Escape is in sight

Tomorrow is a much anticipated day!  For nearly a month I have worn a lovely green cast on my lower left leg.  Tomorrow, I have an appointment to have it removed.  I know fiberglass is lighter than the old plaster casts, but trust me it is cumbersome when trying to adjust position in bed at night and arising from a chair...or a bench or a booth.  At times I must make more than one attempt to stand up.  It's as though I must rock and bounce to make my functional leg gain balance and lift my abundant carcass up!  Crutches are a pain to perch around a table or booth in a restaurant in a place where they do not create a hazard for others attempting to pass.  Zelda Green has been handy at home when I must haul things around the house, but getting her in and out of the car is not a skill we have mastered.  A friend suffered a crash with a similar device and added another six weeks to her recovery after breaking her OTHER foot in the mishap.  With that in mind, I am overly cautious when driving her around the house.

Crutches are not without hazard.  I have stubbed my toes (extended out beyond the front of the cast) on door facings, stomped them with my crutch and hit them on table supports when trying to sit.  When all my fractures are healed, I may require intervention for my toes.  It would appear I am sorely in need of a pedicure, but I fear my black and blue toes will not tolerate any poking and rubbing! A good soaking may be my only indulgence once the green accessory is removed!  Ah, come on tomorrow!

Mobility...NOT!

I've suffered my way through crippling injuries before.  In fact I considered myself quite adept at maneuvering around on crutches.  That was probably thirty years in the past sans fifty pounds or so.  As I made my way around the house on crutches whining, a friend arrived with an amazing little scooter.  It rolls nicely and has a gentle hand brake.  

I named her Zelda Green

A handy little basket adorns the handle-bar that can be adjusted to accommodate my overly generous height. I made a trail around the living room when she first arrived only to feel the pressure in my fractured fibula.  I seemed wise to ask for my physician's advice.  He recommended that I give it a couple of weeks or until the pressure through my cast wasn't painful. It's three days shy of three weeks and it still hurts to rest my leg on Zelda Green's little seat.  I still find crutches awkward, and the dog avoids my path.  I am counting the days until my bulky green fiber glass cast can be split and removed. Meanwhile I have lost my entire month of 
June.  Maybe I won't sleep much in July! 

Don't Make Plans You Can't Change!

We enjoyed a glorious trip to the Bay City area and Grand Canyon on the way back home.  I kinked up the fun on the last day of our trip with a fall that wasn't in the plan.  It made for a painful exit from the Grand Canyon. That night I removed my shoe to find a weak painful appendage, pretty much useless for traversing the hotel room. let alone beginning the trip home.  The following morning Ol' Abner managed to get me off the third floor via wheelchair provided by the front desk.  They had given us instructions for finding the clinic in the park and off we went.  I suspected I had a nasty sprain and felt like a strong ace wrap and a pair of crutches would fix me right up. Exam, xrays. more than just an ace wrap, and we were sent on our way.

My fibula was fractured about six inches up the back of my leg, and the tibia was protruding to the side about an inch and a half above the ankle joint. Sadly I was told it would require surgery.  I was instructed to go straight to an orthopedic surgeon upon arrival home.  The splint you see in the photo goes up the leg above the knee keeping the entire limb immobilized.  Walking on crutches was exciting as I dragged the useless leg across parking lots and into each rest stop along the way.

It was a long ride home.  Ol' Abner agreed to go all the way to my sister's home (12 hours up the road from Grand Canyon) for our first night of sleep.  He knew what he was getting into as we left the canyon just after noon.  It was nearly four a.m. when we finally made our way onto the front porch for family hospitality.

Speaking of family, I created havoc back in Texas during my morning visit to the clinic.  I was indulging in a chat thread with my sewing friends admiring their newest creations and briefly mentioned that I was awaiting an xray of my leg.  Of course I kept them updated for the next half hour as we progressed to a diagnosis and plan for path home.  Did I mention that there is almost no phone service in the park area.  Internet is available in a few limited places and the clinic offered the only good service I had found. As we left on the trip I had set up a group message for my children and Dancin' Girl, to keep them apprised of our safe arrival on each leg of the trip.  Dancin' Girl is an integral member of the sewing group.  Yep you can imagine the rest of this story.  She messaged the kids to see if they had checked on us this morning... an up went their antennae(?) or should it be antennas?  I'll check on that later.  Needless to say, both our cell phones started lighting up, but the calls would drop when we tried to answer or return the call. Son was texting his dad and daughter was calling, Daughter in Law was calling me and sending urgent texts. We were helpless and incognito! An hour or so up the road we were able to make calls from the interstate highway corridor. Our children were noisily concerned and not a little upset that my sewing group knew of my injury before they heard about it.  I was just too tired to explain.  

After a two day drive, our first stop in the Hill Country was the local emergency room to get that needed orthopedic referral.  The good news...xray taken when we arrived was a little different from the one prior to application of that magnificent gargantuan splint.  The fracture of my tibia was no longer displaced!  The preliminary conclusion was that surgery might not be necessary, but the final decision would be left to the specialist I was to call on Monday morning.