Cast is finally off!
Been a while since I last posted and since then, I went on holiday with my friends. Had an amazing time and the cast didnt stop me from dancing the night away everynight! At night, along the strip, many people would ask “‘What happened to your foot?” and my friends hilariously devised stories ranging from falling off a quadbike and breaking my leg to injuring my foot as I fell from Heaven (the boys loved that one haha!). All in all, an ATR hasn’t ruined my summer, like I was terrified that it would. I had my reservations about flying with my cast, and my OS offered me the boot for my travels but I didn’t really want to pay 150 pounds (240 dollars?) on a boot that I’d be wearing for one week then never again. So I popped 2 aspirin and flew without any problems. Although one of the funniest points of the holidays was definitely being wheelchaired around the airport!
I returned on Monday 2nd August and had my cast removed on the 3rd, just under the 8 week mark. My calf is so puny it’s crazy! No heel lifts, no nothing my OS just gave me a compressed sleeve/sock type of thing to wear for a few weeks and said to come back in a month’s time. He doesn’t want me to do any physio for now because he says physiotherapists have a tendency of over pushing patients and sometimes causing re-ruptures. “Choose your footsteps carefully” he said and I will because I do NOT want to go through this again and touch wood I won’t! However the tendon area does feel extremely tight and I am limping considerably. I’d much appreciate any suggestions for gentle exercises I can do to make it less tight and get a bit more movement going in my ankle!
The scar is neat, just a straight line but the amount of dry skin was actually traumatising! The first place my mum took me from the hospital was the nail salon for a MUCH needed pedicure!
I’m currently in Turkey on a family vacation! My parent’s are thinking of booking me in for one of the hotel’s sports massages and I’m definitely planning on soaking up a lot in the Jacuzzi because the one place my tendon feels good is in warm water!
Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (8)Wait, Weight, Walk
So today was 5 weeks post operation & Non Weight Bearing and my second appointment. My surgeon’s on holiday so I didn’t get to see him, instead it was a date with my plaster technician. As I waited in the foyer I got a case of those horrible hospital nerves even though I knew I was in no serious danger! I knew that I was going to have my foot repositioned into neutral but I did NOT foresee the pain that that would cause me! As the technician pushed my stiff foot back I squealed as I asked him if there was any chance that this rigourous pushing would make my tendon re rupture! He said he wouldn’t do it if he feared it would snap so I put as much trust in him as my fear would permit me to. Eventually we got it to 90 degrees and I was recasted and given a shoe to wear over the cast.
He encouraged me to put weight on but I was too afraid! I’ve been told to walk with one crutch and gradually wean off it. I’ve tried walking and it’s definitely tricky! I feel like a baby learning their first steps again.
Now my dilemna.
On the car journey home, my dad suggested pulling out of the holiday I’m due to go on with my friends next week - he doesn’t think I’d enjoy it much in my current condition! I don’t know what to do. I really don’t want to fly and spend 3 and a half weeks in a hot country with a big cast on! I’m going to call my surgeon on Monday and ask him if there are any alternative supports I can have that will enable me to be somewhat involved in the trip. I also want to be able to walk with as little a limp as possible so I’m going to be up as much as I can, obviously not pushing myself though. I already missed my Prom because of this injury AND had to sit the most important exams of my life in post op agony, I don’t want another part of my summer to be ruined too!
- Kristy
Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (4)Tennis, Tears & Turbulent Times
I’ve been following the site for a while now and I’m pleased that I can finally write some entries.
I don’t see many teens on the site so fellow adolescents or Britons would be grand to share experiences!
So, I suppose I ought to start from the beginning…
On June 3rd my friends and I thought it would be fun to play some tennis near her house. It was a last minute decision so I didn’t bring any trainers with me to play in so I just played in my ordinary flats. We’d been playing doubles for about 10 minutes when I went to hit a backhand and POP I suddenly fell to the ground shouting. The initial pain didn’t last for long and I shouted and swore thinking someone on the neighbouring courts must have hit me with one of their tennis balls! Alas my friends informed me that nothing had hit be although they agreed that there had been a loud noise.
It wasn’t til I tried to get up again that I realised the huge pain that I was in. I cried like a baby and called for my mum to take me home. Limping to the car I thought I’d twisted my ankle really bad and my dad, who’s a doctor checked it out and due to all the swelling he thought it was just a bad sprain. As I tried to go upstairs to bed I did all I could to hold back my tears! It wasn’t til the next morning when my dad checked it out again that he realised what had actually happened.
So I went to my local NHS A&E, and after an agonizing 4 hour wait, which involved being told by a nurse that it was only a sprain and being told by a doctor that I was ‘far too young for this to happen!’ and eventually having my fears confirmed by the orthopedic consultant. My dad made plans for me to have a consultation with a private surgeon the following Tuesday.
That Tuesday I hobbled in on crutches to see my surgeon who undertook the Thompson test and scheduled my surgery for Friday 11th June. He said in all his years he’d never seen an ATR in someone as young as me! A female at that! (I’m 18) Again I held back tears as he told me that it would take around 6 months to be as I was before that fateful match and that I would need to spend 8 weeks in plaster. EIGHT! I panicked. Over the next 8 weeks I had exams, my Prom, the beginning of what was meant to be the best summer of my life before I went to university as well as 2 holidays. There was no way I could possibly do all those things with a big fast cast on and crutches! As I left the hospital I cried as I told my friends what was before me. Yes I understand that all I seem to do is cry…!
Luckily my surgery was a success and I was able to leave that same day in my first plaster cast. I won’t lie to you, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the special treatment from my family although I did often have my times of anger and frustration at not being able to do things for myself. Thanks to the advice from this website I rested and elevated religiously, factors which I’m sure contributed to the amazing quick healing of my surgical wound. No infection no problems! My surgeon also said that the quick healing of my wound is also due to my young age. After 2 weeks of the horrendous wet plaster cast I was delighted to receive a lighter, smaller fibreglass cast, again in the pointed position.
I’m going to move on to another post now but if you’ve been patient enough to read all of this I thank you for your time!
- Kristy
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