So - big day today. The cast came off. It actually wasn't the first time it had been cut off, because the cast has been too tight and too loose so I've had to have it re-done a few times. But this time it was off completely.
The process is not too scary as the tool they use doesn't hurt the skin even if it touches it, but it is a bit noisy. The staff had a nice line in sarcastic banter going on between them and the music they had on was good, so it went quite quickly.
The sorest part is the ankle itself which really doesn't want to bend and feels a bit as if it's being thumped internally each time I walk. Of course, I'm still using crutches and being very gentle with it, but I'm hopeful. I have an appointment for physio to follow up, so fingers crossed it will start feeling normal soon. They've also booked me in for a bone-scan to check for osteoporosis, which will be interesting.
Tuesday 31 May 2016
The Elephant's Condom (and other handy tips for showering with a broken leg)
So - you have a cast on your leg and you are desperate for a shower. What do you do?
For us, the options were limited, as we only have a small raised-plinth walk-in shower with sliding doors that leave a fairly narrow gap. The idea of showering with a friend is just laughed at in our house. There really is only just room for one person, and then only if they have pretty short arms. With a 6'3" husband and 2 tall sons, I'm pretty much the only person who can shower without banging my elbows. So - no romantic pampering from my beloved - I needed to get in there on my own and balance on one leg for the duration of the shower without slipping or falling over, and all without getting the cast wet.
First order then was to buy what my friend Elaine fondly calls "an elephant's condom". This is a large waterproof rubberised bag with a neoprene cuff that you, or more likely someone else, puts on the leg. It needs to be pulled up high enough to be a snug fit, then it seems easy enough to use. There seem to be a few on the market, but they don't all seem to work equally well, judging from feedback sites. This is the one that I used, based on Elaine's recommendation, and I can say it performed very well (and no, they aren't paying me to say that!).
Of course there is also the problem of getting into and out of the shower without putting weight on the knackered leg, and balancing whilst in there without risk. We solved that by purchasing a pair of suction handles. Again there are a lot of different types out there, although they pretty much look the same. The brand we bought were called "Helping Handles" and seemed to do the trick. They will only work on a clean, smooth surface, of course, and they did need to be re-attached before each use to ensure they were strongly located, but they performed very well. I used them to take some of my weight as I stepped into the shower on the good foot, so I didn't take any weight on the broken leg. I could also hold on to one or the other so that I could lather up and hold the shower handset without risk of slipping over.
The final bit of kit was a stool with extending legs. This proved a godsend for all kinds of things, but was especially handy for going up and down difficult steps. For the shower, I just sat on the stool outside the shower then grabbed a handle on the wall as I stood into the cubicle. Getting out, I just reversed the procedure, though my beloved insisted on being there for the descent in case I missed the stool as he doesn't have a lot of faith in my acrobatic skills.
For us, the options were limited, as we only have a small raised-plinth walk-in shower with sliding doors that leave a fairly narrow gap. The idea of showering with a friend is just laughed at in our house. There really is only just room for one person, and then only if they have pretty short arms. With a 6'3" husband and 2 tall sons, I'm pretty much the only person who can shower without banging my elbows. So - no romantic pampering from my beloved - I needed to get in there on my own and balance on one leg for the duration of the shower without slipping or falling over, and all without getting the cast wet.
First order then was to buy what my friend Elaine fondly calls "an elephant's condom". This is a large waterproof rubberised bag with a neoprene cuff that you, or more likely someone else, puts on the leg. It needs to be pulled up high enough to be a snug fit, then it seems easy enough to use. There seem to be a few on the market, but they don't all seem to work equally well, judging from feedback sites. This is the one that I used, based on Elaine's recommendation, and I can say it performed very well (and no, they aren't paying me to say that!).
Of course there is also the problem of getting into and out of the shower without putting weight on the knackered leg, and balancing whilst in there without risk. We solved that by purchasing a pair of suction handles. Again there are a lot of different types out there, although they pretty much look the same. The brand we bought were called "Helping Handles" and seemed to do the trick. They will only work on a clean, smooth surface, of course, and they did need to be re-attached before each use to ensure they were strongly located, but they performed very well. I used them to take some of my weight as I stepped into the shower on the good foot, so I didn't take any weight on the broken leg. I could also hold on to one or the other so that I could lather up and hold the shower handset without risk of slipping over.
The final bit of kit was a stool with extending legs. This proved a godsend for all kinds of things, but was especially handy for going up and down difficult steps. For the shower, I just sat on the stool outside the shower then grabbed a handle on the wall as I stood into the cubicle. Getting out, I just reversed the procedure, though my beloved insisted on being there for the descent in case I missed the stool as he doesn't have a lot of faith in my acrobatic skills.
