An ankle comparison: Broken vs Sprained

Unfortunately, I can compare a broken ankle to a sprained ankle.

Broken Left Ankle:

Sprained Right Ankle:

*Same feet, two months apart, different cameras, strangely different colored skin tone, but whatever.

They look the same as far as the swollen deformity goes. But the difference lies in the PAIN!  Lefty hurt a million times worse than Righty; although, for a moment, I wasn't sure if Righty was broken or not, but then the moment passed and I knew that one was ok. Sprain pain is not nearly as intense as breaking a bone pain. But, sprain pain isn't any cup of tea niether.

I could not put the tiniest bit of pressure on my foot when I broke my left ankle a couple of months ago. But the other day when I sprained my ankle, I was able to get up and limp along on it. That's when I really knew it wasn't broken. 

The other difference is that when I fell and broke Lefty, I was all alone. I could cry and wince and wail all I wanted. I was free to express myself. When I fell and sprained Righty, I did it right in front of my whole family and another family. Had myself a good sized concerned crowd. I did the best I could to pretend that I didn't fall much, I was fine, nothing hurt much, and I just needed a minute and I'd get up. They weren't buying it, but I tried to sell my "I'm just fine" story.

I broke the left one killing a spider.

I injured the right one falling down one stair. I went down like an imploded stack of bricks. Or like a sinkhole opened up under a big brick building. Either way, I went down fast and hard, like bricks.

We were invited to our new friends' house. Such nice people, and they just moved to town . Keith and I went with three of our daughters and one grandson. We joked that we're an invasion, not a little visit. We stepped inside their house and said "Hi" and all of that small chatty greeting stuff. I took a few steps inside so they could shut the door and down I went. There was a step down from the entryway to the main room. I totally didn't see it!

I know it's there now. Not that they'll ever have my clumsiness over again.

There were 20 legs surrounding me all saying "Are you ok?" and lovely compassionate things like that and my husband saying "I can't believe you just did that". I know he wanted to laugh, and I wish he would have to lighten up the mood.

I sprained my ankle, hyper-extended my left wrist and got a big beautiful bruise on my right elbow. I really hit hard. Imagine what I could do with a whole flight of stairs!

My Ankle is Healing

My six week broken ankle checkup yesterday, which was actually seven weeks out, went well!

Before I left for my appointment, I asked the kids to go to the bookshelf and bring me a book to take along with me.  They brought quite a collection for me to choose from!
Read-To-Me Bedtime Stories
The Norton Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism
Simplicity Halloween Sewing Pattern Catalog
and What to Expect - The Toddler Years

As it turned out, I was the last patient to check in for the day and there wasn't a soul in the place. I was in and out fairly quickly. No time to read! They sent me straight to Xray. I posed for my lovely photos and again was thrilled that I didn't have to wait. Back across the hall to the doctor's office and they put me in a room right away.

The nurse popped in and said "Do you have any pain?"  I said, "Yes." Without a word, she left. Ok.

The xrays are electronic, so the doc was already staring at my bones on his computer screen, all zoomed in and everything. He did that for a bit, then walked across the hallway to the little room I was in and took a look at my ankle.

He squeezed my ankle and asked me if it hurt! YES!!! And hitting my head on the ceiling hurt a bit too! Holy!

He said I have had significant muscle loss. The muscles are just gone, so I will need physical therapy. What took six weeks to disappear will take months to come back if I work hard at building them back up. Great.

The piece of bone that I broke off of the tip of my tibula is attaching itself back on in the correct position. Yippee! The doc showed me on the xray, and he told me that it was such a weird break. He said that usually a break like mine happens on the other side of the bone or higher up on the bone. I got lucky though because if I would have broken off a bigger piece of the bone or if the break was on the left side of the bone tip, then I would have had surgery. The structure of the ankle would have allowed the piece to slide out of position. But, where it was, being an odd place, turned out to be good because the broken piece stayed in place and is growing a bridge and reconnecting itself. Cool!

I'm not a fan of having surgery.

He said I can start limping around and putting a little bit of weight on it as I hobble around. Optomistically, I should be able to toss out the crutches in a couple of weeks. And, I can get rid of the boot before the end of August. He said I can wear my regular shoes after that. I said, "I wear flip flops".  He said, "get some tenna shoes". I thought so.

