I’m having an interesting experience right now, not one I would have chosen but if you get handed lemons, make lemonade.
On Tuesday I broke my left ankle, in fact both ankle bones were broken so my foot just fell out of the joint. Weird feeling! UNC Orthopedics is wonderful, I met some excellent Nurse Practitioners, and orthopedic residents, especially Dr. James Meeker who put the splint on my ankle to hold it while the swelling goes down and they do surgery on Wednesday.
Hoping around on one leg is a challenge. Try hopping from your favorite chair into the kitchen for a cup of coffee…but you can’t really carry the cup because you have to use both hands on your walker to hop back to your chair. Then, sit down realize you need to go to the bathroom…so you get up again (remember, just one leg) and hop your way to the bathroom…may as well get something to eat from the kitchen before you settle down again. Yipes! What a nightmare!
I’m so glad that I know how to self-treat my quadriceps and hamstrings because they are seriously being over-strained.
This situation has shown me that when the cast comes off, around the end of January, I’m going to volunteer my time to help older people who are immobilized due to any medical/physical condition and live alone. I’m very healthy in the rest of my body with the exception of my left ankle, I can’t imagine how hard this is for anyone who has other physical issues going on at the same time.
You can help stop pain…the pain someone is experiencing because they are incapable of going to the supermarket, doing their laundry, cooking their food, or even making a cup of coffee because of physical pain.
I have a lot of people to thank already: Lorraine, Elsbeth, Linda, Mary, and my daughter, Anne-Marie. Give someone a hand, you’ll feel so good for it!
Have a great weekend,
Julie