Broken a limb over Xmas? Metaphorically climbing the walls? Support thread

[duchesse]

Me: broken ankle on Xmas Day, operated on 4th January, now climbing the walls trying to keep DD3 entertained (with help from au pair and lovely friends dropping in), looking forward to being able to walk again some time in February...

Come and join me on my 6 week wait...

Hi all, good news on putting the foot down duchesse :) My consultant said I can put my foot down but exert no more pressure than as if I were standing on an egg - is good for balance as you say.

My bath was the best (& most disgusting) one I have ever had - it is wonderful to feel properly clean again. My manky feet were bad but nothing a soak & a pumice stone couldn't sort out.

loony how's your foot today ? is it swelling up with the extra walking - i have gone from leg up to sitting up more and my foot is swelling up really badly.

Hi everyone. Just came across this thread while looking up broken bones and pregnancy. I fell two weeks ago on some ice at work and broke my ankle in 3 places. I was 30 weeks pregnant at the time and was terrified that something had happened to the baby. Had to go in for an op the day after to have a plate and 8 pins fitted, but because they could not put me to sleep I had to stay awake through the whole thing. No pain killers afterwards either apart from paracetamol because of baby. Had the worst stay in hospital for a week and now I am housebound until March. Got a zimmer so I know how everyone above feels about trying to make things like food and drink. Its a nightmare! No weight for me for 4 weeks, cast to stay on for 6 weeks, baby now due in 8 weeks :( I also have to sit with my foot up to stop the swelling as much as possible. Hopefully getting staples out tomorrow at fracture clinic.

Hallo and welcome, history teacher- flipping bad luck to fall while pregnant. Exactly the same thing happened this time last year to mawbroon who posted earlier on in this thread- hopefully she'll be along soon to offer extra moral support re the whole pregnant and fractured limb thing. In the meantime, I hope you're not in too much pain.

Oh Mshistoryteacher, I'm sorry to hear that this has happened to you whilst you are pg.

Like duchesse said, I was 32 weeks pg when I broke mine on 3rd Jan last year. Also three bones, a plate up the outside with 6 screws and two long screws on the outside. For some reason they said that I needed surgery then changed their minds and sent me home and when I went back to the fracture clinic the following week, they said again that I did need surgery, so I was 34 weeks when I had the op.

Same as you, I had surgery under local with no sedation and was worried about ds2 and the impending birth.

Fast forward a year and ds2 is right as rain, and my ankle is great.

I won't pretend it was easy. There were some tears along the way, both mine and ds1's (he took it hard, plus a new baby to add insult to injury), but we got there.

Feel free to send me a private message if you want to chat some more off board.

Thank you for your kind words ladies. I couldn't believe I managed to fall so close to the end of my pregnancy when I had made it through all the snow and ice in Novemeber and December(I live in Aberdeenshire so it was pretty horrendous let me tell you!)

I am glad to hear that everything is ok with you now Mawbroon. Your injuries sound so like mine! Luckily enough I have a very supportive Fiance who is helping me out with everything I need, even washing my hair in the sink for me! So long as the plaster is off and I can walk before baby gets here then I am sure I will be fine!

Even if you can't walk MsHistoryTeacher, I'm sure it will be fine

I was still on crutches wearing a moonboot when I gave birth to ds2 (a VBAC too). I had a Limbo waterproof cover for my stookie which also fitted over my boot, so I even got to go into the birthing pool. If you haven't got a Limbo, I would really recommend you get one.

If anybody had told me in advance that this was all going to happen, I would have been like "shoot me now", but nobody was more surprised than me at how I coped with it all. I am not some sort of superwoman or anything, I am just normal. Awww at your df washing your hair. Mine wasn't quite so understanding at times

My top tip would be not to sit on the sofa all day. I found my mood really dipped on the days where I did nothing, and even something like doing a load of washing or prepping as much of the dinner as I was able really helped, even though it took all day!

How is everyone else doing?

Have discovered I can hobble around without crutches and without much pain (just a twinge on the ligament damaged side) in the last few days- it's utterly revolutionised my life! I can carry things again. You never realise how much you use your legs until you can't any more. Other than that am suffering from severe cabin fever- two weeks to go till cast off. Really hoping I can drive again fairly quickly.

How is everyone else doing- loony? asinine? mrsww? sycamore? canella? dessen? sanity? Mshistoryteacher?

Thank you so much to all the veteran broken bone ladies popping in to cheer us up! It's the virtual equivalent of dropping by with cake for tea.

Oh yes, I remember that duchesse. I started going out once I was able to "walk". I had several volunteers who were willing to drive us places. DS1 especially wanted (needed really) me to collect him from nursery, so I used to hobble round from the car to get him. I got to the point where I only needed the lift and could be dropped off with ds1 for his football/swimming etc. On days where I made these trips, I was exhausted! But I noticed the difference in my mood being able to get out and about.

I was all like "oh, I will never take being able to walk forgranted ever again", but you know what, it's become so normal I don't even think about it any more. There was a long time where I thought about every step.

I also recall the reactions that I got from people when I was out and about. There were the sympathetic smilers, the lets just pretend I didn't see the pg woman on crutches people, there were the ones who gave DH the sympathy smile, especially if I was in the wheelchair in the supermarket. Human nature is very interesting!

