Adding Insult to Injury

Long story short: Saturday was not Neil's day. He possesses a deep abiding love for all things Auburn, including Auburn football. So it was beyond disappointing for him that our team lost a heartbreaker of a game to LSU. But that was only part of his troubles. The day began to take a turn for the worse for Neil when he stepped awkwardly off a curb while tailgating on campus before the ballgame. His misstep resulted in a severely swollen and probably sprained left ankle. It was bad enough that the foot was hurting, but we exacerbated his injury by walking what seemed like several miles (ok, maybe just a mile or so but it seemed like more!) from our parked car to the stadium and back again. By the time we were within sight of our car after the game, Neil was shuffling like Harvey Corman. I offered to carry him for the duration but he said we wouldn't get very far. (He's right.) Neil woke up Sunday morning with what looked like a giant flesh-colored tennis ball attached to the side of his foot (see photo above). Let me tell you -- the thing was huge! Neil is such a good sport and really didn't complain much, although I know how badly he was hurting (flashback to Katie's sprained ankle incident of 04!). A good barometer for how Neil is really feeling is how much he lets something like an injury or illness slow him down. He is not one to sit idly but he spent pretty much all Sunday on the couch, which is truly rare. The swelling has gone down a bit but as of Tuesday night, the ankle still looks pretty bad. However, Neil is pushing through and at this point isn't letting it get in his way. Hopefully, he'll be healed in time for Saturday when the Tigers have an opportunity to redeem themselves against Tennessee. I know another loss would surely make Neil forget about his pain but let's not go there!