The Moon Boot
I had my appointment on Friday, which I barely managed to get. When I went in to emerg on Monday, they said the Fracture Clinic would be calling me to tell me a time to come in. By weds, they still hadn't called, so Adam called to try and sort it out. Transfer after transfer, and the phone just rang out. He called back again, telling them the phone just rings out. I have had the same trouble, before we decided to even go to emerg, of trying to make an appointment, but no one picks up the phone! They finally called back, thank goodness, with an appointment.
We go the hospital for my appointment, and wait for at least an hour. We finally get to see a specialist, who was really nice, and when consulting with the head honcho, decided to give me what I have been praying for (if its the right thing for my recovery): a MOON BOOT!
The lovely man who created that work of art on my leg was now the one to saw it off. And I felt bad, as everyone in the Fracture Clinic seemed to like his work. As soon as that blasted cast came off, I felt relief right away.
The moon boot is slightly heavier than a cast, and more cumbersome, but so much more comfy. With all those adjustable straps, I am in heaven. I am still having nerve pain, and sometimes it is still pretty bad, but the frequency of those bad times has dropped to something bearable. The whole bottom of my foot is numb, or mostly numb, and burning with angry nerves. The swelling has gone down heaps since my original cast, and I am hoping its the swelling causing the pain, so it will keep going away.
I had my first shower, standing up, albeit on one leg, but it was amazing! No more crevices with soap that I missed washing out. I can reach properly everywhere now! Though I still do sit, since standing on one leg in a soapy shower is a little freaky. Though, in the past, I have always practiced balance when I do my exercise, ever since I hurt my back, and I find balancing on one leg not too terribly scary. I broke the same leg I have sciatica on, which is good, really, since my other leg is stronger as it is.
I pretty much don't wear the moon boot, unless I am walking, er, crutching, around, or sleeping. Since I am still taking some pain killers, I find I have bad dreams, and do a lot of kicking in my sleep, I keep the moon boot on for my own protection. I tried to take a nap without it on, and it was too painful waking up from some weird dream, kicking all over the place.
I guess, since my fib is being held normally in place at my knee by tendons and ligaments, and being held artificially in place by screws at my ankle, there is no way it is going to be moving, so a cast isn't completely necessary. My tib is fine, except for the dislocation, and that is being held with screws too, so no leg bones are going anywhere. The cast was more to protect me from myself, it seems. The moon boot serves the same purpose, except more comfortable. Though, when I try rotating my ankle I can feel the break site, so I won't be doing that any more. But I am allowed to move my ankle, to keep range of motion. The screws are not hindering movement, and so I should try to do a few exercises to keep it from stiffening up.
Except they didn't give me any exercises to do at the Fracture Clinic. I had the feeling I was a pain in their backsides, and they just wanted me out of there. Maybe it was because it seemed to be so busy that day, and I was a last minute patient, but I would have appreciated some info to come home with. I am just going off of what was said to me the first time. So, I will keep moving the ankle, up and down, trying to help along what physio I will be doing starting in 3 weeks, if all goes well.
Here are some photos, 3 weeks after the original break. It's pretty red, but I am beginning now to see some dark colours coming through. I've never seen a red bruise, but who knows. The scabs are also coming off now, in the shower too. My stitches are the disolvable kind, so that's nice. Anyhow, without further ado...
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