As I was checking out, my cell phone rang and it was my husband. I just told him I was at the dr's office and I'd call him later, but it was enough to interrupt my train of thought and I left the dr's office without making my appointment for physical therapy. Whoops.

I called to make an appointment, but guess what, my insurance doesn't cover it at the same place where I'm seeing the doctor. That makes no sense! In fact, the doctor's office isn't sure where I can get physical therapy because my insurance isn't covering much. Ugh. I'm seriously hoping someone at the insurance company wakes up!  They're being ridiculous!

I'm so excited that I dodged surgery and I am healing well! I need to get off of these crutches and get back to my normal life. I'm not a runner, dancer nor an athlete, but I do need both of my legs in good health to keep up with the kids and live my life the way I do.  Looks like I'll be back on two feet soon! Yay!

Life on Crutches

Life on crutches is not for me. It's been 6 weeks now (which is 6 weeks too many!)

I'm still in shock that my health insurance wouldn't cover crutches and I was lucky to have Anna's old pair in the garage. The insurance company must think people who have a broken leg are just going to... to... I don't know what they think! Someone at the insurance company needs to break a leg!

I am very limited on what I can do now, where I can go, and how long I can stand/hop on one leg. This is not fun. In fact, because of me spending the summer on crutches I can speak for the whole family and say that this has been the worst summer ever.

Pain
Obviously, my ankle hurts. Constantly! But it isn't excruciating pain, it's just pain. The swelling and pain have gotten better recently. I was beginning to think the swelling was permanent. That's just what I need, one Fred Flintstone foot.

The side effect of crutches is blisters on my palms, sore shoulders, aching right hip, knee and ankle (because that's the good side) and lots of headaches. The headaches are from losing my control-freakish ways of doing things.

I'm managing my pain with Advil and wine.

Walking:
Actually, hopping. I need a wide clear path to walk from point A to point B. It needs to be free of dust bunnies, laundry, shoes, clusters of dog hair, pennies, cheerios, glops of spilled Jello, slops of apple juice, and most importantly, legos. In the best of circumstances, it's hard for me and I'm not very steady.

I really had trouble the first week with walking on crutches. It takes some arm strength and some balance; I am blessed with neither. My friend brought me a wheelchair and I spent the first two weeks in it while I learned to hop on the crutches.

I should have taken the wheelchair to the doctor's office. The orthopedic doctor is located at the end of a long long long hallway, which was at the end of another hallway, which was after I hopped across the lobby and the parking lot too.

Every day, I almost fall down. I've only fallen three times where I had to put my broken foot down to catch myself from toppling over completely. Very painful. 

Stairs:
Stairs are awful! Every single day, I almost fall down.

The first week I didn't use the stairs at all, I slept downstairs and had my husband or kids bring me clothes. The next two weeks I scooted up the stairs on my butt and when I got to the top I crawled to the doorway of my bedroom where I used the doorjam to help pull myself up. It wasn't pretty but it was stable and I got there.

These past three weeks I've been hopping up using the railing and the crutches at the same time. It's not easy! My good leg and hip really bark at me by the time I get to the top. And I always pray hard that I'll make it without falling over backward.

Down is much easier, but it is still a challenge. This also took me a while to learn but now I can do it. I need time though. Lots of time.

Stairs at other places are not so easy. I had to use the stairs at the swimming pool when I took my girls to lessons, and the stairs were covered in dirt and leaves plus the hand rail was too hot to touch. I used the handrail anyway and just burned my hand. I figured a burnt hand was better than a broken neck.  They have a ramp, but it is a long hop around to use it, so I took the four stairs in front of the building.

Taking a Bath:
This is really a trick!  It takes some gymnastics and ballet and ninja moves. Sure wish I had skills in any of these areas because I'm the farthest thing from being a gymnast ballet dancer ninja type person.

Luckily, I can take my boot off to take a bath, so I don't have to wrap my leg in a garbage bag to get cleaned up. But, I cannot bear any weight on it or use my leg to balance.

Getting out is even trickier. I can't even explain how to do it. Once I'm all wet, the tub is wet, every surface is slippery.... it's a miracle I can even manage it. The fear of someone finding me stuck in the tub keeps me motivated. But I do have to hold my leg up in the air to avoid temptation to use it (or land on it in the inevitable fall). I'm sure this adds to the hilarity of it all.

