Ankleversary

I just glanced at the calendar and realized that a year ago today I smashed my ankle.

For the most part, it is all better now -- as good as it's going to get, I'd say. I do get the odd day of extra aches and pains (usually when the weather changes) and I obsessively cling to handrails now, but I often forget that I have permanent metal plates in my ankle. This, I presume, is a good thing.

Many thanks again to all those who supported me through the ordeal.

Maybe it's the weather....

I haven't talked about my ankle for a while because it's been feeling pretty much OK. I get the odd ache, but overall it hasn't been bothering me. Until now.

Since sometime yesterday, the top of where the plate is on the outside of my leg (fibula) has been really sore... like it feels bruised.. but there is no visible bruising. Hubby thinks it might be the change in weather (it has warmed up a little again) but I am skeptical.

I am finding myself fidgeting because I tend to hook my left foot behind my right leg while sitting at my desk but in doing so, my left foot presses precisely on the sore point of my right leg. I am OK walking, but the background ache is persistent and about as noticeable as it was back in late November when I first stopped using my cane.

It's annoying, I'll say that much... and it makes me want to just sit somewhere quiet where I can rest my leg comfortably and drink coffee or tea all day... but I don't quite have that luxury.

As the Ankle Heals....

It's been a while since I've updated about my broken ankle. So, lucky you, you get to see a photo of one of the two scars (this is the prettier one, on the medial side of my leg).

Physiotherapy has been helping a lot; each time I visit, the physiotherapist adds new exercises to my routine. As I mentioned yesterday, the gym here has almost everything I need to do all the exercises I've practiced thus far (and I did do them tonight).

I am starting to rely less and less on the use of the cane to walk; I even ventured out without it last Friday -- I decided it would be easier to lean on Hubby as needed rather than take the cane into a movie theatre (we saw the Bee Movie which I don't recommend doing, even though Richard Roeper and Guest saw fit to give it two thumbs up. I don't think they saw the same movie... but I digress...). I did fine.

I also have been encouraged to venture short trips outside the house in shoes (as opposed to one shoe plus the AirCast) and to wear shoes during the day at work (both of which I have been doing). Today, I wore the cast throughout both the morning and afternoon session, which was too much. Tomorrow the plan is to wear the AirCast in the morning and the shoes in the afternoon.

As for pain, most of the time it's fine. After a long day or immediately following my physio routines, it does ache and if I try to walk fast, I end up jarring my foot and sending sharp shooting pain up my leg. The only other time I've noticed major pain has been when I forget that my foot is injured and use it like "a real foot" -- twice now, I have pivoted on my right foot and regretted it for the following day. In the long run, it's probably good but in the short term, not so much.

I'm still working half-time until at least the 15th when I next see the doctor (I see the surgeon the following monday). Hopefully both will give me the go ahead to stop using the AirCast all together... and possibly return to work full time (though I may use my vacation days rather liberally through to Christmas....).

Back in the Saddle

Monday morning was back to work, albeit only for half a day. In that half day, I got about 15 minutes of work done -- mainly because people kept asking how I was doing, but also because I had a meeting to attend. Yesterday was a bit better, but I didn't have access to my computer as my profile was being migrated to a new server. This meant I didn't have access to my calendar program and didn't get the notification about a meeting yesterday... which I subsequently missed.

Sigh.

Meanwhile, my evenings have been busy-ish. Monday I had to finish a review for a Nancy Drew DVD Game (yes, you play the game on your DVD player), The Curse of Blackmoor Manor. Last night, I spent a couple of hours putting together kiddo's costume for this year: a spider. It's not quite done yet... but if she had to go now, she could.




Next challenge: prepping for the Halloween party she is hosting on Saturday afternoon.

One "step" closer

Had my first visit with the physiotherapist today. Nice guy, very personable, and answered my questions pretty clearly. He assessed my current mobility, did some manual manipulation of the joint, gave me some exercises then hooked my foot up to a functional electrical stimulation machine... which felt very odd.

