I broke my #@*& leg!

I'm so mad more than anything! It happened today at 3, and it's already gotten old. I slipped on grassy hill -- was it icy too? I don't know-- while carrying a whole lot of stuff, at work, my leg twisted underneath and I fell on it and heard a sickening crack!

The event was kind of like a circus. I hobbled inside the building where I was headed and a secretary brought me some ice. I lay on the floor and put my leg up on a chair. Some guy came in and started reading a budget to me, just to distract me. The head of HR popped out of a meeting and saw me and said, "you need to fill out some paperwork." So now it's a workman's comp deal. They whisked me over to an occupational health center, did x-rays, said I have a broken fibula, made a splint and made an appt for Monday with an orthopedist.

But now I have to wait until Monday. Shouldn't I get fixed sooner than that or is this okay?

Fortunately I shaved my legs just the other day!

I sure could use some prayers, and if anyone is a doctor or nurse, could use some advice too.

Well Jeez, it's a good thing you shaved your legs!

Why do things like this happen on a Friday? Then you spend an agonizing weekend waiting for anything?

All kidding aside, I am not sure if waiting is a good idea. Wouldn't the bone start healing together? Or maybe it would take longer than 2 days for that to happen?

I am praying for you and sending you hugs!

Cathi

id have thought they get to seatting it straight away, iv only knowen of a child braking that part of leg and he ended up in traction, plastered or bandaged up and then in a hip spiker for 6 weeks.

i not medicalie traned but would have though it be taken care of sooner.

waite iv just thoough maybee the swelling got something to do with it, and waiting the few days might be to manipulate the bones together properly and waite for sweeling to go dowen for a better fit of plaster.

anyway as i said iv no medical tranning,

but d*$%m you hurt yourself bad their girl!
all sounded a bit surreal while waiting for you ambulanse, did he make you do your paperwork.

well rest well and i gess we be seeing much more of you in heer good comes from bad sometimes.

Oh Crap how unfortunate DJ. Our Josie here is a nurse. PM her and ask what she thinks. I'm thinking of shaving my legs now...well Naw...It's too cold.
Keep us posted.

LOL, I'm so sorry DJ, but your "shaved legs" comment got me going. I thought the same thing once when I was in a car accident!

My first thought was that you should get to the doctor, but then I did some research and found this info for you: (by the way, they said a fibula is part of the ankle?)

Splint
Splinting an ankle fracture is commonly performed in the emergency room. A splint is often done for a few days, followed by a cast. The splint will allow more room than a cast in case there is continued swelling. If the ankle fracture is not badly displaced, the splint may be put on without moving the broken ankle. If there is displacement, a "reduction" will be performed. After being given anesthesia, the ankle fracture will be re-set to improve the alignment and displacement of the broken bones.

Cast
A cast is usually done after a few days, unless the swelling is minimal and it may be done early after the injury. A cast is made either of plaster or fiberglass. Plaster molds to the skin better, and is preferred if the cast is needed to hold the broken bone in a specific place. If the fracture is not unstable, or if some healing has taken place, a fiberglass cast may be used. The fiberglass is lighter weight and more resilient to wear.

I posted the same time as Dancing Dolphin, and her post seems to clarify the why.

BTW, I'm sorry this happened to you!!! Will you get some time off work do you think? (That's a selfish question, because if you DID get some time off, I hope you'll spend more time here with us! Every cloud has its silver lining, you know.)

DJ, sorry about the broken leg! That must be very painful. I hope you have good meds for pain management and that you will be up and about again in no time!!

Dancing Dolphin, that makes sense to splint the injury until swelling decreases and then apply the cast.

Oh goodness DJ...what a PITA! I'm sending prayers and love your way and seeing you healed quickly.

My brother is an orthopedic surgeon...if you want me to check on this approach with him, let me know and I'll make a call. If you could DM me, that would be great since I'm not in here as often as I was and I'm prepping a teleseminar for tomorrow.