Cooking and Cleaning:
I use a barstool in the kitchen to sit on while I do dishes or cook at the stove. I also open the second drawer from the floor as a stool to elevate my leg. It's too tiring to stand on one leg like a flamingo.

For cleaning, I discovered the wonderful assistance of a good pair of grill tongs.  I can reach higher and bend over just a little to pick up things off of the floor. Tongs are great! I can't really do much in the way of cleaning but picking up a little here and there makes a difference.

My husband has been doing 99% of the cooking and cleaning. And he's been training the kids, so he's not even doing it all. Actually, he's doing a great job.

Driving:
I can drive! The hardest part is getting in and out of the car. I put my crutches down the middle between the seats and my broken leg is my left leg, so it just lays there while Righty manages the gas and brake pedals.

I am broken, not handicapped so I have to park with the regular people instead of using the fabulous empty blue handicap spaces. 

Going Places:
I haven't been going places. I've only gone to a couple of birthday parties and the park for a couple of playdates. I've only gone if I had someone to  I am afraid to go shopping because there's no guarantee that I'll get a good parking space. If I get a close space, it's still a long hop to the front doors of any store. And then what? Hope for an electric scooter? What if they don't have one or the one they have is in use? It's just best if I stay home. I don't need to fall down in public. I don't want to end up on AFV or Youtube!

Losing Control
The hardest thing about being on crutches is losing control. I've had to let go of so much and just let life happen around me while I sit back and watch. I can't swoop in and do things my way, or save my husband the hassle. I can't sit here and bark orders and stress about what's happening or what we are missing. I can't walk, can't carry things, can't lift the kids, but I can't worry about all of that either. I need to heal up not tense up. So, I have had to work very hard on letting go of being in control.

Although, I admit, it's pretty cool to see that "How the hell do you do this every day?" look on my husband's face. Poor guy looks like a deer in the headlights almost all day long. I stifle my laughter to be polite (usually).

Watching jeans and pinks and towels all go into the same load of laundry hurts almost as much as the pain in my ankle. Seeing a kid sneeze and not be able to leap across the room with a kleenex before she wipes her snot on her sleeve is agonizing. I'm suffocating my inner control-freak or I'll burst. Nobody wants that!

Countdown
I am counting down the days until I'm back on two feet! At my next doctor appointment I will either be cleared to start limping or sent to surgery. It all depends on how I'm healing. I've spent the last six weeks doing nothing but healing, so I hope to prance out of that doctor's office like nothing ever happened. That's how it works, right?

Ankle Update

As it turned out, I really did break my ankle. I also sprained it. I went to Urgent Care the weekend that I injured myself and saw an orthopedic doctor a few days later. He couldn't tell from my Xrays if the bone was fractured but he thought it was. To be sure, he sent me for a CT scan.

He said it didn't really matter because treatment was the same. Stay off of it, elevate and ice. 

The CT scan was weird! I didn't have to have my whole body in the gigantic tube, just the knee down. Then I went back to the orthopedic doctor.

He showed me the CT scan images on his smart phone, and told me that he would email the little video clip to me (never did). In the CT images, you can clearly see that the tip of the tibia bone is broken off. Not fractured, not chipped, broken.  At least I didn't break my leg bone in half and develop a new bend in the middle, right?

Since I am a trustworthy grown-up (doc's words and I didn't pay him extra to say that), I was given a choice of a boot or a cast. After three weeks in the splint, I got a tall walking boot. It is so big and heavy, I'm not sure if it was the right choice. But, the 100 degree weather keeps reminding me that indeed, the boot was a good decision.

With the boot, I can scratch my itches. I can use lotion. I can strap an ice pack on. I can air out. And best of all, I can take it off and have a nice bath!  I wear the splint at night because the boot is to cumbersome for sleeping and the doctor suggested switching to the splint for night use too.

I had xrays done again the day I received my boot. The dr said I'm healing nicely. Yay for healing!  It doesn't feel like I'm healing at all, so I'll take his word for it. My ankle and foot are still swollen, still can't wiggle my toes, and still have a lot of pain. The bruising is starting to go away.

