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Published: January 12th 2010
Happy New Year to you all.
It’s been a few months since I made my last travel post. I guess you get busy with the day to day and time slips away; that and my trusty camera has taken its last photo and I found myself bedridden for nearly two months with a broken leg.
The topic of this brief blog posting is an update on my leg.
On 16th October I was playing a league softball game for the American team here in Auckland. Strangely enough the American team is made up of 5 or 6 Americans and the rest are a range of nationalities, most are Kiwi. Anyway it was the third inning and I was up to bat with runners on 1st and 2nd bases. I hit the ball deep, unfortunately there is no demarcation for homeruns so I just had to turn on the speed and hope I could make it all the way around. As I rounded third base I could see the cut-off was about to send the ball home, I decided I had enough speed that I could beat the ball to the catcher, and if not I was going to take
the catcher out. Needless to say as I got closer to home I decided that the only way to make it in safe was to slide into the plate and push the catcher off the plate… and there was my mistake.
The moment I started my slide I knew it wasn’t going to go well. As I was simultaneously leaning backwards and starting the slide I registered that I was staring my slide into some exceptionally hard clay, next I felt my foot hitting the plate and the catcher’s shoe. All this resistance quickly slowed my slide and sent my upper body in a swift movement over the leg like a fulcrum. It was at this point I could see my ankle and leg flexing and heard the most ear wrenching crunching/snapping noise I’ve ever heard… and could feel a grinding vibration through my body. I knew before I even landed on my chest that my leg was in dreadful shape.
So there I laid my right ankle and foot laying over the plate and I on my chest in the grass. I was called safe at the plate, what a relief. However, all I could think about
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3 Inch Incision with some nice swelling.was that I couldn’t move to shake myself off and head back to the bench. It took a few seconds for anyone to realize something was wrong. One look at my foot told them I was not. The foot was turned more than 90 degrees from normal and I had a large bump on my ankle seemingly attempting to break through the skin. They asked if I could move and I reported that it would be better I stay where I was.
An ambulance was called, but it took them more than 30 minutes to show up. While waiting for the ambulance I’d been moved off the plate, play had commenced and I was on the phone to friends and work colleagues giving them updates on my status, “no I won’t be in the office tomorrow”, “yes, someone needs to pick up my car”, “please meet me at Auckland hospital” and etc… Thankfully I was in shock and felt little pain.
The paramedics arrived and they gave me one look and told me that they were going to require additional time to prep me as they were worried about causing a compound fracture situation. They put me on
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Three access holes for the large screw that ties my two leg bones together gas and gave me morphine…. The drive was uneventful to the hospital. The doctors got in a bit of a dispute about doing surgery immediately or waiting until the swelling came down. In the end the latter group won the argument and I found myself in hospital for nearly two weeks, first waiting for the swelling to go down and then a short recovery after surgery.
The hospital was no fun whatsoever. I was confined to bed for twelve days in the hospital
(the longest time I’ve ever gone without going outside)... only one of those days did I have a bed near the window the rest of the time was spent confined behind other patients' pulled curtains. I started out in urology... sad stories on a daily basis of aged men coming to terms that they could no longer take care of themselves... some realizing for the first time that they will need to live in a care facility rather than returning home. And the food left much to be desired, as one can stand to see/eat yellow hued meals only so many days in a row.
The doctor told me I had the "break of all
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9 inch incision - a large plate was installed here. My old shark bite scars are no longer as impressive. breaks", but got lucky in that I didn't break the skin or damage muscle/ligaments. I now have a couple plates and a number of screws holding the pieces together.
I was in a temporary cast for the next 10 days, which was be replaced with a solid plastercast that I keep on for another four weeks. Only just last week was the plaster cast removed and I was put in a “moonboot”, which I can’t put weight on yet. I now get around on crutches.
I had my first meeting with my physiotherapist last week. She suggested it will be six months before I can start jogging on a treadmill and twelve months before I can start playing sports again. But, all in all I’ve been lucky to have great care at the hospital and at home. I can’t imagine what it would have been like a few decades ago when I would have been written off as a lifelong cripple or worse.
On top of this, on 23 December I broke out with shingles (adult chickenpox), which kept me inside during most of the Christmas holiday break.
I’m back to work this week and it is so nice being up and about with a certain degree of freedom to move around. The six weeks I spent on my back with my foot elevated were so mentally taxing, but all I see ahead of me is good things to come.
My thanks to all of you who have written and phoned, your support has been appreciated.
Here’s to the next travelblog having photos of me out and about doing some traveling.
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Lisette.
non-member comment
Whaaaaat? no mention of the nurse??
Id like to add that through the bad food, the immobility, the pain, the stress of being off work, the isolation during shingles, missing out on going away, camping in a cast, not being able to swim and all the "silly little things" that really add up... you have always had a smart comment and a smile. All the visitors to the hospital commented on your "amazing attitude and chirpyness". Thanks so much for your Grace under Fire. I feel honored to know you.