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.