lottes decided I had inverted ankle sprain. From the look of the tears, he could see that my foot was turned inward as my ankle was forced outward. According to Dr. Lottes, I had partially torn anterior talofibular as well as the calcaneofibular ligaments. Basically, I almost destroyed two of the three main ankle ligaments. Ew, I could've done without knowing. Nothing grosses me out except childbirth and injuries to myself. The doctor said that my ankle was seriously but not severely sprained so I should just be careful when walking. Fortunately, I have really strong bones so I didn't break anything. With Camille's own ankle and Baptiste's wrist injuries, we are almost a house full of cripples! Hopefully, we'll stop being so clumsy!
Day 1
I was still walking on my foot taking care of how much weight I put on it. It hurt a lot but I had to use it. I'm an au pair which means I'm still taking care of kids. I also drive a stick-shift so I needed my left foot to press down on the clutch. I hadn't planned on seeing anyone because I knew my foot wasn't broken, but when I woke up this morning, the wounded area was black and blue. I tried to suck it up but the slightest movement threw sharp pains up my entire body. After I took Gregoire to the creche, I decided I'd go see a doctor--just in case. I'm the type that tries to avoid medical care but everyone's concern made me paranoid.
Day 2
I decided to see if there were any English-speaking doctors in the area and searched on the expat site. Luckily, there were two. I decided to call Dr. Lottes whose office was in nearby St. Marc de Jaumegarde. I wanted to find an English speaker so that I could fully comprehend the diagnosis and treatment plan. Dr. Lottes is an American physical therapist who moved to France after retirement with his wife who is a radiologist. We did some x-rays and from the films, Dr. Lottes decided I had inverted ankle sprain. From the look of the tears, he could see that my foot was turned inward as my ankle was forced outward. According to Dr. Lottes, I had partially torn anterior talofibular as well as the calcaneofibular ligaments. Basically, I almost destroyed two of the three main ankle ligaments. Ew, I could've done without knowing. Nothing grosses me out except childbirth and injuries to myself. The doctor said that my ankle was seriously but not severely sprained so I should just be careful when walking. Fortunately, I have really strong bones so I didn't break anything. With Camille's own ankle and Baptiste's wrist injuries, we are almost a house full of cripples! Hopefully, we'll stop being so clumsy!
Hi Melinda,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog when I was googling reviews of the IEFEE--I was wondering how you liked it, how you like living in Aix, what the program is like, how easy it is to meet people there/work on improving your french (I speak a fair amount but not enough to be comfortable having conversations with real, live French people...). I'm doing this on my own as well and I'm trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing, so if you have any advice (I'm thinking I'm only going to spend the fall semester there) I'd love to hear it!
Hey Molly, I totalIy understand what it's like to go in blind. It's so scary! But this is probably one of the best and most memorable things you'll do in your life--especially because you're doing it on your own. You learn a lot about yourself and your inherent skills when you put yourself in a situation where you HAVE to adapt. I applaud you for your courage!
ReplyDeleteTo answer your questions...
IEFEE was a pretty good program. You're put into a class that is gauged to your level of skill. My professor was extremely helpful though I heard about a few that didn't really make any effort. At the beginning of each semester you'll have welcome meetings that will bring all of the students together--you'll be informed of everything here if you don't know what's coming already. The program made it extremely easy to make friends :-)
Sign up for a french dating site like pof.fr even if you're not looking for anything, use it to advance your casual conversational skills. Most of what we're taught is formal and too precise. People don't actually speak that way. Watch french movies and listen to french music. You'll get used to hearing words as they're naturally spoken and that will certainly help you with your listening AND speaking skills.
Sign up for couchsurfing.org and list Aix as your hometown. Register for notifications for local meetings, keep up to date on the events before you arrive, and if you're interested, of course go to the meetings. You can also find pen pals and prospective friends here.
If you're looking for an apartment, look into the CAF system. If you don't have very much money coming in, the government will help you pay for your lodgings--even if you are a foreign student. Look into this ahead of time because there's no french translation and you'll need time to get all of your documents in order.
If you're looking for free lodging and a side-job where you can make enough money to travel every once in awhile, look into being an au pair. Not only do I absolutely love my family, but I've learned so much living with them. My French skills skyrocketed after I moved in with them. My friends from IEFEE who had their own apartments can attest to how much my family taught me. Plus, au pair hosts are generally super cool. I pretty much have every weekend off to explore Europe with my frenchie boyfriend.
Speaking of French boyfriends, that's the best way to improve your conversational skills. I met mine through a photoshoot. Try to find as many events as possible that interest you and go to all of them. You'll meet a ton of people and I'm sure all of the locals will love to meet you ;-)
Let me know if you have any other questions!
Ah, I forgot to answer one of your questions. Aix is amazing!!! It's beautiful and will cater to your every need! If there's something you can't find here like the beach, it's just 5 euros and 30 minutes away by bus :-)
ReplyDeleteOMG, your ankle looks horrible! I hope you get better. :(
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm much better. Thank you! The 2nd picture looks a lot worse than it actually was--probably from me adjusting the brightness
ReplyDelete