I was driving three weeks after I got out of my moonboot. I sat in the driveway for ten minutes pressing in the clutch (was my left ankle) and then went for a wee drive round the estate to see how it was. The freedom was great and it was good to get a tiny bit of normal back, although ds2 was 2 weeks old, so there was no going back to the old normal.

But, I tell you what. Whilst I was on crutches, I managed to get out of a library fine and a parking ticket

Hope you are all doing ok.

How are you all doing?

ok i have name changed but i am sanity !!

well still on crutches after 7 1/2 weeks - i can put about 20% of my body weight on my foot but it swells up quickly - back on the pain killers for night time cos its soo painful at night i am not sleeping - and annoying hubby.

So physio started and foot is more flexible but it hurts more now than it did originally.

On a good note i actually managed to go out on the crutches for 100 yrds to see the neighbour that housed me for the 4 hours on the fateful night - such a lovely lady :-)

I am climbing the walls!! So so so bored. I've been out about 5 times in 7 weeks and can't wait for next week when the cast comes off. Been hobbling around on it for nearly a fortnight now so hoping for better muscle tone than if I hadn't been able to iyswim.

Plaster off today! Can walk a little but painful and have seriously odd limp. Definitely wouldn't make it to school so shall wait til after half term. Great to have a bath and soak scaly, hairy leg. Hope everyone else is on the mend.

Hooray Asinine! Mine's coming off tomorrow. Where you managing to hobble on the cast sans crutches before the cast came off? Am slightly worried I may not be able to walk as well tomorrow without cast as I can today. And yuck to scaley leg! Am so looking forward to bathing the bugger! Sadly shall have to wait till the plumber's been to mend the boiler tomorrow afternoon...

Hi Duchesse! Good luck for today, the circular saw isn't that scary- especially if you keep your eyes closed! I wasn't allowed to weight bear at all before the cast came off. Hope you get on well.

Hooray!!! NO more cast (lovely and purple though it was...) I've been encouraged to bear weight. The physio sent me away with a strappy booty thing to put on when I'm out walking on rough terrain, but otherwise I'm free. Had a good long soak in the bath earlier and about an inch of disgusting dried skin came floating off. Urgh. Looking a lot better now. Have applied vit E oil to the wound.

Congratulations, duchesse! Are you having follow up physio? I'm going on Thursday and want some advice re exercises.

If by follow-up physio you mean "Come back in three weeks so I can check you've been doing your exercises properly wot I just showed you" (or words to that effect), then yes I have . You see the physio straight after they take the cast off in our hospital.

Fantastic Duchesse - the scaly skin think is truly disgusting isn't it! How is the walking going now without the cast? Physio sounds a bit hit & miss!!

Congrats too Asinine. What have you been advised to do regarding walking - crutches with some weight on it? Or more than that?

I have my cast off but still can't bear weight until I have an op on March 10th to have my pin out & have absolutely no idea on what I will/won't be able to then. Getting information out of my consultant has been like getting blood out of a stone.

Hang in there loony- you did have a v nasty break and it's bound to take a bit longer to mend. Only 22 days to go now!

Thanks Duchesse - yes 3 weeks tomorrow - only half term to cope with between now & then really ;)

DD2 is still teasing me & says hop hop hop everytime I go to do anything. DD1 cheeky little thing yesterday said " mummy - my ankles can do this.." cue lots of ankle wriggling & jumping!! I didn't know whether to laugh or throttle her!!

The consultant was a man of few words and didn't give much guidance, although he wrote in referral letter to physio "full weight bearing." I was sent off with crutches but I'm only using them both first thing when it's all stiff, and only one like a stick for the rest of time.

Loony you must be really fed up by now- I hope you have plenty of people to visit and take you out.

The only good thing about all this is I discovered mumsnet! Dh thinks i'm getting addicted and when my legs better I will remain a chair based Internet geek....

Asinine - DH thinks I am superglued to the internet - it is the only thing keeping me sane!

Consultants eh - mine seem to think I can read their minds so words aren't necessary!

Think the pity thing has worn off too as visitors seem very thin on the ground!!

Loony - you have my sympathy. It's horrible when everyone else is happily getting on with their normal ( two-legged) lives and they have forgotten that you're still stuck at home. People do like a drama but last month's fracture is old news....If someone asks if there's anything I need I find it hard to say "company" and will tend to pretend I'm fine when really I'm going slowly crazy. I tend to ask them for some milk, bread, painkillers/ or something else you could plausibly have run out of- or ask people for coffee and tell them to make it themselves and clear up after!

When I first broke my leg I overdosed on reading for about a week, then TV, then Internet, then chocolate. Now I'm so bored I'm decluttering random patches of the house by wheeling around on a computer chair with a black bag.

Maybe we should start a thread "what would you do to entertain yourself for 8 weeks with a broken leg?"

I go weight bearing (fingers crossed) tomorrow. Am so excited although six weeks stuck at home haven't been too bad - have been out three times all for hospital appts! I can now get down the stairs quite fast to get to door. And am a lot more mobile than the first few weeks - I can cook and hoover (exhausting), clean bathroom, have my day time TV routine worked out well.

I also have a friend staying at the moment which means cups of teas anytime I want! Will be in a cast for another two weeks and then moon boot am hoping the pain will be minimal. I've had a few days of the tendon been really painful and was worried that it was not healing but I think it is. Am not looking forward to dealing with dry skin - urgh!

Hope everyone is healing well.