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ankle/broken leg update (very long)
I went back to the orthopedist today to get the splint taken off (he put it on after I had surgery a week and a half ago). My ankle and leg were really swollen since I'd been at work most of the day, and even though I try to keep it elevated, it isn't as elevated as it is when I'm sitting on my couch at home. Anyway, they took the staples out (OW! A few of those HURT coming out.) I finally got to find out what he put in my ankle (my husband couldn't remember what he'd said after the surgery). It's some newer technology that will hold the bones in the ankle together while the ligaments heal, but it doesn't involve screws. The main part of the injury was actually a syndesmosis injury (aka high ankle sprain). The thing can stay in and shouldn't bother me after it heals.
Then he gave me a boot - yay for no cast!!! He gave me strict orders to keep it on except for bathing and to not put any weight on it for 5 weeks. Ugh - 5 weeks more of crutches. That will include (if I pass the bar) my swearing-in ceremony by the state supreme court. But that's not so bad, considering what happened next. I asked when I could skate again. He said, "Skate again?" like I'd grown a second head or something. Not for a few months. I said, "December?" He made a face, and said maybe, but more likely late winter. I left the office and then cried all the way home. I'd had visions of myself skating again by November. This hurts. I'm not sure if he understands that I'm a serious skater - as in, I know what I'm doing and I don't wear crappy rental skates that have no ankle support. I'm really depressed. I feel like I've lost a huge part of myself. I feel lonely and bored. What in the world am I going to do to distract myself from no skating for the next few months? There will be skating on TV to watch, and I get watch Regionals in a few weeks, and I can go watch my synchro team practice - but it's not the same thing. I thought about priorities on the way home. I realized that after my family, skating is the most important thing to me. These next few months are going to be hard...and dull...and very long without skating. I'm still hoping for late December. Maybe if I work really hard in PT, and then take it very very slowly when I get back on the ice. I want to heal, but isn't part of healing pushing yourself a little? On a happier note - I came home to 2 messages about jobs I'd applied for last week I wonder if I should warn them that I will be coming to the interviews on crutches? (I also wonder if my nice interview/court suit pants will fit over the boot). This is long. Thanks to everyone who actually read all of it |
#2
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If it's any consolation I was told no skating for at least six months after surgery to fix my broken ankle, but I was back on the ice just 3 months later. I worked hard on my physio and took it carefully when back on the ice. Everyone is different so see how it goes!
Nicki
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www.myspace.com/insatiableskater |
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Poor doctor just doesn't understand AOSS, does he?! LOL! Hmm. . . So as not to scare him, maybe you could call back and ask when you'll be allowed to walk--i.e., put your weight on that foot-- in the support boots he gave you? After all, that's basically what you'll be doing when you start skating on that foot, right? You might also ask around at your rink and see if anyone can recommend a specialist who is used to treating skaters and/or other athletes. A second opinion never hurts.
Meanwhile, that's really exciting that you are about to take the bar!! At least you've clearly got something to keep you occupied while you're off the ice (which--fingers crossed--will not be until late winter!).
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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics |
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Hey Morgail (just caught this before going to bed
It's hard when you just want to skate, I too cried after I got home with my broken bone x-ray. I find it helps me for friends to tell me about their skating practices, what they did, how the coach was, so I can think about what'll happen when I return. No cast though, brilliant! Oh to be able to wash my entire arm... There are lots of good things to come besides skating, and taking time to be ready will only help you. Stepping on the ice too early could be another bad fall on weakened joints, try hard not to rush into it and not to set yourself a time-frame. You know already that it may not be the difficulty of the move that causes the fall. Take it a day at a time, almost. How about some off-ice exercises to do on one leg? That can be fun. Things like practicing standing in spin positions, turns, half rotation loops maybe? Obviously be sensible about it. Try to think positively, in the long run your skating is going to be even better than it was before the injury. Good luck! |
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Here's to a fast recovery and showing that doctor how us skaters do it! Keep at your therapy and work on healing so that you can be back on the ice by December. Hey, pretty soon skating will be on TV and you can kick back , relax, and enjoy watching all the great competitions to come!
And, while it's discouraging that you're off the ice, at least you've still got that December goal to work towards. Good luck with your bar results! Waiting that long can be torture! |
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good luck! I know how frustrating it is to be off the ice. Could you see about picking up some other hobby while you're off? I picked up quilting (yes, quilting. and i'm 17 lol). and its really fun! If you are into that type of stuff, maybe take some sewing classes? That way when you get back on the ice you can have some cool home-made skating apparel!
I know the next few months are going to be rough, but when you DO get back on the ice, you will appreciate it about a billion times more. Just be sure to keep up with the rehab--you don't want your skating or your health to suffer when you get back because your ankle isn't strong enough.