Ouch, ouch, DJ. I think like you do. My first concern when I broke my ankle was grateful for shaven legs on that day. And, matching undergarments LOL!

Kathy's info is right. The splint is to monitor swelling. I'll ask my daughter as well as to what to look out for and when it would be necessary to take your leg to A&E before Monday. Like MRed's brother, my daughter is an ortho-trauma specialist.

Are you taking anything for pain in the meantime? Praying that the injury heals soon and that your leg is itch-free.

Yes to DD's advice. I recall that you have to wait for the swelling to go down before they cast it.

God bless you. I hope they gave you crutches.

DJ, I've spent months on crutches so I have some tips. The best is to get yourself a backpack so you can carry stuff around easily. Also, it's really important to keep the leg elevated. When you are in a place where you can't elevate, use your cruth to do so. You can elevate it a bit by leaning the crutch on the chair and propping your leg on the crutch. Or, you can prop it a lot by standing the crutch up and putting your foot on the place where you put your hand. It's a balancing act, but I became a pro at it. Whatever you do, prop your leg up. Once casted, you don't want it to swell, trust me.

Whatever you do, listen to your doctor.

Is it your right, driving leg? Oh gosh, I hope not.

Be careful crutching around the campus. Get a temporary handicap parking tag.

I'll let you know if I think of anything else.

Take care and don't try to do things you shouldn't be doing. Be still!

Thank you all for the information! I felt yesterday like I'd lost my brain. I was in a haze. When my husband looked at the x-rays his face blanched and his concern started to freak me out.

I did call a couple of Dr. friends, though neither is an orthopedist. One even said he'd show the x-rays today to an orthopedist he works with. And my new orthopedist was on call, and said not to worry for the reasons that you've mentioned, about the swelling.

One bit of info I learned was that most commonly people break the tibia -- the big weight-bearing bone -- and fibula at the same time. The fibula is a little thin bone that wraps around the tibia. And the ankle gets implicated because it has ligaments that connect the two bones. Sorry, I'm not much of an anatomist and truthfully don't have the stomach much for it -- I went to that "bodies" exhibit a year or so ago and really sympathized with the woman who passed out while she was looking at the body that showed female reproductive organs.

I work on a hilly campus with lots of stairs and hardly handicap accessible at all. And since I start teaching when the semester starts and continue until it ends, there's really no way I can miss work. Yes, they gave me crutches. The hardest thing is going up stairs. In the house, I can go down on my butt, like a little kid.

So they called campus safety to drive me to the clinic, and to take me back. On the way back I was told that HR wanted me to stop by and fill out paperwork! I'm glad people are so conscientious about their jobs.

Oh, I could hear that crack all the way here. You poor girl. I hope your recovery is swift and easy.

Oh my DJ how awful for you. Eight years or so ago, I went to step down on the bottom step of my deck and the step was rotten undrer the carpet and caved in and my left foot went through it and the right foot smashed down onto the concrete walkway. I fell on my knees. Being super woman (HAH!!!) I pulled myself up, crawled into the house and for FOUR days I walked on those feet. Finally my ex said, you look terrible and the swelling is not going down on those sprained ankles.

We went to the emergency room, took exrays, and I had broken my right ankle in two places, and badly sprained the left ankle. They set my right leg up to the knee with a cast. So don't worry about waiting until Monday, not a problem unless you wait too long and the bones start too heal wrongly... Then they have to rebreak them but thats not the case here in only a few days. After my cast was removed in six weeks I had to wear a boot for another four weeks.

I hope you're better soon, takes awhile but you'll heal just fine. You know the sprain was actually more painful to me thaqn the broken bones were. Go figure!

Oh DJ...this made me shiver to read about it. God love you, how horrible. Since I'm late coming to the forums, can I assume by now you have crutches and can use the bathroom without breaking your neck? Oh girl, this is just terrible! I couldn't believe how the HR wanted you to stop by and fill out paperwork. Very sympathetic, aren't they? Good grief.