At any rate, he didn't see any barriers to a gradual return to work; if my GP gives me the all clear, I will be back to work (part time) next week.

I suppose I should say "woo-hoo" but I am going to miss hanging out around the house doing my own thing. ;)


On another topic altogether, file this under geekily cool: a whole bunch of online Periodic Tables. I particularly like the first one they link to: a Dynamic Periodic table built using ajax. Verrry handy for parents whose kids are taking any level of chemistry....

.

And the days are getting shorter....

It has definitely felt like fall with the rain settling in around here and now as the days get darker I look forward to cool evenings and the smell of wet leaves. Ahhh.

Of course, I am also starting to walk again, so I will be headed back to work soon (I just have to wait for my Doctor's "OK") and in that light, well I'm feeling a little remorse at not having done more on my time off. Before you chirp at me, I know the only thing expected of me was to heal.... but I really could have spent less time playing Chuzzle and more time writing or something....

So, to make up for it, and since I've decided not to enter any craft fairs this year, I spent the afternoon posting my crafty creations on my Etsy:

Out and About

=Phew=

Three days in a row I have left the house -- that's the most activity I've managed since getting back from the hospital! Sunday, we went out to see the Blue Man Group (after which, my opinion of SNL regular Fred Armisen went up several notches). The hardest part about the evening (aside from getting to and from the van) was resting my right foot on the floor for two hours, so really, not too bad.

Monday, Hubby took me up to campus to drop off some forms, pick up a new bus pass, and say "hi" to everyone. I really didn't enjoy all the hopping on the concrete... but it was nice to see people. Afterward we went to see my Mother-in-law's new place (small but nice, and fully accessible).

As I was hobbling toward the front door, some idiot woman passing by started laughing at me, "Ha ha, you broke your foot!" to which I asked, "Excuse me? And you're laughing because....???" and she says, "Well, look at you! Hah ahaha!" after which there was an exchange of insults and curses, after which hubby yelled at her a whole lot more. Some people just plain SUCK. The thing is, she wasn't like some batshit crazy lady or anything, just an average looking middle-aged person who clearly had issues.

So, yeah, yesterday was hard.

Today, I went back to see the surgeon -- what a clusterf&*# that was! We arrived at about 8:55 for my 9:00 appointment.... we got herded into the x-ray area around 9:15 and it took about an HOUR to get through the sheer backlog of people that managed to get crammed in there, and who ended up being x-rayed in reverse order to when we had arrived. Grr. (Really, there was no reason for moving us in a huge group. Last time, the nurse moved us along two at a time and the only backlog was waiting for the surgeon; this time, the backlog was continual.) So a 9:00 appointment meant we left the hospital at about 10:40.

However, the surgeon said things looked good, and I could stop hopping and start putting weight on my right foot (hooray!). He also gave me a referral for physiotherapy along with an explanation of what I needed to work on. I remembered to ask about whether I still needed to sleep with the cast on; the short answer was "no" but with a warning that I might find my foot to be stiff in the morning.

So, I walked (albeit slowly) out of the hospital. Then we went over to my Mother-in-law's again so hubby could help hang some art and set up some electronics. After that was a trip to Cook Street Village where I did some more walking (woo!) and finally, a brief drive to check out the location of the Oswego hotel before gathering Kiddo from school.

It feels weird, but good to put my foot down on the ground again.

.

A Different day at Home.

Kiddo had the first of her Pro-D days of the school year, so she hung out here for the day rather than going to her Nana's.

She helped her Daddy make breakfast for all of us and then we watched last night's "Star Wars" episode of Family Guy (thankfully, we opted to record it!!) -- gotta love that Fox owns the rights to that franchise.

After that we watched Mars Attacks, and then she made us all lunch! (Nothing 5-star, but she made us all bologna sandwiches without any help aside from directions to find some of the ingredients in the fridge.) We were both very proud of her.

