My first physio session

I was so nervous today, I don't know why but anyhow I managed to get there on time! This was such a relief after the last hospital visit. The physio was understanding, did not use big terms, talked at pace and really took time to understand the situation, what happened, what I've done so far and the next course of action. :)

It seems like I'll be resting my foot still for quite a while, elevation at hip level is still needed to heal the bone quicker since it is not a main one but more of a support. I was also told to do exercises when the leg is resting to keep it flowing. See image below from the following link (http://www.physioadvisor.com.au/8128450/calcaneal-stress-fracture-physioadvisor.htm)

The exercise is flex, count to ten, then point count to ten, and so on for turning the foot inwards and outwards. This can be done when my leg is raised and lowered too, to keep circulation going and joints fluid. I guess it's good exercise even for those with no real leg issues! I was told that my flexibility is quite good at this stage, so I was quite pleased. However the physio also said that I need to regain my balance and the muscle lost during the time the leg was in a cast.

Hydrotherapy will also be part of my rehab program, starting next week with 2 sessions booked, which will last half an hour each. This will be after work and I'm really looking forward to it! The spa gives you a bathrobe, towel and shower materials which is quite handy. Parking next door is also 1.50 EUR/ hour which doesn't make it worth seeking a parking space in Sliema at 5.30pm. Thanks to my work health insurance I can also get these paid for! So do check out your insurance policy if you ever decide to go for physio sessions!

That's it for now, if you want to contact this physio you may do so by calling the Fortina Spa resort and ask for an appointment with Alan Zammit.

That cracking sound...

My walk is slowly improving and I'm trying to balance my weight more and more as the days pass. What I'm noticing now however is that my ankle is cracking all the time. So I did a little search to see if this was normal or could be a problem to look into.

What I have found so far are the reasons for it - in my case since I'm not in the stage of getting Arthritis it could 1 of these 2 reasons;

taken from Everyday mysteries (http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/joint.html)

"Escaping gases: Scientists explain that synovial fluid present in your joints acts as a lubricant. The fluid contains the gases oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. When you pop or crack a joint, you stretch the joint capsule. Gas is rapidly released, which forms bubbles. In order to crack the same knuckle again, you have to wait until the gases return to the synovial fluid.

Movement of joints, tendons and ligaments: When a joint moves, the tendon’s position changes and moves slightly out of place. You may hear a snapping sound as the tendon returns to its original position. In addition, your ligaments may tighten as you move your joints. This commonly occurs in your knee or ankle, and can make a cracking sound."

I think it's more likely to be the latter reason. So it seems to be quite normal after one has sprained their ankle which was I guess was a part of my injury apart from the fractured fibula. I still have pins and needles sort of if I try to go on my toes and go down stairs. Will have to work on that still and hopefully the physio will suggest some exercises for it too. I'm considering joining a pool too so I might check out some monthly gym memberships and take it from there.

The unexpected swell

It's been 3 and a half days that I took off the cast, and when I got it removed I still had a bit of a bump down and around the ankle. Of course that same evening I put some cream before going to bed. In the morning I was pleasantly surprised when my leg looked 'normal' or very close to that at least. I thought the cream worked miracles! Sure enough when I got home that evening the swelling was there again. Same happened on Thursday. So today I decided that I should keep my leg a little elevated at work. This seemed to help a bit, but I also had less interviews at work which also meant less walking and more sitting, thus less of a strain on it.

Since one of the physio's I called is quite busy, I'll be calling another one tomorrow. We'll see how difficult it is to get an appointment with these people. I think I might take it easy tonight and keep my energy for tomorrow, and go see the girls play some rugby if they manage to find enough players to play! I'm off to do my own google research for home physio and youtube video search...

My last visit at Mater Dei

So today was the day I was looking forward and dreaded for a stretch of almost 6 weeks now since the first cast was placed on my leg. Of course I was looking forward to being able to shower and have a bath normally, start walking normally again without crutches, and of course driving!! The only thing I really dreaded was seeing the hairs after the cast is removed...which happens to everyone, but I guess guys wouldn't even notice that much of a difference, but us girls do.

We (my mum and I) got to the hospital and didn't wait long before they called in the patients for our Orthopaedic surgeon, so we registered and it didn't take too long before they called us in. There were loads of people waiting around, but I guess as my neighbour pointed out - going to hospital seems to be an outing for some, and they get there an hour and a half earlier to their appointments and just wait around people watching. The doctor (a different one this time) who's name I didn't catch...only asked if I was walking on it, and when I affirmed, he said good and had a brief look at my file, filled out a paper as he couldn't find the proper form and sent me to cut off the cast.

I got to the plastering room and the man explained that the saw doesn't cut on skin and showed me this on his hand which was reassuring...he then started working on my cast commenting that it is a nice one and that I should keep it. I told him that I did want it, so he was doing a neat job of it. Sure enough the doctor that saw me came in too, once the cutter was done they removed it and the doctor said something along the lines of..."oh my check out the hairs"....the dreaded moment - I swear I didn't know what to say...he felt my leg and around the bone and asked if it hurt. I told him it didn't and he told me okay you can walk then, do you have a shoe? So my mum got the shoe out and I asked her for the sock, after commenting again on the hairs I sarcastically told him that my plan was to pick up every guy in the hospital...I couldn't believe his attitude. Anyhow moving on...he put on my sock and shoe(what a prince charming, not) and told me to walk.