Sunday 29 May 2016
Some thoughts on Tramadol
I was given shed loads of tramadol at the beginning of my broken leg experience, and I found it really helped to stop my legs hurting at night, and with the muscle aches that sitting a lot can bring. However, I'm now trying to come off it, and I'm not thrilled with the experience.
Whilst I was using it, it did have a major side effect of bunging me up completely. I was lucky enough to have an enema kit that helped a lot with this problem, so it wasn't a big issue, but it wasn't ideal. Now I'm coming off what was quite a low dose (maybe 50 - 100mg a day), I'm finding that it's not ideal, and realising that some of the things I'd blamed on a virus that I got, are actually probably the tramadol.
The big problem I've had has been lack of ability to concentrate on anything substantial. My dreams of catching up with paperwork went out the window a while back - apart from anything else, I felt almost paranoid about the activity, which didn't help one bit. I also found that I fell asleep a lot, again not ideal.
Now that I have stopped, I have been getting diarrhoea, sweats and problems with cold, as well as migraines with visual disturbance.
I think the message is, if you can manage without, try to avoid it. A quick google reveals some folk who end up unable to stop using the stuff and even some with horrible depression because of it.
Whilst I was using it, it did have a major side effect of bunging me up completely. I was lucky enough to have an enema kit that helped a lot with this problem, so it wasn't a big issue, but it wasn't ideal. Now I'm coming off what was quite a low dose (maybe 50 - 100mg a day), I'm finding that it's not ideal, and realising that some of the things I'd blamed on a virus that I got, are actually probably the tramadol.
The big problem I've had has been lack of ability to concentrate on anything substantial. My dreams of catching up with paperwork went out the window a while back - apart from anything else, I felt almost paranoid about the activity, which didn't help one bit. I also found that I fell asleep a lot, again not ideal.
Now that I have stopped, I have been getting diarrhoea, sweats and problems with cold, as well as migraines with visual disturbance.
I think the message is, if you can manage without, try to avoid it. A quick google reveals some folk who end up unable to stop using the stuff and even some with horrible depression because of it.
Saturday 21 May 2016
The Amazing i Walk 2.0
I had seen an advert for the i-Walk 2.0 when I looked to see if knee-scooters might help near the beginning of having a broken leg. I was really excited, but the Dr. I saw at the Fracture Clinic took one look at the picture of the device and declared that it would put pressure on my patella and cripple me. I left the idea for a week or 2, then did more digging. No-one mentioned patella problems, and I sent a query to the UK distributor, who confirmed that the device didn't put any pressure on the patella at all. I took the plunge and bought one. The gadget is essentially a strap-on peg-leg with a shelf behind for the lower-leg to sit on.
Getting it set up wasn't quite as easy as the set up video suggested, but not too difficult, and the "How to get walking" video was easy enough to understand. The only thing was the feeling of terror, initially, at trusting something other than your own leg to walk on. However, that passed very quickly. Just standing on the leg and gently swaying from side to side or doing a slight forward bend, really helps the body to work out that this is ok. My initial problem was that my fibula was still moving about, so I didn't really try with the i-Walk for the next week.
So - 4 weeks in, and the doc said "we'll leave the cast on for 3 more weeks" - I was starting to feel quite claustrophobic, but this just took it up a notch. It's hard for the family to drop everything and take you places, so life with a broken leg for me has been quite limited in the main, as I can't drive and getting about with crutches is very tiring and sore on the wrists especially. Time to embrace the i-Walk. I strapped it on again, and walked around the garden, holding on to my husband's hand in case of tripping - it worked ok, though I felt a bit nervous. I also hadn't reckoned with the fact that my good leg would be doing a lot of balancing because of my nervousness with the i-Walk, so I had to call it a day due to my buttock cramping like a bastard (yes, there was swearing!). I didn't try it again until the next day, when I put it on for a little meander around the house, and tried stairs for the first time. It was brilliant! Stairs were suddenly quite easy, though that ease was reduced slightly by members of the family standing behind me as I went up or down, convinced I was going to pitch-pole down the stairs.
The i-Walk also meant that I could go to a long-awaited Eddie Izzard comedy show (which was ace!), because the leg meant I could walk up and down the stairs in the auditorium. There is a bit of an issue of not looking like you need extra space behind for the leg on its shelf. We put my son on point duty, but he actually got too close and nearly tripped me himself! Still - it's actually not to hard to skip and save yourself. We also chose to go up in the lift, mainly because it's slower going upstairs and I didn't want to get stampeded by crazed Eddie fans if I held them up.
