I sail for a living on cargo ships and am unable to get to a doctor or land at that matter for about 3 days and I had a boo boo. A 200lb steel roller fell and hit the side of my foot in the bunion area (I do not have a bunion though) this happened about 4 hours ago and now it is swollen, discolored and numb,I can not feel the inside of my instep and big toe. I will go in asap but need to know what I can do for the time being and how can I tell if I did something serious to it? Oh I can still wiggle my toe but it is discomforting.I was unable to put ice/heat on it right away due to having to finish my work shift.

N0help4u

My old bf with his clumsy non listening self broke two of my toes and a bone in the top of my foot and I went and got the x rays at the ER and they told me to take them to the bone specialist and he didn't do a thing except tell me $800.
But at least with the x rays I could tell it was a clean aligned break where the bones weren't going to heal wrong and would need it to be rebroken to heal right. So I went home and bandaged it with an ace bandage and tried to keep off it as much as possible so the bones didn't end up getting misaligned.

cmbt_medic

okay to discern if x-rays are required we use what is called th ottawa ankle rule.

first of all do you have bone tenderness along the ankle region of the outside of your foot.
second is there bone tenderness along the inside 6cm of your ankle.
bone tenderness along the base of the 5th metatarsal (front ouside part of your foot arch)
bone tenderness at the navicular bone (inside midfoot above the foot arch)
and an inability to bear weight immediatly and for 4 steps in the emergency department.

judging from the fact that you finished the shift it doesn't sound like it's broken just bruised. i reccommend using compression (ace wraps) and an alternating heat and cold regime. if you have access to NSAID's such as motrin 800mg or naproxen 500mg either of them would help with the pain and the swelling.