Stupid Broken Ankle: Week 6

This week flew by.  I finally got to the point where I could be up long enough to cook food. Grant it, it was not easy, and took about 2x as long as normal due to trying to maneuver my knee scooter back and forth around the kitchen island.  I resembled Austin Powers turning his cart around inside the building. Frustrating.  But at least I had one free hand to carry something.

I was trusted to be on my own most of this week. Towards the end of this week my husband had the decking installed (no railing yet) so I could finally go OUTSIDE, and let the dog out. We have been without a deck for 3 - 4 weeks.

Speaking of letting the dog outside, I attempted to let him out the front door, we have a short lead line from the porch.  Opening a storm door one footed, on crutches, while going down a stair simultaneously is quite the feat.  I attempted this in addition to picking up the lead to clip on the dog.  At this point the dog seizes his opportunity and takes off out the door and across the street. He's completely ignoring me. Deaf. Stone cold deaf, or perhaps sound does not travel across streets. I hobble across the law, across the street and towards the back of the neighbors house where the dog continues to avoid me.  He apparently has forgotten who I even am.  He now not only can't hear me, he now can't even see me. I'm like a ghost.  It dawns on me I can't get him back home and will need a leash. So I hobble back home and get the leash.  (I now remember a story about the leash and the dog from week 2 that's rather humorous and I didn't tell it.  I'll have to tell that story at some point.) I get the leash and hobble back through that stupid storm door, I swear it tries to sweep my crutches out from under me, and down the stairs, across the yard, across the street.  Now the dog has wandered up the street and is going behind another house.  I hobble after him, calling him the whole time.  He just keeps going.  I'm at a dead sprint on my crutches, roughly 2 mph.  I nearly wipe out several times in the grass.  I am not happy, and yet, I'm sort of laughing at the situation.  He has managed to find a stretch of backyards w/o fences. We continue this oblivious chase through several yards before he stops to smell something under some tall pampas grass.  For fear of this continuing for the next 4 hours, I seize the opportunity and I hurl myself on top of him. Yes, I hurled. My crutches went every which way, but I had him, and I had the leash.  He was mine.  I tie the end of the leash around my waist leaving just enough leash to drop down to his collar.  I can't hold the leash with crutches, so this is my only option. I crawl around some persons back yard and gather my crutches with him tied to my waist. I'm sure it was pretty funny to watch. "Honey, there's some strange lady crawling in our back yard with a dog tied around her waist." I drag him all the way back to the house and take him inside and don't let him out again until the deck is built.

Right ankle, inside view.
That's a chunk of my tibia not attached to anything.

At the end of this week, day 41 to be precise, I had another set of x-ray's done.  I finally looked at my paperwork and it said I had a trimalleolar fracture with ankle dislocation.  Trimalleolar is fancy speak for I broke the right side, the left side, and the back of my tibia/fibula that make up my ankle. This time I had hubby get a photo of the side view.  This was the nasty looking view.  So much more healing needs to take place. I was told this is normal for someone "my age." So much for taking calcium, vitamin D, fish oil, and a multi-vitamin.  I thought for sure I would be the one outlier / miracle with complete healing at this stage. My hopes were dashed. Despite acting like a kid, I do not possess the healing abilities of a child. You would think the two would translate.

Now the good news.  I can start putting weight on my foot.  I'll be in my boot another 2 weeks while learning to walk again (cue inspiring music) with the aid of crutches.  In a matter of seconds following my first attempt at walking, I have learned it feels like my bones are going to pop through the skin in the bottom of my foot. I was told this feeling would eventually go away. Oh, Lord it better go away! I get to work on daily exercises at home to strengthen my muscles, and perform stretches for the calf, ankle, and foot to move again.  I can't move them much at all right now and my itty-bitty calf cramps when I try to use it. It's like all my joints and muscles are filled with cement. Click here to see my video displaying my fancy foot work side by side - good versus evil.

And most importantly, if you have followed these weekly blog posts, I finally figured out what is causing me to feel like I have the flu.  It's not a metal allergy (I should probably stop doing so much research about these things).  It's doing too much, being too active.  I had no idea that doing too much would give me achy muscles all over, chills, and make me feel like crap. Live and learn. So, I guess I'll relax a bit more and heal a bit more.  And to be honest, I'm kind of getting tired of the computer and watching TV.

I might try a half day at work Thursday and Friday during "week 7".  The problem is that I am still not allowed to drive due to the boot. Apparently if you are to get in an accident you will automatically be at fault due to the boot (or cast). Crazy right?  So if I figure out a way to get to/from work, I'll make an attempt to go. I'll have to spend the day in my office and avoid the lab - open toed shoes, or boots in my case, are not allowed in the labs.  Plus I can't stand, or carry, or do anything other than sit at my desk anyway.  But I can sort of walk with crutches!  Things are looking up!

Missed the story on how I broke my ankle?  You can read it here.