I'm dreaming of a white xcast

So this last week I've been pooped and been sleeping like a log as soon as I hit the mattress. I re-called two out of dreams which is quite unusual because I usually remember maybe one dream in a month. The two dreams I had were both involving my cast, and this just goes to show how much it's become a part of who I am right now! So let me tell you about Dream 1 and then I'll you about Dream 2.

The first dream took place in a bar called Blackpool, I don't recall it being abroad but it was an odd place as it was a bar with a pool inside and we were all sitting by the bar and having drinks. At a point in my time my best friend was like hey all let's jump in the pool and sure enough one by one we all dove in. I recall taking a bit longer but without much difficulty I jumped in too. We swam for quite a while and then when we all were out, I realised that my leg felt heavier and that the cast was on! I was angry as the cast isn't meant to get wet and told my friends "why didn't you stop me?" and with surprised faces they replied "because we thought you knew what you were doing!" Then I woke up! 

Dream two took place in Paceville somewhere and I only remember the end. We were in a pub drinking and when we got out of the place, like friends do when they're tipsy we were leaning on each other and walking all a little funny. After walking about four metres I realised I had no crutches and putting all the weight on my leg as usual. I remember asking my friends to get them and then I woke up.

The common elements = cast, friends, drinks and a good time! :)

Back on my feet

It's been three weeks now, and I'm surviving this :) half way there! So three more weeks and I'll be walking in no time. Since I'm in a cast, and having been independent to travel for sometime driving around it comes a bit difficult for me to rely and ask for lifts here and there. Therefore there has been a lot of time spent in and leaving the house just for essential errands.



Cheers! Sahha! Prost! Salute!



Yes it has got boring at times so as one would expect there are things I've done that I wouldn't do otherwise as I'd have less time on my hands, such as make a quiz for games night, watch TV programmes about converting homes as well as old civilisations, learn how to drink whiskey and create a Xmas budget!

Exercising has taken a bit of a stop which makes me fear what it will be like getting back in shape. Working from home and not taking my own food to work, also does not help my diet. Since the fracture I've been having more teas with biscuits, pastas, and other carbs. I have now told myself to take it easy and work on eating more veggies and fruits, and focus on more protein and less carbs so as not to become a couch potato!

My main means of transport
right now



Apart from that I've also been courageous and started to put more weight down evenly on the whole foot. This way there's less of a chance to lose balance, as well as getting used to the fact that my leg will be carrying me again shortly. At first when I'd put my foot down, it would send a tingly sensation up my leg, this was more so when the toes go down first. However, today I put quite a bit of weight on my heel and evened it out slowly when in standing position - and I didn't feel pain :) which was a very good sign, or so I think. So when I use the crutches now, which is not that often as I'm way faster on the PC chair turned wheelchair - used at both home and work, I don't hop anymore but walk slowly on both feet. I'm hoping to use my leave next week to keep my walking going and train the leg to get used to it more and get some upper body and thigh exercises in too - proposed by my coach. More about how that'll go next week!

The painted cast




 

Today, I felt it was time to get my cast painted after much thought. So I searched for some patterns and decided to go with a Marimekko one. Inspired from the Finns, I used my sister's paints to choose the colours that could go on gips and plaster - which were mainly Acrylics. I then lined the work area with newspaper and laid my leg on a plastic bag so as not to get the newspaper ink on the white cast. The painting took maybe an hour to do and it dried quite quickly. However I speeded up the process by drying it with my hairdryer. Although I didn't paint it all as I can't exactly turn my leg so much it's a much brighter cast now which will surely put me in a good mood. :-)