I have to stay off of that foot until August 8th, and if all is well at that point then I can start to apply pressure and begin to walk on it. I will have to wear the boot until mid-September, again, that 's if it heals well. After that, I will have to invest in a decent pair of shoes and stick to my promise to never jump off my bed again.

I can't wait for mid-September!

Spider Killing Ninja, That's Me

Last night at midnight I was finally getting to bed. It had been a long day of beach and sunshine with three of my daughters and all three of my grandsons. Wonderful day well spent!

Of course, the littles fell asleep in the car and traffic was slow, so they napped good and hard. This totally destroyed bedtime!  I got them to bed very late and I was still up at midnight, just settling myself into bed.

I did my nightly visual scan of the room to check for spiders on the walls. What? Don't you? I saw one! It was in the middle of my room at the peak of the vaulted ceiling. I can't reach to squish it up there, but I'm quick thinker and immediately had a solution!

I'll kill it with the swiffer!

I bolted down stairs to grab my swiffer mop. The flat head on it will be the perfect spider squisher. I ran back up to my room and the spider had moved a bit, closer to being right over my bed. I know the game... Spider gets directly over the bed, releases his ceiling grip diving for the bed and attacks! Yeah, that's not gonna happen. This spider will die.

I stood on the bed armed with my swiffer. The spider was sitting on the ceiling taunting me. I could almost reach with it, but not quite. So close! I wanted to kill it before it got over the bed.

Like a ninja, I jumped up and lunged at the spider with my weapon and I flattened that thing smearing spider guts on the ceiling. Triumph!

What goes up must come down. Which I did. I fell down to the floor, swiffer in hand, and landed on the floor. Hard! Feet first. Whack! And then a massive thud as the rest of my body hit the floor.

There was instant agonizing pain in both of my ankles and lower legs. I screamed in pain. I laid there dying of excruciating pain, screaming and crying and wondering if I broke both of my legs or what just happened. After a few minutes it was clear that my left leg may have just snapped I half but the right one was probably OK.

I got brave enough to look, both feet were still attached, legs looked normal, no blood, but horrible pain!

I should lay on my bed and get off the floor. I couldn't! It hurt so bad! I could not get up! I did some more screaming and crying. I missed my husband very much right then. He picked a bad night to be out of town!

Finally, I composed myself and tried to get up. The right ankle hurt a lot but I could stand up on it. The left foot couldn't touch the floor without shooting sharp pain. I got into bed and took a look. Lefty was swollen and not looking too good.

I couldn't sleep. It hurt so much! And I was worried about how to function the next day. Home alone with the little kids. I had my nexus on my nightstand so I googled.

Google diagnosed me with a fractured ankle. Great.

I dozed off and on waking up in pain often. When 6am rolled around, I decided to get up for the day. I still couldn't put any pressure on my left foot.

I crawled to the bathroom, and then I scooted down the stairs on my hiney. The dog was by my side the whole time. She laid next to me each time I took a break from crawling. A great idea came to me, at this point I understand if you have doubts about how great my ideas are.

I crawled into the garage. You know, the floor in there is really dirty! Anna's crutches were in here somewhere. I almost threw them out a few months ago. I crawled over and retrieved them but I couldn't stand up.

After I got back into the living room, I was able to hang onto furniture and pull myself up. The crutches are gonna work! I hobbled into the kitchen and got a cup of coffee and made an ice-pack.

I stuck the ice back in the pocket of my pajamas and I repoured my coffee into a to-go cup with a tight lid. I carried that in my teeth and I made it back to the easy chair.

That took me an hour! I was in a lot of pain now, but feeling accomplished.

The ice was helpful but the hour long phone call to my mom was the best medicine! Once 8 am rolled around I started calling my daughters, friends and neighbors for help.

My grandson came down the stairs and told me very matter-of-fact like, "No, Grandma. You can't be hurt. No."

My daughter took me to Urgent Care and they sent me to radiology for x-rays, then it was back to urgent care. They let me use a wheelchair in the building which was very handy.

The doctor looked at the xrays and he thought there was a possible fracture of the end of my fibula. It was his opinion that it is fractured, but he will defer to an official diagnosis later. The orthopedic doctor would say for sure, but that will take a few days. In the meantime, I was put in a splint and sent home.

Got to keep my x-rays!