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Climbing and Me- A Recovery

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comPiler:
Crack
7 September 2013, 10:11 pm



Today I broke my leg. This is one of my worst nightmares. Right now, I don't even care. I just want them to make it stop hurting. They need to operate and they keep asking me to sign stuff, but I don't care, I'll sign anything. Just please, make it straight so it will fix.

I was climbing at an indoor climbing centre. I'd done the problem so many times before- in fact I'd flashed it. And yet today I was lacking confidence. I'd slightly sprained my right ankle. So because I lacked confidence I'd missed the jump twice.Like always, I jumped on it again without a second's thought. I hit the jugs but my hands didn't quite go in far enough. I couldn't stop the swing, I spun 90° and my hands slipped out. I fell with my hands in front of me and my feet behind me but my left foot was pointed straight down and I barely had time to think.

I probably only fell 6 feet or so but I landed with that foot perpendicular to to ground and there was a sickening snapping sound. I realised that that meant bad, and when my other foot hit the ground I looked down and saw that the left one was just bending underneath me. So I screamed. And then I was on the floor. I screamed a bit more, because I didn't have any other ideas. Then I stopped screaming and yelled because it hurt so much. Another climber came straight away and sat and held it. My boyfriend ran to ask the reception staff to call an ambulance and then he came back and Ali (the boyfriend)  and another good friend gave me a hand each to squeeze (can't be good if you're a climber!) and promised they'd stay with me.

After that I kind of stopped bothering with the noise. Nothing I did was going to make things go faster and noise = stress so I behaved myself.

My leg shook. I think the muscles were tired and confused. I wanted to see it. At nobody would let me but I'd seen it already I just wanted to check it was all still there because I couldn't really feel it, I already knew it was totally snapped in two.

The ambulance guys came. I think they were quick. They gave me gas and air and straightened it up. I don't think it hurt any more when they straightened it up, because I was so obsessed by the desire to have it straightened.

We got to A and E finally.  The porter wheeling me to have it X-Rayed said "So you're hoping it's not broken then?". I suppose you couldn't tell in the ambulance splint.  But I clarified that I was pretty sure it was.

They X-Rayed and said "broken tibia and fibula, needs surgery". At first they said none until Monday, so they put it in a pot. But it was so wonky it was awful.

Fortunately for me they decided it was urgent and rescheduled to Sunday.

How A and E works... in flowchart form. Invaluable.The ambulance people had to cut off my beloved climbing shoes :(

Source: Climbing and Me- A Recovery

comPiler:
Surgery
8 September 2013, 10:12 pm



They did surgery on Sunday. I don't remember a lot. The pot was very wonky and the doctor was unimpressed but they said since they were operating very soon they would just cut it off. I can't remember the surgery but I remember coming out and yelling and yelling, I was so confused and I couldn't cope with how much my knee hurt and I wasn't sure why.

It must have been a lot more painful than when I'd broken it because the painkillers wouldn't touch it and I'd managed to keep quite then.

Eventually I think I was massively sedated and I don't remember anything until Monday night.

Source: Climbing and Me- A Recovery

comPiler:
Why is my knee so sore? I broke my leg low down...
9 September 2013, 10:13 pm



My knee felt like it was going to explode and I cried until I was too tired to cry anymore and they would not give me morphine- they said breaking your leg didn't cause that much pain so a small dose of codeine would cover it.

It didn't. I've never been in so much pain. Certainly not on Saturday, even before painkillers.

A junior doctor came eventually and said the pain wasn't normal and it needed to be checked over because if there were swelling problems I would lose the use of my leg if they didn't deal with it very quickly. That was at 4pm. I didn't hear from anyone for hours, I still didn't know what surgery I'd had.

Alistair tried to do all of the tests ourselves to see if it was OK because we were worried about what the doctor had said. The nurses tried to make Alistair go home and I was upset so we hid him. Eventually, at midnight, I saw my surgeon who explained what he'd done, that he'd inserted a large titanium rod inside my Tibia and screwed the ends to my ankle and my knee, with three screws in my knee.

He said that it would be very painful and prescribed a lot of painkillers, including morphine. Why could they not have told me that earlier? So much stress.

I wished they could have told me earlier.

I think I saw Ed and Seb today.

Source: Climbing and Me- A Recovery

comPiler:
Physio
10 September 2013, 10:15 pm



I had physio three times today. I stood up twice, with crutches. I am not allowed to weight bear. It is painful, and exhausting. I have stupidly low blood pressure from lying in a bed and standing up is short lived. It's so far from what I'm used to.

Lewis, Jack, Alistair and Ed visited today. I've been so glad of the support from friends and family. It's very comforting.

Source: Climbing and Me- A Recovery

comPiler:
Morphine
11 September 2013, 10:16 pm



There was no physio today. I felt a little bit down. I saw Jack, Lewis, Mum, Seb and Ali. That was nice :)

I am sleeping a lot. Life is full of morphine.

My leg is pretty huge...

I think they've done a pretty neat job. Apart from the fact that my knee is so swollen you can barely tell I have one.

Source: Climbing and Me- A Recovery

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