I pray that you have much help during all of this and that your bones heal swiftly! I just bet you are the type to take care of everyone else in the family, so sit back, rent some movies, and let everyone wait on you for a while. You could start to like it!

Take care of yourself, girl!

Thanks Anno, chatty and JJ --

You're right chatty -- my doctor friend who showed my x rays to his orthopedist friends (that's my health care system, LOL) confirmed what you say and what DD says, that it's ok to wait a few days. He also said it's okay to go out, so we went on a little road trip yesterday and out to dinner.

Yep they gave me crutches and I'm pretty good but trying not to get cocky. My friend told me that her PT once said that people on crutches are likely to break their arm or their noses! She also brought me over a walker, one of those canes with feet, and a bench to put in the shower, so YAY I got to wash my hair today.

True JJ, I'm worried that my husband is _too_ worried -- he was married before and widowed after 20 years and had nursed his first wife who died of ovarian cancer. So even though I enjoyed myself yesterday on our little trip out, I really wanted him to be distracted and not worry so much about me. They'd had 3 little Yorkies that he got for her, and when those little dogs died, my husband's hair actually turned white and his eyebrows fell out (Eagle -- hope you're listening -- he took adrenal pills and his hair turned black again and his brows grew back. And by the way, no specialist could figure it out for him. It had to have been the stress and brought back his grief.)

Oh DJ, What a "sheety" situation!

DJ, anxious to hear what the orthopedic doctor had to say today.

Glad to hear you were out and about on the weekend. Just prop her up and go! Don't let it get too swollen.

Ew -- good one. I like the card! it's got a nostalgic feel to it.
I got a cast and chose to have it in black, rather than paw prints, camou or dinosaurs. Black goes with everything, though wearing pants will be tough. After a week, I can put weight on that leg. I'll have the cast for 6 weeks. That's all of Feb and maybe into March.
Can't wait until spring!

I sure feel for you, DJ...but do appreciate you letting us know the outcome. God's speed, girlfriend.

DJ, so it's a walking cast?

I hope you take the time to relax a bit more and take it easy. Milk it for all it's worth.

DJ, I'm just reading this. Omigosh! what a pain (literally ) The hills on campus are going to be an obstacle, I can see.

Hope you heal ASAP! In the mean time, give yourself whatever respite is needed.

How about an update? I'm sure you're doing much better this Saturday morning.

I've been wondering the same thing. DJ...hope your absence means you're watching movies and snacking on popcorn, hun.

yea i was wondering how our dear ladie was doing, update DJ? if you can

Dj, I just saw your post and I'm so sorry. I've never broken a bone, so can't commiserate on that level. I can commiserate about HR/Workers Comp and doctors. Fill out every space in the Workers Comp paperwork and they'll keep sending more.

It's not because their conscientious, it's because you can sue them.

I think about shaving my legs every day and only do it once a month in winter. I'll do it tomorrow. And clean underwear is a must. Be well soon. Your students will be happy to carry your books and bags for you (for extra credit).

Thanks all y'all for asking. Here's an update:

For the first few days I still had a lot of residual energy but now it just seems to take forever to do anything. Suddenly my modest house seems enormous. I put things in a backpack to carry up and down the stairs -- I go up and down on my butt and drag my crutches along with me. I'm getting calloused hands from wielding the crutches, and super triceps. I leave glasses of water here and there and have had to restrain my husband from cleaning them up.

I spend much time strategizing how to get from one place to another and bring along a cup of tea, or something. I'm using the unbent wire hanger to scratch my itchy leg under the cast.

The hardest thing is getting from the house to the car. The yard is hilly and has stone paths and stone steps.

Workers Comp would actually pay me a salary for 6 weeks not to go teach, but there's no one else who can, so I am. Anyway, I'm not a complete invalid.

