Recovery from serious leg injuries

[bl5150]

Hey folks - it's been a couple of weeks since I've posted anything much...............I've missed my daily DTF fix even if you didn't notice I was gone   This post serves two purposes:

1) to apologise to any DTF'ers who made posts/PM's etc......directed at me in that time and didn't receive a response.  I will get to these ASAP , including my submission for Implode's roulette


2) to see if anyone has any experience to share re similar injuries - either positive or negative ( encouragement or reality check    )    A couple of weeks back I walked into our bathroom in my socks and before I knew it I was on the floor in some sort of shock - I knew I was in trouble but not sure what had happened.  Thankfully (for almost the first time in my life) I had my phone in my hand and was able to call for help.

The tiles had always been quite slippery when wet but on this occasion the missus had gone crazy with some sort of hairspray that had stolen the formula from WD40 and turned the tiles into an ice skating rink.  End result -   fractured tib and fib just above the ankle and fractured tibial plateau (where tib/shin meets the knee).............so effectively double lower leg fracture and the knee as well. Awesome      I'd had a bad couple of months leading up to this , so that's really topped things off.

I'm just home after a week and half in hospital with a sexy moon boot and half a hardware store holding my leg together.  For the first half of the stay I was on a cocktail of drugs that would've made Conrad Murray proud , one of which I had a short term OD on thanks to a careless nurse , but that's another story.  I'm now at a point where I can survive the pain okay with much less in the way of drugs (basically just oxycodone, ibuprofen now with some other bits and pieces as required)...........so long as I keep the leg elevated. These drugs don't tend to affect me much so I'm alert enough.   I can still only last a few minutes at most with the foot on the floor but that is slowly improving.   I'm rather weak after the fortnight of pain, drugs and restricted movement but doing my best to gradually increase that within the confines of my surgeons's instructions -  no weight bearing for 6 weeks, partial for another 6 weeks and then physio/rehab for who knows.................maybe the rest of the year or more.  The place looks like a nursing home - I get about on a walking frame/crutches/wheelchair depending on how I'm going /where I need to go and getting up and having a bath/shower is like running a marathon.   The less said about the state of my business the better.


Anyway.............good to be back , even if I'll likely be a bit less active and keen to hear from anyone who has had a similar injury .

Cheers

Brent

[King Postwhore]

Get better you!

[El Barto]

I suspect you'll find the leg pain more tolerable than the oxycodone withdrawal. I'd seriously be looking to get off of that now. Add to that, you already feel crappy now anyway. Don't wait until you're mostly recovered and feeling better to start up a completely different trauma. Also, since they're not always real clear on that sort of thing, don't combine the oxy with Tylenol.

Other thing is to be religious about the rehab. I've known several people who got much worse for lack of proper rehabbing.

[ReaPsTA]

Other thing is to be religious about the rehab. I've known several people who got much worse for lack of proper rehabbing.

Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes.

I sprained my ankle once.  Didn't start rehab for months for some reason.  It's probably never going to be totally the same.

[hefdaddy42]

Not a fracture, but I've had a torn hamstring before.  That totally sucked.

My daughter also tore her meniscus while dancing at last year's prom.

Adhere to the above instructions regarding rehab.

[MoraWintersoul]

Ouch man. I feel for you. My brother fractured his leg twice above the knee when he was 9 and 12, had to wear a full leg cast, it sucked big time. He didn't do rehab right the first time, so definitely heed everyone's advice here.

[jingle.boy]

Shit man, that sucks.  I was wondering where you'd disappeared to.... just thought that losing Jessie maybe had caused you to withdraw.  I'll echo the rehab too.  I separated my shoulder 10 years ago, figured I'd self-rehab myself.  Never did regain full range of motion, and the past few months, it's been a total trainwreck for some reason.  Wish I'd taken care of it properly back then.

[Chino]

When I fell off the balcony, I had pretty serious leg trauma. It was a good 14 days without me really moving my legs at all. I finally started moving round with a walker and started getting really severe leg pain followed by pain in my chest. I ended up having a bunch of blood clots that started breaking up as I became mobile. That got me an additional eight or nine nights in ICU. Hopefully you're in the clear as far as complications go.

Good to have you back. 

[wolfking]

That's shit Brent, I did notice the lack of posts in the melodic rock thread.

I've never had a serious injury only minor tears and the like, mainly from training, all I can say is as the others said do the rehab and also, never push anything or try and speed up the process, you'll just end up making the recovery longer.

[rumborak]

all I can say is as the others said do the rehab and also, never push anything or try and speed up the process, you'll just end up making the recovery longer.

It's a fine line to walk. A few years back I broke my ring finger into three pieces at Volleyball, and it also had to be hell together by pins. However, the doc right away told me: "if you can wriggle your fingers a bit, do it." The reason being that joints lock up when not being moved, and that can be irreversible. And regarding the exercises afterwards, I was super-adamant and always pushed slightly past the pain. I find you can tell from the pain whether you're doing it right or wrong. When I had the follow-up with the hand surgeon, he was blown away by my range of motion I had regained (he had been very cautious with predictions).
It was so good in fact that just 3 weeks after my brace was taken off, I recorded TDOE with my band (me being the guitarist, and the broken finger on the fingering hand).

[ReaPsTA]

Rumborak's totally right.  Work as hard as you can at physical therapy without actually hurting yourself.  The results will be worth it.

[TAC]

Wow, quite a story  glad you're OK. 

You better be careful. She almost gotcha! 

[Heretic]

Ah man, that's never any fun. Back in September, I tore my ACL in a soccer game, third game into the season. I got surgery in November and then did rehab for 5 months, having to literally restrengthen almost all of my leg. Luckily I had strong legs before the accident, so it was a bit easier of a transition back into things.

I've just started to play again now, too, and it's definitely difficult getting back into the swing of things! But yeah-- leg injuries are no fun. I hope you recover quickly and are in good shape again soon!

[bl5150]

Thanks for all the kind wishes and stories guys...............had all the stitches removed yesterday and no wound issues , so now it's 4 more weeks of no weight bearing/driving myself up the wall until next appointment where we'll see if the bones are mending okay.  I'm told the plates/pins in my ankle will probably have to come out at some point too