Cast in detail



Work, rain and crutches

So last week I was working from home. Luckily my job allows it, and since we are so well connected with Skype and everyone being a call away makes things pretty easy. This weekend I moved to a closer location to work, so as to get lifts more easily. Little had I known that going up and down a flight of stairs everyday would take the toll it did on me and my leg. It feels like a work out taking stairs and you don't feel that safe either so you tend to hold to the banister and put more pressure on the good leg to hop along rather than on the hands to push you up. Of course knowing my luck the elevator at work today decided to stop in the evening hours, and I had to hop it down those stairs too. Guess luck was not going my way today. Just to put those living outside of Malta at the moment it's been raining almost daily for the last week, so all floors are wet, especially tiles which are typical for the Med. The crutches I was given have rubber ends which makes them ultra slippery when applied to wet floors! What happens is that when it rains every floor you touch is slick as oil. It's not the first time I felt my balance going off and caught myself straightening up in time, however, today just as I was about to enter my house, the same thing happened and out of a natural reaction I put the bad foot down :( which sent that sharp pain to my brain in milliseconds and Aye did it hurt. In fact it's been at least an hour and my foot has swelled up so much inside it feels like it might burst out of the cast. From now on it's elevation and more rest. I will be working part from home and part from work for the next weeks. Hopefully this arrangement will cause the healing process to be quicker especially until I can start putting weight on it again. I also hope the rain stops or that I find some solution to the crutches, because as far as I have read, it's just taking smaller steps and making sure that they go down flat on the floor, therefore I have every reason to go slow from now on :)

The 2nd visit to Mater Dei

The day began with my alarm going off at 6.30am. Into the bath and got ready to go and at about 7.25 we left home. Got there at 8, but until mum parked and came to outpatients it was 8.15. We went to the designated aread and waited for my name to be called which didn't take too long. We then went in to see the doctor. After finishing his previous notes he made me sit on the couch and he cut open the cast and removed it for examination. Ahhh my shin and leg could breathe again :-) The swelling had gone down a bit but the ankle area was quite green and purple round the bottom of my heel along the side. He initially asked what happened and I explained my first blog post. Then he pronged here there and asked if it hurt, which wasn't hurting much. At this point he told me to put my foot down and try to talk, but that one step sent pins shooting up to my brain like lightning. Ahhhh "no" I said "I can't".

"Very well" he said "please go down to the imaging department and get another x-ray, let's make sure all's ok, then when you're done come back up to see me." So off we went hopping away to the imaging department, the queue was scary, there were no seats available in the waiting area so my mum waited there and I stayed on two chairs outside in a corridor. I there established a place for myself and managed to set up some interviews for work and also managed to read a chapter of my book "Asha" (the Sword and the Scimitar in English - which is indeed quite good, thanks Tara!).

I was called in and the lady asked if there was a chance of being pregnant and I told her that I hoped not, she didn't think this was funny and asked me again, "Are you pregnant, yes or no?" So I told her I wasn't and we went ahead with the X-ray. This took just a few seconds and I was hopping out again and heading to the Orthopaedic section once more. When we got there the doc said okay just hold it, I'll be right back! Well he wasn't right back, he was back later, however it was because he was waiting for the Orthopaedic surgeon to join us since the x-rays were all in place and looking good. (On the left you can see the fibula behind the tibia where the crack(s) are, as there seem to be two.) Again he asked what happened and I repeated my first post. He also asked how we handled the situation once I fell and if I have stepped on it since, which was another negative answer. The man seemed displeased and was telling me off in a quiet tone for not resting this last week. I assured him that my leg was always above my hip, and that I didn't strain it. However, he told me had you rested the swelling wouldn't be here! (It looked like pressing plasticine and the dent remains in for quite some time). The surgeon also made me take a step using my left leg and when he saw that I was in pain he said ok no problem we'll give you a hard cast. I asked him about the crutches, they were set completely wrong!  (See pic below) The trick is to stand up put your arms down and adjust the hand rest to your wrist level :-) He also showed me to how to eventually walk and how to make small steps, and shift my weight slowly from arms to legs accordingly, told me he'd see me in 4 weeks and to go get the cast on in the plastering room.

Next stop, 2 doors down. Here we were welcomed by a very sweet nurse. She explained everything she was doing and why. She also explained the difference between my former cast and the present one and told me to keep my foot at a 90 degree angle at all times, for when I start walking on it and also so that the cast material does not fold on the leg and pinch. This cast is not flexible so the leg should not be allowed to swell up as there's no place for it to go, and that would just hurt so elevation is still extremely important. She wore gloves to wrap the cast, which was done very neatly, and she also explained that I should remove my nailpolish as nails are the first to give signs that something is wrong. After wrapping it up she massaged the leg, it started heating and curing. (Wetting is on the inside is to be avoided at all times, as it will be easy for fungus to form!) Sure enough after sometime it was hard and she managed to find an "orthopaedic shoe" for walking outside with so as not to crack the cast and also to protect it from gettig dirty.