We have watched a few movies, but we watch a lot of those. And today we went out to lunch. Tonight we saw "missing" which is now out on DVD and I've never seen the whole thing. The other day we saw "The Black Book." My husband complains that I prefer stressful movies.

Yesterday and today I read "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" for my bookgroup on Wed. Has anyone read that? Rather odd, and I'm not sure it was worth 580 pages or whatever.

Classes start on Monday -- I'm still finding mistakes in the syllabi. And those darn students better help out without expecting any reward other than doing good deeds!

Oh girl...you are such a survivor! I knew you would get the most out of the situation and if I'm ever stranded on a desert island, I want you to be there. Gosh, I would be milking this one.

A friend of mine is read "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" and she seems to love it. She's going to send it to me next. I wondered if it would be worth the read. I did notice that Stephen King endorsed it...but quite honestly, I DO NOT like SK work. It scares me too much.

Here's hoping your students pitch in and help!

JJ
The only one I can actually milk during this time is my husband and he's quite willing and sweet. But I'm afraid he makes a hash out of a lot of things and I won't let him even do certain things like change lightbulbs -- he once tried changing the lightbulb in the back hall and pulled the whole fixture out of the ceiling! And I had to ask someone else to fix that! He once helped me move my antique vanity, and is so precipitous, that he broke off one of the mirror stays. He opened the Saran Wrap wrong and ripped off the sharp tear edge so we have to cut each piece with scissors (which is not easy). He's doing the wash and I can see a huge bleach mark on the shoulder of one of my best expensive shirts (though of course he denies having used bleach). Having him help is rather exhausting.

Re: Edgar Sawtelle: I don't like Stephen King either, not just because he's scary, but because he makes up stories as he goes along and introduces extraneous characters and details that get lost. You have to like dogs in order to like Edgar Sawtelle, because they play a major role. I think the author is making a comment about how dogs and people are different but equal life forms.

Oh bless your heart on the "helper." I'm sure his intentions are generous and good, God luv him. I totally understand.

It's funny but my girlfriend gave the same assessment of the book as you did. Not sure if it's one of those I'll jump on. That statement makes me laugh anyway. I have over 500 books here, so it isn't like I'll run out of stuff to read.

Dotsie
I just got a beautiful get well card from you and want to publicly thank you for the sentiment -- but first I have to tell you that your envelope was inside a US Postal Service window envelope. I opened that envelope and the one from you inside had already been opened -- I think you wanted to give me a coupon for a carry out meal but it must've been stolen!
Can you believe this?
What a world we live in! Will the greed never end????

Anyway, thank you Dotsie. Next meal I have I'm telling myself is on you, sweetie.

I don't care for SK's writing style either, but I did like 3 of his books (I'll think of the titles later). "Edgar" is on my waiting list at the library.

DJ, I can't believe you didn't take at least 2 weeks off with pay to acclimate to your new situation. You've got heart, girl. Don't try to do it all when you have help.

Ack, two things:

I can't believe you announced this in here. No need to do that.

And, you are right. I sent you a gift card to Tai One On. I recalled you guys liked that place and thought hubby could get you a carry out dinner one night. I remember crutching around the kitchen while trying tom ake dinner and it wasn't easy. What a rip off! It was a plastic gift card. Someone working for the post office must have felt it, opened the envelope and taken the dang thing. I'll never send gift cards in regular envelopes again. I'll put them in the padded envelopes. I've often sent Subway or WalMart cards to my kids in college and that never happened. Good grief. I guess we shouldn't be surprised while in the face of such tough economic times.

I'll have to talk to the nice gals at the post office and ask them what I can do about this. Do you have the envelope?

Maybe I should notify the restaurant. Hmmm, good idea.

I hope I didn't embarrass you Dots.

I've saved the envelope and thought maybe they could take fingerprints! but probably they wear latex gloves.

It's really criminal when you can't trust the PO. I have a Peruvian friend who says you can't mail anything in Latin America and expect it to arrive intact. I hope we're not becoming like that here too!

