Hurt my foot, can't get to minor injuries:( wtf do I do?

[OctopusSexArm]

So earlier today I was chasing the toddler and I put my foot in a hole on the path and my foot turned over.

It was at the bottom of the garden so managed to gather her up and get home but I can barely walk on it, just keep it in one position and shuffle.

I have doctors surgery right across the road but she said I'd have to go to minor injuries without even seeing me.

The problem is, I live rurally with a dependent and breastfed baby and no car. Minor injuries is 20 miles away and public transport stops at 4pm.
I also can't walk enough to do it in my own so my husband would have to come which means bringing the other two, and there's a risk we won't be seen until too late to get the last bus/train home.

Taxi is completely unaffordable.

I'll have to painkiller and elevate it until it feels better right? And risk it being broken because what else do I do?
I can't call an ambulance for this that's ridiculous

I’m assuming you have a car if you live rurally but perhaps it’s in the garage or something?

When are you expecting it back?

If soon, then I’d get DH to take you and the kids.
Take screens, colouring books, toys etc and he can sit in the car and get them a McDonald’s to eat whilst they wait.

If you can express then do that and have DH take the baby but if not then you’ll have to take baby with you in the pram (hopefully you’ll get seen quicker).

If the car is not going to be available for a few days then you’re going to have to get the earliest bus you can and then leave if it gets to a certain time.

Minor injuries is usually way faster than A&E and if they see you with a baby and 2 other kids they’ll likely get you seen asap.

Well you are wrong.

The GP feels it needs an X-ray and unless I’m mistaken, GPs can’t tend to pull X-ray machines out of their arse.

I can’t believe how many of you would hobble about with a possible broken foot and take two paracetamols and crack on! Madness!

Why are you assuming there is a car when the op said they don't have a car?

This has absolutely boggled me- so many people imagining a car!

Why?

I answered this yesterday in a PP.

Because they live rurally with 3 kids.

There was obviously a car at some point.

No one would prioritise having a 3rd baby over driving lessons when as OP said, public transport is so poor.

If the car is due back within the next couple of days eg it’s in the garage, then I’d personally try and wait it out.

If it’s not back eg it’s completely broken, they’re both banned drivers etc, then there’s no option but to take public transport.

But she also lives opposite a GP, so it’s quite possible that it’s an isolated community that has everything for day to day life within walking distance. It’s not a farm in the middle of nowhere with a magical GP surgery over the road, surely?!?

RICE - rest, ice, compression if you have elastic bandage, elevate. If you have local Facebook ask if anyone can loan you a crutch to use tomorrow and go to minor injuries then. Ask husband to bring home elastic bandage. For the ice (a crucial part) wrap frozen veg in a tea towel and refreeze when it starts to defrost. If no frozen veg wet towel.

Patient transport arranged via 111 ?

This is amazing. The assumption that EVERYBODY has a car and that the only reason a car isn't available is because it's being repaired.

Running a car is expensive. You have to buy it, tax it, insure it, maintain it, keep it topped up with petrol.
Lots of people don't have cars.
The op said they don't have a car.

Yes living rurally with no car and poor public transport must be difficult but it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Yeah as a parent, I’d have an emergency taxi fund stashed in an envelope somewhere if I didn’t have a car. You need to have things in place as a parent, it’s really not good otherwise when kids are involved.
Honestly, how people who don’t drive can decide to have children when they live rurally, or wherever there is no late public transport at the very least (or large bank account!) is absolutely beyond me….

To be fair, not everyone has an overdraft! Not to derail the thread but I get 46k gross per year, whilst I do have 3 credit cards, mobile phone on contract and a few other credit-sourced products, the bank STILL won’t even give me a £50 overdraft! So let’s not assume everyone has access to an overdraft and/or credit cards!

OP, if the swelling is substantial and it goes quite black all around the area that’s injured, then there’s a good chance it’s fractured. Obviously this doesn’t mean it’s not broken if there isn’t either of these as you can never definitively tell without an xray, but IF you have both of these occur, then I’d find a way to a&e asap. Good luck

Running a car is not as expensive as having 3 kids though.

I’m pretty sure that OP and her DH would not have had a 3rd child if they couldn’t afford 2 kids and a car.

Unless you have a decent public transport service (which OP says they don’t) then you absolutely need to drive because taxis are extortionate.

It’s not judging OP and her family, it’s simply helping her decide whether to wait a day or 2 if the car is coming back soon or if there is absolutely no car then they have no choice but to get public transport and taxi.

LOADS of people have kids they can't afford.

Hey @OctopusSexArm how are you?

I disagree. I broke my ankle and, assuming it was just a sprain, hobbled around for a month before getting an X-ray. The hospital doctor who finally saw it, said that it should have had metal plates put in on day one but it was too late as the fibia had fused back together.
Fast forward twenty years and the misalignment has put pressure on my knee and I now have arthritis in it.
Don't be me.

People who give advice like, you don’t need an X-ray are bloody dangerous.

Get dropped off at minor injuries and get picked up afterwards. Yes it’s inconvenient taking the kids in and out, but if it’s required I’m not sure why you’re putting stumbling blocks in your path unnecessarily. An ambulance would be utterly ridiculous when you have someone who can drive you.

Like everyone I mis read it 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ bus the following day sounds like your only real option. And possibly looking at some kind of vehicle for emergencies at the least if you’re that rural that all transport is done by 4pm.

Your dh drives you to MI unit. He takes duvets and pillows so the dcs can sleep in the car and waits with them while you go in and have your foot seen.

Hope you were able to get to minor injuries and it wasnt broken.