I now have just 1 week to go, and the leg is great. I can walk around the house and garden, and I've made a few visits to my place of work (which is a community allotment), though I find having an arm to hang onto is reassuring on rough surfaces.
It's not a perfect replacement for having 2 legs, obviously. The action isn't as smooth as walking, because the leg really can't be modified enough to make it a custom fit, but it gets easier each time you use it. I can now walk pretty well. You also need to be careful of grippy surfaces like longer grass, carpets, rubber floors, as they may stop you swinging the peg leg through abruptly if you don't lift it high enough. It may also be necessary to change the height of the leg if you are wearing shoes. However, the major limiting factor is really the fact that you can only kneel for a certain amount of time before needing a rest, and keeping your leg bent for extended periods of time is obviously not ideal, so you do need to take breaks. The adverts for the device possibly gloss over this, or maybe have some folk who are a lot harder than I am - the woman who reckoned it allowed her to return to work as a hairdresser, for example. I could see it allowing someone to return to a job with more sitting though.
All in all, I'm really pleased I bought it, but anyone doing so will still need to schedule plenty of rests and sitting with leg up time into their day, and it does need practice. I do wish I'd started to use it sooner, as I think some of the sore muscles maybe came from having been sat so much and then getting them back into action. Hopefully I've helped myself get my legs re-conditioned now - we'll see when the cast comes off next week.
If anyone in the UK wants to buy an i-Walk, you need to use this link
Getting it set up wasn't quite as easy as the set up video suggested, but not too difficult, and the "How to get walking" video was easy enough to understand. The only thing was the feeling of terror, initially, at trusting something other than your own leg to walk on. However, that passed very quickly. Just standing on the leg and gently swaying from side to side or doing a slight forward bend, really helps the body to work out that this is ok. My initial problem was that my fibula was still moving about, so I didn't really try with the i-Walk for the next week.
So - 4 weeks in, and the doc said "we'll leave the cast on for 3 more weeks" - I was starting to feel quite claustrophobic, but this just took it up a notch. It's hard for the family to drop everything and take you places, so life with a broken leg for me has been quite limited in the main, as I can't drive and getting about with crutches is very tiring and sore on the wrists especially. Time to embrace the i-Walk. I strapped it on again, and walked around the garden, holding on to my husband's hand in case of tripping - it worked ok, though I felt a bit nervous. I also hadn't reckoned with the fact that my good leg would be doing a lot of balancing because of my nervousness with the i-Walk, so I had to call it a day due to my buttock cramping like a bastard (yes, there was swearing!). I didn't try it again until the next day, when I put it on for a little meander around the house, and tried stairs for the first time. It was brilliant! Stairs were suddenly quite easy, though that ease was reduced slightly by members of the family standing behind me as I went up or down, convinced I was going to pitch-pole down the stairs.
The i-Walk also meant that I could go to a long-awaited Eddie Izzard comedy show (which was ace!), because the leg meant I could walk up and down the stairs in the auditorium. There is a bit of an issue of not looking like you need extra space behind for the leg on its shelf. We put my son on point duty, but he actually got too close and nearly tripped me himself! Still - it's actually not to hard to skip and save yourself. We also chose to go up in the lift, mainly because it's slower going upstairs and I didn't want to get stampeded by crazed Eddie fans if I held them up.
I now have just 1 week to go, and the leg is great. I can walk around the house and garden, and I've made a few visits to my place of work (which is a community allotment), though I find having an arm to hang onto is reassuring on rough surfaces.
It's not a perfect replacement for having 2 legs, obviously. The action isn't as smooth as walking, because the leg really can't be modified enough to make it a custom fit, but it gets easier each time you use it. I can now walk pretty well. You also need to be careful of grippy surfaces like longer grass, carpets, rubber floors, as they may stop you swinging the peg leg through abruptly if you don't lift it high enough. It may also be necessary to change the height of the leg if you are wearing shoes. However, the major limiting factor is really the fact that you can only kneel for a certain amount of time before needing a rest, and keeping your leg bent for extended periods of time is obviously not ideal, so you do need to take breaks. The adverts for the device possibly gloss over this, or maybe have some folk who are a lot harder than I am - the woman who reckoned it allowed her to return to work as a hairdresser, for example. I could see it allowing someone to return to a job with more sitting though.
All in all, I'm really pleased I bought it, but anyone doing so will still need to schedule plenty of rests and sitting with leg up time into their day, and it does need practice. I do wish I'd started to use it sooner, as I think some of the sore muscles maybe came from having been sat so much and then getting them back into action. Hopefully I've helped myself get my legs re-conditioned now - we'll see when the cast comes off next week.
If anyone in the UK wants to buy an i-Walk, you need to use this link
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