“That takes a long time to heal . . .”
Hi all,
Is it me, or does just about everyone you meet who hears you have had a ATR say, “Ooh, I’ve heard that takes a long time to heal”, with a look of “that really sucks for you” on their face? I think I have heard that 20 times in the last 6 weeks. I knew I was in trouble when the nurse said it when I was being admitted for surgery. As a fellow nurse, I equate it to telling a patient that “this is going to hurt a little bit”, meaning, “this is actually going to hurt like #@*%!” I’m handling it by putting a big smile on my face, and saying - it gets better every day! Anyone else have any funny responses we can use?
June 12th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Jen
I prefer the squinty-eye intake-of-breath sympathy response to the “Hey, you’re limping a little… does your leg still bother you?” I mean, what the HELL do you say to that?!? I have yet to come up with anything better than “um… yeah”. When the boot is off, the sympathy subsides… just wait…
June 12th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Eerie,
Good point, at least with the boot, there is still some obvious drama going on!! How about - “How would you feel if the largest tendon in your body was ripped apart from your heel, sewed back together so it feels six inches shorter than it used to, you have to learn how to walk from scratch all over again . . . AND it takes a year to get better??” Not good for making or keeping friends I know, but wouldn’t it be fun to actually say it?
Jen
June 12th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Jen
“sewed back together *by a guy that probably can’t sew on his own shirt button” so it feels 6 inches shorther….
If you haven’t seen the YouTube of the achilles tendon surgery that’s somewhere on the main site, it’s worth a looksie. That tendon is a monster.
June 12th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
MY favorite reaction is, “oooh, that sounds like it hurts a lot.” I feel like answering, “If you dont have anything helpful to say, just nod.” What I actually answer is “Actually, the pain wont start until I get this cast off and try to walk again.”
Ed
June 12th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I’ve heard all kinds of stuff but my fav has to be ,”Wow, hurt your leg?”. Normally it wouldn’t be all that funny except for the fact that the person who said it works in IT for major software company. Thankfully i’m “smart enough” to work in a different department.
I just smiled.
June 12th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
“I’m just waiting for mine to go.”
Thats what the resident doc said to me right before we went into the OR. He was about 2 years younger than me and was from Chicago. He said he plays hoops, softball and golf. I asked him if he would go back to all his normal activities if he had this happen to him. He said “Yes, why not? We’re fixing you.” His words put it in perspective. Yes its a bad injury but we will all fully recover.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Walshie,
So true, I keep telling everyone it’s fixable - thank goodness! Lots to be thankful for . . .
Jen
June 13th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Ok, I get a million comments and questions about how long it takes to recover. I finally landed on ” months and months” as my response. Then when they comment on how surprising that it, I tell ‘em —- this is not a sprint, it is a marathon.
Thanks goes to Dennis for that analogy!
June 27th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
how about when you remove your cam boot and people say “oh its looks worse than it is with that robocop boot on !!!!!!!!!!!! worse than it is !!!!!!!!! my god its supposed to be worse than breaking any bone in your body it takes four times longer to heal and as mentioned before you have to learn to walk again without looking like lurch !!!!!!!!!! another friend “if youve broken your heel why is there a scar going up your leg ?”arggggggghhhhhhhhhh thank god for this site
June 27th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
My two newest ones……someone asked if the angle dial on my boot was a temperature gauge. I said,” yes”, then he bent down to look at it. OOOOH so tempting to kick the next dumb question out of him! haha.
2nd- I can’t believe how many people don’t know what/where the achilles is. “Is it that weird thing on the back of peoples feet?” ‘Yep, mine tore right in half”
I actually thought the girl I said that to was going to vomit, all over my “temperature gauges”.
=]
June 27th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Those are good ones. My favorite is when people say “how long?” I answer “until what?” They say “until it is better.” I shrug and say, “a year.” One guy actually laughed and said, “no, really…” I wanted to slug him.
Ed
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