Putting my foot down on the floor and standing on it made me feel like I was walking on cotton. He told me to roll my pants down - I felt like killing him. I started walking and was doing quite OK but had the crutches help still. We then walked to his office, where he said I was done...so I asked about physio and he said no need, if you want do your own. He said no contact sport till another month and a half, and I replied, "so I can play rugby?" he asked "do you play rugby?"...I'm thinking you have my file (hello!) I hurt during training...he then said no you can play in 3 months then. So we left it at that, at the car park I realised I hadn't asked if I could drive, but assumed I could since I had no cast and he was satisfied with the result.

Once I got home, I decided to wash it...after 6 weeks - there was at least a millimetre of dead skin (very ugly indeed) which was peeling off near the ankle, which is were most of it formed. I scrubbed both leg and foot, till it was squeaky clean. A few hours later I couldn't resist and had to get it waxed too, which is probably too much of a shocker all at once, but I simply couldn't resist. In fact my leg is a bit sensitive and still quite red...but hair free too.

So far so good but it has been a long day, after getting flats for work that are decent and comfortable, been walking a bit too so I now put some cooling Gerwol cream as my ankle is still rather swollen and big. Will start physio soon and hope that helps me regenerate the lost muscle and strengthen my bottom leg too. The only difficulty I have is going down stairs as I can't flex my foot much yet. The tingly (pins and needles) feeling on my toes is slowly decreasing so I'm quite pleased about that! ^^

Scrub the dead skin cells off!

The final countdown

oh..oh..oh.......oh
oh..oh..oh.......ohhhhhhhhh

hehe just kidding, but this time next week I'll be cast free! I'm being really hopeful about the whole deal, thinking I'll be back to driving and what not but people are giving me weird feedback saying things like; "yeah right - they might put a half cast on", "you won't be driving that quick!", and "you will still be using crutches" so now that's put on another perspective on things :(

I'm really dreading the fact that they might ask me to put on some other sort of cast as I'm a little tired of it now and hope this never happens to you...my first thoughts for next week were; get rid of the cast, then start physiotherapy, perhaps some water physio exercises, then eventually get back to training (even if it's more of stretch exercising, more walking and floor exercises)! We'll see what the surgeon says and hope for the very best outcome :)

Let's hope that determination and brain power heals wounds faster!

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank those that have been patient with me...waiting for me to catch up with them, driving me around, and just being good supportive friends! Big hug to you all, and admiration to people like them who are patient with their friends too.

http://chibird.tumblr.com/post/1225100819/333-random-cliffs  - this is for you!!! hehehe!

The discovery of X-rays!

Last night sometime after midnight I went on Google and found out that it's the 115th anniversary of the discovery of x-rays. For those who missed out or didn't google anything today 8th November 2010 this is what Google looked like.

Who invented x-rays? I didn't know until I researched it myself and since I recently got about 3 done, I thought it might be some interesting bit of useless information I could impress with during a quiz night if a question regarding it ever came up. Or perhaps I'd just help someone with a crossword right, you never know.

Well here's what I found out in short, you can find out more if you research it :P

• X-rays were first observed and documented in 1895 by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, a German physicist who found them quite by accident when experimenting with vacuum tubes.
• He called them "X" rays because he didn't know where they came from!
• An X-ray is an invisible, highly penetrating electromagnetic radiation of much shorter wave length.

Apart from that I now have 8 days before the cast gets removed! The final count down begins :)

No crutches!

My week of rest, has been pretty much rest rest and more rest. It's true what they say "the more you sleep, the more sleep you need". But what's good about taking time off apart from having a break of course is the fact that you get to do errands, things which you tend to leave for when you do have time. So finally I got to do those things like, shopping, hair colour/cut, passport renewed, write a blog :) and I'm also trying to think of what actually was on that to do list which I never wrote down. Bet they'll come to my mind first thing Monday morning once I start working again!

Nice 'n cosy

This week was the start to being crutch free and I only take one out with me just in case. So if you picture any zombie movie or Frankenstein film I have that sort of walk right now...except my hands aren't straight out in front of me. So that's quite an achievement so far. I'm still quite slow and people tend to have to wait unless they hurry up and wait at the destination we're trying to get to. It's getting a bit cold for my toes as winter is nearing, but that's not so bad as I have some woolen shoes/socks I can wear at home. I keep imagining how much worst off it would be to have a cast in the summer months, sweating inside it and not being able to shower, and that makes me feel a whole lot better. I'm also getting back to eating more healthily as I got into a bad habit of eating everything since I was staying at home round the kitchen table quite a bit. So please don't offer me biscuits, pasta or bread for the time being - thank you!

Walking on a crutch

Last Saturday while on one of the very few nights our I've had a friend pointed out that if I walked on once crutch it would be easier to hold drinks! Since we were at a party it made sense, so I ditched one of them on the side. This made walking somewhat easier too, and although it still looked pretty wonky it worked. :) I even managed to hold a drink in one hand and mingle! This felt great although my night ended early - these days I really feel 15/16, but hey at least I was out.

So from now on I'm actually walking on one crutch instead of 2 and I'm actually putting more weight on my leg this way which will make it prepare for the time when it does come off. The only thing is that after that night, although I was sitting for most of it, my toes, foot and bottom leg did swell a notch. However, after a night's rest it was back to it's 'normal' size.

Managed to get more errands done today too, and I get special treatment wherever I go, it's like being old with a walking stick. Chair are offered everywhere which is just a way for people to be nice yet it sometimes does annoy me. Perhaps that's because if I needed a chair I would ask for one, but then again they don't know that!



*Mice from Ikea - toy section



*Leg warmers do the trick

Some pics of Halloween accessorizing when you have a cast, especially a painted one :)







*Photos - from the girl with this blog: http://slicedmina.blogspot.com/