half-way down the stairs

There's something about being cautious on stairs that I should have learned when I was a child. I mean, really, I remember vividly falling down the stairs at my grandfather's retirement party when I was about two. I've slipped down a couple sets of staircases since. And each time, I've survived with, at most, a couple bruises. I usually instinctively fall the right way, ever since I took a self-defense class (usually being the important word there).

Yesterday afternoon, I was walking down the stairs in the linguistics building, going to class. I was chatting with a classmate about the options of thesis vs. comprehensive exams, and then, at the bottom of the stairs, I saw a friend I haven't seen since before Christmas. So I shouted hi, and as I was asking him how he was (with about two steps to go to the bottom), I placed my foot wrong. Down those last two steps I went, viciously twisting my ankle along the way. I managed to turn the word that almost came out of my mouth into "shoot!" and sat there at the bottom of the stairs, breathing carefully so as to keep from crying.

I've twisted my ankle before. Many times. It'll hurt, I rotate it a bit, and it might ache for a half hour, at most. Then it's fine. The stabbing pain of this suggested that this injury might be more serious. So, I sat through my class for an hour and a half, trying not cry or move my ankle, and then got a ride home with someone so I didn't have to face the walk to the bus stop, the bus ride, and the walk home from the bus stop.

It still hurts this morning. Badly. I think I will be stopping by the doctor's on the way home. In the meantime, it's been wrapped up and I believe ibuprofen and walking carefully are my friends.

Edit: Yes, the doctor says it's sprained. I spent close to two hours at the clinic waiting for him to tell me that I was already doing all the right stuff. Then I managed to strain my thumb a bit (either because I was a bit tense while knitting at the clinic, or because I managed to sleep on top of my hand, or both), so I have to take a day or two off of knitting. It's easier than it was this summer, but it's still annoying. I want to work on those socks.