This was done and we were ready for the day. We asked for our next appointment and were told they'd send it by post. Time was now around 11.15am and boy was I tired of hopping around in the outpatients' section! On the whole the experience was quite pleasant although it took 3 hours.Mum got the car up, I hopped in and we headed home.

Top 10 Annoyances

They come in the order that I experienced them!

1. Road bumps - this is bad at the beginning of the break - ouch it hurt and keeping your leg stable no matter how much you try, still keeps the throbbing goeing on. Once the cast hardens though, it hurts a lot less especially if you have a fracture like me.
2. The Crutches - You are handed these before you leave hospital, but they don't come with an instruction manual and you're to figure them out all by yourself. Ok you don't have to be a rocket scientist but learning to shift your weight and keep balance while elevating yourself with your upper body isn't as easy as it seems! Please note not so many youtube videos exist either- I checked, but at least they've got some on how to go up and down stairs, which did help :-)
3. Pins and needles - this happened to me the first few days, but then I kept my toes moving, in point and flex movements which made them go away. However it's quite limited since my foot is set so as not to move too much.
4. Getting into the bathtub - Forget having a shower, unless your other leg is Mr.Muscle - it's way too tiring and if you manage to keep it dry; please do tell how! I managed to sit on the edge and shift my body weight into the bath, that way I could stay upright (in a seated position) and rest my leg on the ledge. I'm getting used to it now and it's getting relatively easy!
5. Choosing clothes - this is ok for the time being since I don't have to leave the house much, but once I go back to work there are no more pants which will fit, and since they are mostly skin fit, there's no LL Cool J style I can pull off! So it's mainly leggings (thank goodness they're in), dresses and smart shorts (which don't look that glamorous but if there are no meetings scheduled they would do!)
6. The itch - this becomes evident after day 5/6 of having worn a cast or whenever you first sweat with the cast on. Luckily for me it's Autumn and the weather has cooled quite a bit here in Malta but nonetheless we do get those humid days were the temperatures stays the same and the air just hangs about with no where to go. Since your leg is wrapped it is quite difficult to get to the itch. I've read articles and heard from friends and family that they've used rulers, knitting pins, and forks to get to the itch and scratch the *beep*! But the truth is it's better to ignore it and cool the area as much as possible, and use baby talc to dry it up.
7. Being dependent on others for transport - this is one of the worst things ever, especially if you're used to driving yourself everywhere and if you live far away from your friends!
8. Missing a full night's rest - I kind of managed this the first 4 days, perhaps I was so tired that sleep came inevitably. These last days I seem to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to rest again, maybe it's the wrong cushion - I've tried wadding, feathers, and also various shapes and sizes. When I find the perfect foot rest I'll ket you know.
9. No rugby and exercise - which means being even more careful what I eat now then before, as my right leg seems to be the main one that's working out pushing me along in the desk chair. Ok I'm using my arms too but that's about it. So no tournaments, no socialising and beers after the games :-( Well if anyone has tips on what exercises I can do please do tell...
10. No Paceville* for a while - unless you want your cast to get dirtier, itchier and smellier then it will be by the time they take it off!

*Paceville is where the nightlife - bars, clubs, etc. are in Malta.

The following days...

Thursday 7th

That morning when I woke up I could still feel the throbbing, however if I left my foot still it didn't hurt much. After the morning ritual in the bathroom, which was done hopping along, which is really tiring if you're not used to it, I then realised that to get to the kitchen I needed to go up the stairs. No way was I going to hop 20 steps after getting pooped hopping to the bathroom just ten hops away.

So I sat down and used my arms and right leg to move up. It took me maybe 5 minutes but at least it didn't hurt and there was a temporary solution ;-) Taking the day easy I called in sick saying I sprained my ankle since I wasn't sure what was wrong with it as yet. I followed the RICE method; Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation which was helping. In fact at a point I did need to sleep and I passed out for some hours on the sofa.

