Transporting broken ankle long distances

[twatchops]

Posting for traffic so apologies.
mother visiting. Severe ankle fracture requiring 3 hours surgery.
6 hour drive back to her home. AA are fortunately recovering her car.
Non weight bearing and using a frame. She can't come home to me due to stairs and toilet set up so needs to travel directly home. No ambulance/hosp transport available.
Physio suggesting leg up on back seat of car with wheelchair transfers to service station for toilet breaks.
Is this reasonable 4 days post surgery? Any helpful suggestions or recommendations for wheelchair hire?
She won't contemplate going on train with me which I think will be easier to manage.
Hosp keen for discharge ASAP.

HELP! Travel likely on Fri.
(And please feel free to send sympathies... it will be a long journey...)
Private ambulance unaffordable and taxi driver unlikely to be able to help her with toilet....

Definitely not the train if there may be any issues getting on/off, or connections with other trains. I'd go with the car and maybe stop every 2 hours for a break/toilet/food/drink/snack. Would make the overall journey 7-8 hours but perhaps more manageable?

Apart from the immediate question of how to get her home, what support has been set up for her arrival? Will local authority carers go in for post-hospital support as they do in my area?

Flying after surgery can be problematic; there's usually a minimum period after any operation due to pressurisation and oxygen issues.

I don't know how your front seats work but the back rest of my front passenger seat can fold over fairly flat so if she sat in the rear seat behind it she could put her foot up on that rather than trying to put her foot up sideways on the rear seats. Might be more comfortable with some cushions etc.

has she got travel insurance?
she can't travel in normal car. it's not safe.

Might there be a nursing home nearby where she could stay for a bit till she's more able to travel?

I know when I broke my ankle and had it pinned and plated I was in hospital for nearly two weeks before I was discharged, and it was pretty difficult to do anything much in that time. The pain if it's knocked is really hard to cope with.

Can you buy a ' she-wee' and use it in the car?
Will save walking in/ out of the services.
If she wears a skirt and loose pants she can slip to the side she can manage this.
Yes its not very dignified and you will need to pull into a quiet corner of a parking area, but will help in this situation.
They sell them in lloyds/asda pharmacy.

Posted too soon...

The other thing to think about is how she's going to manage when she does get back to her own house. Will she be on her own? At less than a week post-surgery, that's going to be asking an awful lot of her, and could set back her recovery by quite a bit. She'll be needing help for at least a couple of weeks, I'd have thought.

How far back will the front passenger seat go?

Get a stack of quilts/pillows/bean bags in the footwell so it is solid enough to support her ankle.
Incontinence pads for the journey, with disposable bed pads on the seat under her too.

No travel insurance.
Just "popped" up for BH weekend.
She has my Dad at home but he's 10 yrs older (but fully mobile) and hasn't driven for 15 yrs
She'll be fine when she gets home. House is perfectly set up for this kind of thing. Prev owner was wheelchair user so ramps everywhere.
Good network of friends too actually who will help when she gets there.

If you know anyone with a Ford Fusion the passenger seat folds flat forwards, would make ideal foot rest.

I'm totally stressed out by it all.
It was such a freak accident.

Will have a play getting the front seat right forward tomorrow.

It's not possible that she's got a packaged bank account with a travel insurance component?

Nope I've checked everything. It was me that realised the AA would cover the car recovery.
They had a UK holiday cottage booked next week - no insurance because "I couldn't see that anything could happen to prevent us from going" hmmmmm

As above, does your front passenger seat fold flat?

Can the hospital discharge her with some strong painkillers for the journey? Worth an ask to make the journey as comfortable as possible.

If using a she-wee maybe put a maternity sheet on the seat before your mum sits down. Big supermarkets and Boots etc sell them. Might be worth getting one in case getting to the public loos is difficult.

I broke my ankle and had surgery in spring of this year. Definitely try sitting in rear of car with leg resting on pillows. Take pain relief as precaution not when in pain. I managed a two hour car journey, a Robbie concert and a two hour return journey in reasonable comfort. I certainly wasn't going to miss Robbie!

Maybe a slab of memory foam underneath the ankle might give better support than just a pillow. Thinking of bumps in the road etc. There are foam places where you can buy to order. Might also be good for her to sit on as I'm sure she'll get a numb bum if she can't easily move to reposition.

Can you buy a ' she-wee' and use it in the car?

You cant use a she-wee in a car. You need to be standing- it is like a funnel.

Can you remove the front car seat?

Wheelchair and book the disabled space on the train.

Make sure you stop often so she can keep the circulation going. Have you told the hospital it's a 6 hour drive? Weren't they worried about blood clots? Is she taking Clexane?

No advice about broken ankles but how about downloading some good podcasts. It won't help with pain but might pass the time a little.

Suggested podcasts
Guadian audio long reads
Outlook
IPM
The Inquiry. ( My favourite)

Alternatively you could get some audio books.

.

Hmm. My mum has literally just this evening been discharged from hospital following a broken ankle.

She had a serious fracture which needed 7 hours in theatre, requiring plates and pins. She has been in the hospital for almost 2 weeks. They almost didn't discharge her this evening because she is still on such high doses of pain meds. She is only in her 50's.

She is in an ambulance going home because the hospital said that she mustn't be taken in the car because it's not safe and would be too uncomfortable, Her husband was available but he will follow the ambulance. She was transferred to a specialist unit in London, so it's only about an hours drive from home. They insisted on the ambulance.

I am shocked that they have said they won't transport your mum. My mum would never be able to manage the train. She is still in terrible pain and has to be completely NWB for 8-10 weeks. She will be needing physio for a year.

Is it totally impossible for her to come to you? Hire/buy a commode or make up a bed downstairs?