Heinz Trucking

Michael and Mary took their black belt tests over these past couple of weeks, and they passed with flying colors - and Mike did it with a broken toe!

Mary was also a surprise - she did extremely well, got right in there and aced her techniques and katas, and didn't fuss about the sparring - even though she forgot to bring a chest protector! (Eventually, the instructors noticed and made her put one on.)

We knew Michael wasn't going to have a problem with the tests, so he decided to create one by jamming his foot a few days before the tests began. Things got exciting the day of the sparring final, when a doctor called us to tell us that (a) yes the foot was broken where the big toe connects to the foot and (b) he wasn't allowed to finish the tests until he saw a specialist. So, we dragged him out of school, and found a orthopedic surgeon who looked at the x-rays and said, "Eh. Just tape the two toes together." So, he went in and did well - although the tape flew off when he round housed an opponent. Here's a picture of the broken foot, for posterity:

To see the break, look at the second bone of the big toe. There's a small piece chipped off. Not a really big deal, but the doctors were worried that if it moved out of place he would have to have surgery to straighten it out again.