My work colleague told me over Skype that ice helps at the beginning but then it's important to keep it warm and compact. So I wrapped up my foot in a bandage and wore my sisters bed slippers which somehow fit. That evening my GP came over and said the swelling was too big and that I should go to the clinic for an x-ray, especially after he pressed the ankle and I squealed. However it was 5.30pm and I had no lift there. So I made a plan to go the following day with my mum.

Friday 8th
Once again I called in at work to deliver my update that it was more serious than expected and that I'd need an x-ray. So after a make-shift shower of sorts I wore leggings and shirt and headed out. The bumps on the road felt worst than before and I begged for my mum to avoid them, however this is not really possible on roads like ours, so it was quite torturous exiting our street!

The bumps and breaking then also felt bad but we made it to the clinic in Mosta (the closest clinic to home). There I had my mum as my crutch and we hopped to the main entrance took the lift up and waited. We got registered and were told to wait. For some odd reason the machine was down, or so we were told together with the one at the main hospital, which seems highly unlikely but there wasn't much to dispute. The nurse told us to come in the afternoon.

Sure enough that afternoon we called, and yes the machine was working, so off we went. Got three x-rays done, one with the foot flexed, another with it turned and one where it was turned out (those turnings killed) and the girl said yes it's broken! About 30 mins later the doctor saw us and showed us the pictures - the fibula was broken and we were to go to hospital to get a cast done.

We exited the building, mummy is still my crutch and we headed straight to hospital which is quite close. Parking was a breeze and registering was too (apart form the fact that a lady came in crying and shouting with a child in her arms, which took us out of the room in no time) then it was simply a matter of waiting for who had the most immediate need of a doctor. At 6.30 in the evening there weren't many people waiting and funnily enough 75% seemed to be foreigners in Malta's Emergency unit. From stage 1 where they take your details we happened to exit with a paper describing what I had, many people entered and left who didn't seem to be in any more of an emergenc as me, so I asked my mum to go enquire while I rested my leg on the seats. The lady said that in stage 1 that paper should have been kept and given to the doc and that's why my name hadn't been called yet.

Sure enough 10 mins later my name was called and we went in. The first nurse said we might have to operate or get a cast done. I was beginning to get concerned, but after some time he told us that a cast will do. So we waited and waited until "hello" nurse no.2 walked in. He wasn't bad looking and we were hoping for a handsome ER doctor to come by so for now we had to do with the nurse. Small talk over, and he prepared the cast for the back of the leg, and explianed the procedure!

• 6 weeks in a cast
• Physio and gym after that to restore the muscle
• Slow training after that to get back in shape

He said work is possible if you can get to it, and as long the leg is kept elevated. Made an appointment for the following week to check it out and get a whole cast done. I concluded that I would be walking again by the end of November and might be playing Rugby again early 2011; that work was going to be done mainly from home unless I got lifts; and more importantly a pretty limited social life outside social media. That is when I thought about it and considered making a blog. Five days later here I am creating one to share with you,

How it happened!

Many people have broken bones, I remember people at school; falling one day during P.E. and coming the next day with a cast on their hand or leg. We actually thought it was kinda cool cause everyone got to sign them and write comments and then something actually was different about you. Rather than just being another student in uniform. (Chiara's was the one that stuck out most in my childhood memories, striped and painted, and autographed my all grade 8's or 9's!)

Anyhow the reality is, it's not that cool, especially when you don't ever think of it happening, or correction happening to you :-(

So it all happened last week at Rugby training, it was in the last 2 minutes too. We had a small game to practice our run ins and tackles from the previous session. The ball was passed to me and I thought I'd make a run for it, but I got tackled halfway and fell badly backwards and my ankle bent with me. And crrrringe (that handbreak sound) and I was on the floor in pain. Funny thing is no tears came out, however the pain was there and I felt I couldn't move it. Coach said my dramatic fall made it look like my back hurt, but no it was a pain near the ankle but I couldn't locate exactly where.

The boy's coach and my friend's bf who was watching both had a look, and they told me it probably wasn't so serious as there was no excruciating pain located. However, standing up on the leg was a no go. I asked my sister to call my mum over and within 20 mins she was there. The drive home was pretty bad, especially the bumps on Maltese roads. Luckily we had already iced it and got freeze spray on it thanks to my team mates - the Alligators rugby team.

That night we kept ice on it, I slept with it elevated as I was advised and hoped it would be ok the next day!