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Bad leg/s!!
annieh, on May 17th, 2008 at 10:59 am Said: Edit Comment
Hello everyone,
My name is Annie and I am from Manchester, England. My story starts at Christmas when I fell and sprained the ankle of my right leg. After months of pain I eventually went to my Dr. and she said it was ankle impingement syndrome and I needed an MRI scan, I had the scan and was then told it would be 13 weeks before I could see a specialist.
A week later I turned round quickly and as my right ankle was weak my weight went onto my left foot, bang!! I thought someone had thrown a stone at me and I fell flat on my face in a car park. I picked myself up and staggered into my sons apartment.
A few days later I called into a National Health Service Walk-in-Centre where a junior doctor and a nurse told me I had ruptured my achilles but just to keep the weight off the leg and put ice packs on it.I did this for 2 weeks and I was in agony, still walking about until my husband said it was so swollen and it was black and blue, that I should contact the specialist and see him privately. I did this and the next day I was in hospital. It seems had I left it any longer the probability was that it would reduce the possibility of a full recovery.Anyway, 4 weeks in plaster so far, had the heavy cast removed last week and a slightly lighter cast fitted. This has allowed me to use my crutches a bit better.
I have borrowed a wheelchair and use my crutches like paddles to make my way around the house and in the office at work. I only had 1 week off work.
I have found lots of ways to do things even in the garden, I can vacuum the house by kneeling the plastered leg on the wheelchair and pushing the vacuum in front of me. I perch on the kitchen table and do the washing up. I have an apron around my neck with a large pocket in it to carry things around with me.
I see my specialist again in another 4 weeks, so total of 9 weeks in plaster.
Going on holiday on 31 May luckily enough we have booked an apartment overlooking the sea and a harbour so I will be able to sit on the balcony if nothing else and just rest for a week. Then on our return the plaster will, hopefully, be removed.
The next phase after that is the physio and another operation on my right ankle to try and sort that out. At the time I fell I also damaged my knee and that will be sorted when my achilles leg is strong enough, so it looks like I will be hobbling about until about Christmas, so thats a full year written off.
Anyway, my advice don’t always believe what junior doctors tell you, they do not necessarily give the right advice. If you have any doubts at all, go and see your doctor again, sooner rather than later as every day is important.
This was my foot 2 weeks after the initial injury and the swelling and bruising had gone down quite a bit.
Annie
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