Breaking a leg

[brtmchl]

Dave

I have actually broken my fibula before. It happened back in High School during Football Practice. It was still the end of summer just before the school year when players go through double sessions. One practce in the morning and another in the afternoon. I broke it during the morning practice. When it happened I heard a loud pop, but was able to continue practcing. Eventually the pain got pretty bad and I went to the coach. He told me to go see the trainer which I did. The trainer seemed to think it was a sprain and tapped me up, i went back on the field and completed the practice. After I went home and laid down for a while, taking my weight off of it, it was only then when it began to swell up and turn color. I iced it for a while and went back for the second practice of the day. i was in alot of pain by this time. i could barely put any weight on it. I tried to practice but could not. The trainer saw me and looked at it again this time telling me he was sure it was broken.
I can definatly see that if Booth broke it during his leap to the stage, how he may have gotten up and got out quickly without giving off the appearance of being hurt. I can also see that while riding a horse and keeping his weight off of it, the swelling and pain becoming very bad.
I can also see the idea of injuring it at Ford's and later injuring it further when Booth's horse threw him.
I think there is a case to be made that Booth told the truth about this injury in his diary, and a case for Kauffman thinking that it may have been do to his fall later that evening.
I personally think it's a combination of the 2.

(11-19-2012 04:40 PM)Dave Taylor Wrote:  Yesterday, before I went to the opening of the Port Royal Museum of American History, I attended services at Enon Baptist Church in Supply, VA. This was my second visit to the church that holds the bodies of the Garrett family in their cemetery. The congregation is quite small (15 attendees yesterday) but they have been very helpful to me in gaining knowledge about the Garretts for my March presentation at the Surratt Society Conference. I had the chance to chat with the Reverend for quite a bit yesterday and listened to an ironic story.

A few days after my initial visit to the church, the Reverend and members of the church were doing a clean up of the road leading to the church. The pastor told me that the grass had just been mowed, turning what was once single pieces of garbage into several pieces of garbage confetti. While making his way out of a ditch after picking up some pieces, the pastor fell awkwardly. Upon getting up he felt a pain in his ankle and knew that he had sprained it. When he got home, he wrapped it with an Ace bandage and made his way to his next appointment which happened to be a funeral. He said it was painful but he could still walk on it. After the funeral at home, he unwrapped it and found it had swollen considerably. The next day, when the swelling had not gone down, he went to see a doctor. An X-ray revealed that he did not sprain his ankle as he had thought, but rather he broke his left fibula right above the ankle. He was given a splint to wear for a week, and then spent six weeks in a cast. This last Sunday was the first since the incident that he has preached standing up. He currently has an air cast.

The reverend was amused when I told him that he broke his leg in the exact same place as John Wilkes Booth. I still haven't picked a side (box jump or horse fall) regarding how Booth broke his leg, but I think the fact that this 81 year old man could continue on with his duties with only minor pain before realizing his leg was broken definitely gives credence to the idea that Booth could have escaped Ford's Theatre and even mounted a horse, with his leg broken in the same way.

Have any of you broken your fibula or know of someone who has? Did they notice it was broken right away or thought it was a sprained ankle too?