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#8
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But I've got to say, so far it's looking like he's gonna be right... As for pushing it... Hmm, no. It's WAY too easy to overpush, for me, the hardest thing is not to push. It seems fine at first, when you're doing it, then next day you discover it wasn't fine... I don't know why that is. Maybe cuz warm ligaments hurt less than when they cool down or something. Except every time you overpush it puts you back by like, over a month... So it's better not to push. I understand how you feel, I really do. It's very frustrating to be off the ice. I'm allowed back on ice again, but only doing MIF and spins. When I was back in the ice hall, the first thing I thought was "yay, life is normal again!" The whole time I wasn't skating it felt sort of surreal, like just getting through the day on autopilot. But once you're back on ice it just instantly clicks back into place. |
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But really, listen to your doc. I take it he is not a sports medicine doc? My surgeon was and that helped. Maybe down the road you could get a second opinion from a sports medicine specialist if you don't like the attitude your current doc has. Hang in there. You will find your leg is really weak after all that time, and you will need to build up a certain amount of flexibility and strength to even think about skating. But PT will help. I went through ups and downs, too, so PM me if you ever want to "talk". In the meantime, maybe this is a chance to do some other things you've never had time to do? For me, I started learning how to play the piano in March. I just started lessons about 7 weeks ago, and my teacher told me last night she is amazed at how much better I've gotten so quickly. It was a good outlet for me when I was totally unable to skate. Oh, I forgot to add, be really carefuly about blood clots! No weight on that leg means your calf muscles are not engaged in doing anything, and blood clots are a real risk. Pay attention to any indications of pain in your calf! I had no signs but ended up with a big clot in my leg after about 5 1/2 weeks! Hang in there!
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August 22, back on the ice! |
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And the movements that you wrote about here are exactly the same as what I was allowed to do. I had the boot off multiple times a day and was flexing my foot as much as I could, which wasn't that much of course. I really think it doesn't engage the calf muscle at all. You might want to ask your doc specifically about this. I was also taking a baby aspirin a day, as directed by my doc, but it apparently didn't help. I know what happened to me is unusual, but nothing has shown up to explain the clots aside from the non-weight bearing and inactivity. I don't want to see you go through the same thing, given how scary and life-threatening it can be.
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August 22, back on the ice! |
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Once you're able to put weight on your foot and walk without pain, you'll probably feel ready to at least attempt to get back on the ice. As the others have suggested, it might be worth seeing a specialist sports physician, who will understand that late winter isn't an option!
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Mrs Redboots ~~~~~~~~ I love my computer because my friends live in it! Ice dancers have lovely big curves! |
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Keeps ya sane. |
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Well, i thought when i broke mine in January that it would be 6 weeks and i'd be skating again! Boy was i wrong....it was 4-5 weeks in a cast, 4 weeks in the moon boot and another 4 in an air splint/cast in my tennis shoes.
It took like forever for the swelling to go down.... And when i went back to skating months later, it felt like i had never skated before! I was a terrible patient, the first few weeks it hurt so much, i couldn't even read a book, and daytime t.v. is HORRIBLE! So i learned patience and a lot more sympathy for the handicapped meanwhile! So, skating is SO much sweeter now and life doesn't end, it just takes time and find something good to do meanwhile (chocolate was my friend!). |
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"You don't have to put an age limit on your dreams." - Dara Torres, 41, after her 2nd medal at the 2008 Olympics |
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I have TONS more sympathy for the handicapped now. And when I read about others being injured, I really think about it a lot more. Like that football player they thought was paralyzed, but now it looks like he's not. I felt so bad for him, and was very thankful that I'm not paralyzed! |
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Hey I hope you heal fast. I'm 7 weeks post op on my knee and have another 3 weeks before I can go back on ice.
I banned all talk of skating otherwise I feel frustrated. Find a new hobby, buy lots of good books, sleep in, rest up. My biggest problem has been keeping the weight off as I'm not allowed to do aerobic exercise or impact bearing exercise. |
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When I broke my wrist in 2001, I still had to drive my daughter to the rink, and missed out on skating with Mr and Mrs Redboots when they visited NY (did go to the rink with them, though). Even an arm in a cast is enough to evoke sympathy for the handicapped. Driving wasn't such a big deal one handed, but parking was quite another story! My orthopod was actually understanding about "When can I skate again?", and commented on how all the skaters ask that question. He understood, he said, because as a kid he was very active and broke a lot of bones! Nevertheless, he made me wait two weeks after the cast was off. I do think it's better to be safe than sorry, but agree that another opinion is in order.