Meanwhile, I made lots of progress on the Dr. Who scarf (version 2.0, on commission). I was worried that I wouldn't get it done by winter/Christmas because until recently I wasn't able to get in and out of my knitting chair. Now that I can, and while my computer is still up in the bedroom, my downstairs time is spent between knitting and reading. I counted the total rows in the pattern and figure that I'll need to knit 50 rows per week to get it done in time. If I spend one day a week knitting like I did today, I'll have it done in half that time... but I'm going to assume there will be a range to my productivity.

After lunch she played Star Wars LEGO on the X-Box for a while, then she and I played with real LEGO.

In "foot" news, I actually set my bare foot down (carefully) on the floor today -- no weight, I was sitting -- and it felt weird. Really weird. A month of "rest" really makes a difference, I guess.

.

Of Bad Days, Roofers and Small Celebrations

Yesterday was a bad day. Along with aches and pains (the usual) came dizziness and nausea (random). Eventually, it sorted itself out, but I spent a chunk of the afternoon dozing off just to avoid the spinning room.

Part of the problem may have been the [insert expletive here] air compressor that the simian roofers fired up at 7:20 a.m. and kept running for most of the day. Ugh. I thought they were going to finish our roof yesterday but they only did part of it. Ugh squared.

---

Meantime, we'll be seeing the Blue Man Group perform locally -- we bought the tickets in April!! -- but I have to call the Arena to find out how to get to and from of our seats on crutches, given that I really can't do stairs (esp. arena stairs without railings). Hmm.

I am also pondering options for our fast-approaching anniversary (it's our tenth!!). Before the passport delay, we had considered going to Vegas... under the circumstances, though, it's just as well we never booked it. So, the scaled-down plan is a night out in a cushy local hotel with dinner out or maybe even room service. Now my job is to narrow down hotels (FYI, I have ruled out the Empress; I really don't think it's good value). I'll then call the shortlist and ask if their amenities are accessible before we decide where to book.

Got a favourite Victoria-area getaway (that's low on stairs) -- leave me a comment and I'll check them out.

.

My semi-mobile life.

Yesterday, I again ventured out of the house. Kiddo was going to spend some time with my Mom, and Hubby offered to drive through the Grid area so I could get some more photos before stopping at the mall to grab a few things.

Once I am in the van, I do OK, and getting into the mall is easier with the parking pass, too. In fact, Hillside Mall also has complementary wheelchair use for patrons, so that was fine. What's difficult is getting to and from the van at home.

Our parking area is down a flight of stairs from the townhouse. It is possible to go around the front of the property and follow the slope of the land all the way around to the parking area -- we did this when using the wheelchair to get to and from the van -- but using the crutches this is a long way for me. Yesterday, we tried having me crutch around to the side of the building where Hubby can pull the van into the neighbouring apartment's parking lot. I got about 2/3 of the way before the pain set in.

I am having trouble right now because I still can't put any weight on the right foot, but my left hip can't take the constant jarring (I've had trouble with my left hip for years). The result is shooting pain after just a few metres of crutching. I had planned on practicing outside this week, but I can't because the roofers are now working overhead.

Sigh. At least I am much more mobile inside the house.

.

No more staples...

Saw my GP this morning, despite a huge screw-up with the appointment time. [The p/t receptionist had told me the appt was at 9:15, then she confirmed it as 9:00, I figured the difference of 15 minutes was no problem. Then I got there just before 9 and was told the appt was in the books as 11:15 -- I was NOT impressed. Luckily the regular receptionist was very accomodating, and got me in "right away" which on a Friday meant about 9:50.]

Most of the staples came out easily (I'll spare you the details, but if you want to see the tool he used, I took a photo of the tool and the instructions; I didn't take a photo of my foot this time.). I also got a note and some other paperwork signed -- I now am the proud holder of a temporary handicapped parking pass (woo!) so finding somewhere to park at the mall, etc will be less of an issue for a while.

Hubby was great helping me to and from the van and the doctor's office plus getting the parking pass, and even getting me a much needed latté.