This happened to me a month ago -- my step son (you know who) sent a bookmark and photos of the kids, but the envelope arrived already open and empty. I don't know who'd want pictures of his kids. Hope they weren't disappointed.

What's with all the open and empty envelopes? DJ you sure are a champ. You're not mentioning pain. What a pain just to get around with crutches. It's funny to hear about your H not being so handy.

DJ and Dotsi, I'm so sorry. Dotsi, mayhap you can trace the gift card with your receipt and cancel? Hopefully b/4 its used. If so, you could purchase a new one?

In late Feb. they gave me a removable cast -- it's got a metal bottom and lots of velcro straps, so I can take it off in the house. And scratch if I need to! The x-ray still shows a broken bone. However...I talked to a young man in his early 20s who broke his fibula last summer and can't remember how (he was out drinking with frat brothers) so that makes me feel better, that it's not just decrepitude that did this. I'm going to be flying next week, so the airline has ordered me a wheelchair. But I used to walk 40 several times a week, and lift weights and do yoga, and have had none of that, so am turning into a blob.

So hows the leg DJ? I'm sure once you're on the mend big time, your 'blobness' (LOL) will disappear quickly. Keep the faith girl!

Well, I flew, wearing the removable cast which of course made the security alarm go off, so they had to examine me more closely though they never said anything like remove the cast so we can see what you're concealing in it. The airline had the wheelchair brigade meet me. But I was confused about how much to tip, or whether to tip, and don't know if it's the same among all airports.
What do you tip a sky cap for wheeling you through the airport? Or is it up to the airline?

I'd tell him not to bet it all on Blueboy in the 5th....whatttt? Okay, okay, just joshin'...

I've never been in that situation, so I'm not sure how much you would tip them. Maybe some of our more experienced flyers, like Anno, could help here?

I'm glad to hear that you've made it to the cast stage...now if you can just hang in there, freedom is on it's way, gal. You've really been through it and I say prayers for you daily!

As far as the blob thing goes...welcome to my world....we in that world prefer to call it fluffy, though. Just FYI...

DJ, sorry to hear you're still dealing with this. Yes, Anno may be a good one to answer this. And nosey me wants to know where you flew. Hope it was for some kind of pleasure.

How much longer would your leg have to be in a cast, DJ? Yep, I'd like to know where you jetted off to as well. How are you coping at work? Hope the leg's better soon.

We drove to Chicago to visit family. Hubby stayed there while I flew to Phoenix to visit more family. Weather was perfect in both places. I get x-rayed again on Monday. It's supposedly one of those breaks that takes time to heal.

What's the latest on the broken bone?

It just never ends but I guess it's healing. The doc says it'll take about 6 months for xrays to indicate it's healed. I no longer have the wear the "boot" and now have a "stirrup" and can go back to exercising.I can wear this little splint with shoes, but the only shoes the bit over it are winter shoe-boots and summer Crocks. Also athletic shoes.

I learned that if you're ever in a wheelchair in the airport, you should tip $5, fyi. on the return trip I decided to walk, having been cooped up all those hours.

Of course, the boot made the metal detector go off -- because it's got lots of metal in it. But did airport security ask me to remove it, or wonder if I was hiding something inside that thing? No way. But they checked my armpits to see if I was packing. Sheesh. I was wheeled over the the handicapped area and became fast friends with a guy who was seriously disabled. We sat together and talked the entire time on a 3 1/2 hour trip. Same thing on the way back. On both legs of the flight (and I mean no pun here) I had to sit with my leg straight up in the air because it ached so much on the plane.

DJ, sorry to hear it's aching so much this late in the game.

Glad to hear you can get back to exercising, but I wouldn't do too much until it's totally healed.

So DJ, were you packing? LOL!!! And if the answewr is yes, then packing what exactly???

I could've used the boot as a weapon, actually!