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"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers." Barak Obama, 44th President of the United States of America
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"Real power is in the heart." "Klingons fight to enrich the spirit." "A Klingon conquers what he desires." "To understand life, one must endure pain." "Victory must be earned." "A warrior is not concerned with comfort." "Even the best blade will rust and grow old unless it is cared for." "The used kut'luch is always shiny." "A Klingon does not run from his battles." "Today is not a good day to die." "Only a fool fights in a burning house." "I hope pain is something you enjoy." |
#20
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Sessy, I'm cracking up at your Klingon sayings.
The boot *is* rather like a Klingon boot--Morgail, do you have the black soft foam thing, anchored to a hard bottom & two metal strips on the sides with various strips of velcro? That's what I had. I don't know how old you are but I'm 38 and I was on the same time schedule as you and sk8pics. I got back on the ice after about 4 months and it's starting to feel more normal now. I was really tempted to go back earlier--after all, I started PT about 8 weeks after my surgery and was in decent shape--but I'd put my boots on at home and I had ZERO stability on that itty-bitty steel blade we crazy people like to slide around on. So I figured better safe than sorry. I figure until I have a good, solid outside edge and very minimal pain, I'm NOT jumping. Well, not clockwise, anyhow (I could really go either way, and I'm really only at the half-flip/sal/toeloop stage anyway, so not terribly advanced). I might try some CCW jumps in a week or so, but I definitely won't be jumping until at least the first of next year, I"m guessing. DEFINITELY get some PT (STILL can't believe my dr wasn't going to order this for me--but I insisted!). It was both dismaying--to see how much strength I'd lost--and encouraging--as I saw how I improved. Best tools for me were the BAPS (bimalleolar ankle platform system--basically a huge heavyweight plastic plate with half-spheres anchored to the bottom, and you can roll around on it, weight-bearing or no); the thera-band (elastic with which you can do lots of stretches and pushing/pulling exercises); this wooden board that had a half-cylinder under it (stand on it and rock forward/backward or left/right, and practice balancing); and the BOSU (squishy half-sphere that you can balance on). I know the "wiggling the foot around" doesn't feel like it's doing much but keep wiggling. The flexibility of your ankle disappears really quickly and it's important to regain the range of motion (me, I'm despairing of ever regaining my ever-deepening hydroblade, just 'cause that left ankle does NOT want to bend that way), so stretching is just as important as strengthening. One of these days I"ll have to post my "progress pictures." I took pics of my ankle flexion every week or so to help me see that I was in fact progressing in regaining my range of motion. Oh, and for what to do while you're waiting to heal? I happened to get REALLY busy with a work project. I guess the timing was good (ugh). But I did have a lot of semi-disturbing AOSS dreams. Oh yeah--and doesn't that bath feel goooooooooooooood???? : ) |
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Actually with the wiggling, my doc said: 30 seconds of wiggling, 30 seconds rest, mandatory! and no more than 6 rounds of wiggling-rest at one time, no more than 5 times a day.
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I can't believe all the broken ankles we have collectively had on this forum! Yikes! I have noticed lately an improvement in my ankle strength, and I'm still fighting for those last couple of degrees of motion when I point my toes. Pretty much it's all back when I flex, but still tight in the back. sigh.
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August 22, back on the ice! |
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I can't stretch the toes out at all. I have got my hydroblades back, but ANY attempts to stretch my toes result in immediate sharp pain all the way through my leg, so that's obviously gonna take a looong while more.
And hence, no jumping for now either. Strangely, it seems to be when I point my toes through. If I get up on my toes, it doesn't happen as badly. Still happens though. And in our group class of like, 12 students? I had a broken ankle since february, A. had one since april, and E. has got an infection of the slime bags in the ankle or whatever that's translated like? So a quarter of the students have ankle problems. Hmm. I remember reading in an old ballet book that ballet "thickens up the ankles". Well so does figure skating, apparently... Not quite the way they meant it in the book, but still... |
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Thanks everyone for your kind words & support. It really means a lot to me to have a bunch of people who completely understand!!
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I'm worried about the weight too. I lost almost 30 lbs in the past year, mostly from skating. I managed to get on the scale last week, and I hadn't gained any yet. I'm not sure how long that will hold out though. At least I'm getting the crutches workout! LOL! Those are hilarious! I like the last one the best. I'm going to share them with my husband, the Trekkie. Quote:
It's good that you have a choice in your jumping direction. I'm firmly CCW, and I'm thankful that it's my left foot and not my right that was injured. I'm afraid of what's going to happen to my spins, though. Especially the sit. I may be doing a lot of backspins for a while I'd love to see some of your progress pics - it would give me hope Quote:
I know! I think we're all missing a healthy dose of fear! |
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I'll see if I can get hubby to get those pics--he's the technical one in the family, alas. . . |
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