As for the ankle itself, the incision sites are healing well; the swelling has gone way down; and the bruises are much less prominent, but the whole process will be long. I was told though, to take my foot out of the Aircast when I am resting (which Hubby says the surgeon also told me, but I don't recall that instruction). Anyway, it's out now... getting some very welcome air.

Healing is a Slow Process... and that's OK.

So... Tuesday I went to see the surgeon, got some x-rays, lost the splint and got an Aircast boot. All of this was good news -- my ankle is healing as well as can be expected and everything looks good. Unfortunately, I went in with some unrealistic expectations, so I spent most of the day feeling sorry for myself. The boot is heavy and awkward, but my foot does feel much more protected inside it:

After finishing at the hospital, we met up with Kiddo and my Mother in Law and went out for lunch (at Red Robins... mmmm. Good food, but the place needs a serious decorating makeover!). I used the walker to get in and out of the restaurant, but I wasn't used to the size and weight of the boot. By the time I got back in the van I was in pain and slightly winded.... but it didn't stop us from going to Mayfair mall (being stuck in the house for a week was driving me a little crazy). Mayfair offers complementary wheelchairs at the concierge desk which made the visit much easier. (I learned how to manouever a wheelchair a few years ago by spending a day at work in a chair for a disability awareness day.)

Even though it felt good to be out and about, it left me completely exhausted. When I got home, I took some pain medication, curled up in bed and was out like a light for an hour. I was still upset and whiny when I woke up though and Hubby had to basically do a mini-intervention to get me to snap out of it.

He was totally right. I can get a lot out of this time. I may not be able to sit and work for 4 hours straight, but I can get a few hours of writing done through the day. Or not. But there is no reason to feel so bad; it's just a broken ankle which will heal. While it's healing I might just cross off an item or two from that very big List of Unfinished Projects.

Doing better...

smiley_graffiti
Originally uploaded by triviaqueen

Today has been a good day, all things considered. I spent time downstairs, was getting around better with the walker (still not comfortable with the crutches) and even managed to pitch in with household chores by folding and putting away the laundry. Woo!

One of my friends also brought over a book for me; one I've never heard of, but look forward to reading: Salamander by Thomas Wharton.

Hubby took Kiddo out to get a new backpack and to try and get her haircut (but the usual place was closed today...)... at least she got the backpack. She's definitely ready to go back -- she even has her outfit picked out for the morning.

Broken Ankle: Day 7.

Well, it's been a week since I fell down the stairs. I'm slowly adjusting to life in bed which is neither as comfortable nor as awful as it could be. Max, our cat, has been by my side almost constantly. I have all manner of media close at hand -- internet, cable television, and a shelf full of books -- and everyone has been a great help at bringing me food and drink as needed. Friends even dropped off some ratatouille meals yesterday. MMMMm!

I've even ventured downstairs a few times (down is easier than up, though, and the only bathroom is upstairs, so I am limited by my bladder for the length of time I spend downstairs).

The hardest part is relying on other people. There are lots of things I can do by myself, but just getting up and moving around is exhausting. I tend to do several things while I am up but inevitably I will forget some little thing, so I have to ask.

My moods have been all over the map, but now that I am back to drinking coffee (and not suffering withdrawals!!) I think I am in a better headspace. Tuesday I go back to the hospital to see the surgeon, after we drop kiddo off for her first (half) day of school.

I've been watching lots of television (HGTV, CSI, and crappy reality shows... I even sunk as low as watching an hour of Montel Williams) and movies (some on TV) ... napping ... playing Chuzzle... in other words, not much of substance so far. Of course, I have also been reading lots about broken ankles, their treatment, and rehabilitation exercises online, and bookmarking anything useful or interesting on my del.icio.us page.

However, as I get better, I am starting to cross the odd thing off my to do list (articles I've half-finished, work on various websites, and so on). Hopefully I can use some of this time productively while I am healing -- but I'm no fool, and plan to spend most of the time resting and letting my body do the work it needs to do.