Crutches, Moon Boots & Physio

As a number of my regular readers would know I recently ruptured my Achilles tendon and had to have an operation on it. Well, my ordeal with the scalpel wasn't over after that initial slice and dice meeting. Five weeks later, having watched Manchester City win the FA Cup final on television, I noticed a swelling where the stitches were. It started to get worse over the next few days.

To cut a long story short, I had to have another operation to clean up the wound as it had been impacted by a staph infection. Naturally, at the time I was not a happy bunny as it was putting my rehab (not Amy Winehouse style) back to square one. This meant that I would be in a half cast for 10 days, using crutches before migrating to a moon boot (which in the past week I have stopped wearing).

So what is it like going about your normal daily business whilst recovering from an Achilles operation? The answer is quite simple - it's bloody hard.

In the early days, just going to the bathroom was an experience as I had to manoeuvre the crutches in the right position before relieving myself. An even bigger challenge was to have a shower. Whilst the cast was on and the stitches were still in, I could not leg the leg get wet. So I had to wrap my leg in a big plastic bag, cover it in cling film at the top and attach some sticky tape to it.

An even bigger problem was that I couldn't put any pressure on my operated leg, so I was showering whilst standing on one leg! Getting in the shower involved sitting on a chair situated in the shower before standing up on one leg and removing the chair. On some days it seemed to me that it would be easier to invade a foreign country rather than have a shower!

Fast forward a few days and I was starting to wear a moon boot on my injured leg. Under my heel were 3 wedges which over a few weeks were gradually reduced as my leg improved. So ladies, I do now know what it is like to wear heels!

The moon boot generally restricts your movement whilst your leg heals. I remember that I was crossing a major road and I was standing at the traffic lights waiting for the green man to flash. Next to me was an old lady who was easily in her eighties with a walking stick. I thought to myself - I will easily beat her to the other side of the road, no problem. How wrong could I be! She crossed the road well ahead of me! In fact, its only been in the last couple of days. now that I am sans moon boot, that I am not the last to cross roads now!

So where am I at present? Sitting on a lounge with my leg raised is the literal answer. As for my injury, I am undergoing physiotherapy and having to learn how to walk again. At home I have to do a number of exercises to help my recuperation. Hopefully, in a few months I will be walking more naturally than I am at present.

If I do see an eighty year old lady with a walking stick in the future, I will be confident of beating her to the other side of the road!!

Comments

Anonymous said…
hey i broke my toe and i have to wear a moon boot. when people ask me what happend the always say "that for a broken toe" it annoys me so much

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