Be Excellent To Each Other

I was playing 5-a-side, just like I have done every week for the last 10 years or so, and I went over on my ankle. Broken my tibia. It hurts. It has happened at a most inconvenient time, with exams to sit one week tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that yet, but I'll see what happens tomorrow. Urgh.

Pics:


You can just see the break really feintly in the photo. Honest, it's broked. There was a better angle, but I didn't have my phone out.



Yes, long toes.

Ugh, nasty. Mend well, chap!

edit: man, that's a tiny little break, but quite nasty at the same time. No doubt it hurts like a bitch, and it'll get worse. Enjoy!

Ouch, mend quickly mate.

You'll soon be playing piano again, with your feet.

WHAT? It gets worse? I've never broken anything before. Please explain.

You're in for an awful night, basically. It'll get easier, slowly, but that first night after breaking something is always excruciatingly awkward and painful, as your joint starts to swell to its max size. Are you in a cast?

Aww, bad luck. mend well.

OOOOOOOUUUUUCCCCHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Diclofenac for the pain, good shit. My toe fracture put me out of action for about 3 weeks - the advice was keep it elevated and stay immobile as best you can if you want to heal well and quickly. I did mine the day after the first big Cardiff BeeXmeet 18th December, was back on my foot 12th January. Different injury in many ways but a break's a break. I did, however, rack up >150 hours on Fallout 3 which I had in its shrinkwrap on break day. You know, 'keeping it elevated'. Get yourself an AAA title and 100% it, it helps to have a mission, particularly for those first painful days.

You acted well at the chuffing theatre then?

Good advice, but more for the swelling than the pain, although obviously reducing it will stop it hurting so much.

Fuck the pain away.

Man, that sucks......

I agree with Mr. Front, the first night is the absolute worst. I've broken/dislocated/torn quite a few bits of myself and I can definitely say, that above all else, it's the swelling that is the real killer. Once the bone is set or something is pushed back in to place, it hurts a hell of a lot less but the swelling......especially the initial swelling....Worst. Pain. Ever.

Sorry dude. Keep it cool and keep it elevated. Even when it starts feeling ok in a couple of days, don't try doing too much hobbling around because once it starts swelling inside the cast, there's not much you can do to stop that awful pain until the swelling goes down again.

What colour you getting!?

Yeah I've got a temporary cast on, going back Thursday for a fibre glass one!

Well, the joint's gonna start swelling into that temporary cast pretty quickly. Keep it elevated as best you can, take whatever medication they've hopefully given you, and try to get some sleep.

Thursday will be a bit of a relief with a new cast to fit your swollen joint, and you'll marvel at how light those fibreglass-type casts are compared to the awful plaster ones. Also, pick a cool colour.

Yikes!

I've never broken anything that they can cast... rib and collarbone so don't know about that, try not to move and it won't hurt so much.
Mend quickly!

Thanks guys. I'm just a bit upset about the inconvenience of it really. I wanted these exams out of the way because they've been a millstone for a year of my life, and now it looks like I'm going to have to defer them or something. I just want to get on with my life

Get well soon Mr Spacky Leg

Massive pain in the arse, isn't it. Fortunately, you should be back up to full strength within a few months, and well on your way within four weeks or so, possibly.

Holy shit!

Aww, it'll be ok :-)

Get some drugs in you and get some sleep, everything turns to shit momentarily when something like this happens but tomorrow is a new day and it can all be sorted then. Don't fret about it now. I'd be more worried about how you're going to get to the toilet without peeing your pants for the next few weeks!

I'm going to assume your exams are sit down at a table ones....? Speak to the exam board, arrangements can be made for you without you having to defer, I'm sure :-)
I did a chemistry exam in hospital once so really, anything is possible with a little planning and understanding!

Good luck dude x

Just mentally prepare yourself for the itch and the smell. It's cool for a couple of weeks because it's something new, but after that it's like Chinese water torture.

And man, you have the longest toes EVER.

Urgh, thanks for reminding me.

I had to beg the doctor to change my cast after eight weeks, the smell was that bad. And there's nothing you can do to stop it. Ten weeks total I was stuck in that thing.

And nothing can prepare you for the amount of dead skin you'll accumulate after that long, either.

I got so desperate ('cos my mates were all taking the piss out of me) that I got some of mum's Anais Anais and sprayed that down there. I smelled like a whore's handbag crossed with a sweaty crotch.

In the end I deliberately broke it and told them I had fallen over in the street. Nice new one, but the peeling stinky skin was quite ghastly.

I used tea tree oil. It burns slightly, but it does a decent job of masking the smell for half a day.

Man this is bringing back some funny memories.. I remember the doctor asking why the inside of it looked like a raggedy old net curtain.. So I whipped out the knitting needle I had been shoving down it for weeks

Haha he wasn't best pleased

Chopsticks here! Sadly, I couldn't scratch the back where it really itched due to the staples. Bloody things.

Strangely, I don't have many bad memories of breaking my wrist, aside from that first night trying to sleep. I was back tinkering in the garage within a week, despite having an incredibly comminuted fracture, and back on a motorbike after five weeks. The surgeon wasn't best pleased, though he was chuffed as hell with the work he did.

Fucking OUCH!

Hope it feels better in the morning, fella.

Also, I've got you on my fantasy football team, so I'll need you in that midfield holding role sooner rather than later. I need your ass making me some cash.

Yowsers. Sucks to be you. Sorry

And those toes! Are you a sloth or a tree frog by any chance?

As Malibu Stacy says, you need diclofenac for the swelling - it's an awesome drug.

The prescription drug knowledge on this forum both amazes and scares me in equal measure.

I declined prescription drugs. I've just got some Tesco's own co-codamol here. I'm not really big on painkillers. I suppose I'll learn my lesson tonight!

Diet is absolutely crucial to recovery. Here - I did my homework:

Aw wow, thanks man!

Yep.

Definitely get some anti-inflammatories.

Have they pinned it?

I broke my leg in January simply walking to work. My left foot pivoted sharply on a patch of black ice just as I was stepping down onto it and ended up pointing in the wrong direction. Segmented spiral fracture of the tibia and fracture to the fibula as well - a very nasty set of breaks with a high risk of non union. I was given the option of letting nature take its course rather than have a pin, which was quite fortunate as having surgery and the hardware can cause problems down the line. I only got the last cast off in June. I had three different plaster casts in all. 6 months!

When I first came out of the cast my foot was square. The leg and ankle had withered terribly, and my ankle had lost most of its bone density.

I've been doing physio on the ankle for the last two months and can now walk without crutches, although I hobble a bit and can't walk downstairs with the bad leg as my ankle doesn't bend forward.

I was given the all clear in terms of bones healing yesterday. All fixed now. Just the ankle to work on.

So, um, cheer up; it could be worse...

Codein was my friend. Lovely, addicting codeine.

Jesus, Hugh, that sounds nasty, and from walking! I hope you recover fully.




I was given that option for my elbow

Yikes!

The moral of that story, kids, is that only idiots walk places.

Yeah, I know. I had worn my grippy walking boots every day that winter and didn't slip once, then that morning I looked out the window, saw it was just a bit icy and thought "Nah, I'll wear my work shoes". Work shoes have no grip. I was walking too fast and day dreaming. Recipe for disaster. School boy error, as they say.

Here is the big tip: switch to skimmed milk if you do not already eat this. Skimmed milk has the most calcium in it, more than semi and full fat. About a pint a day is recommended.

Bloody hell, Hugh, sorry to hear about that! Thanks for all of the advice. Thankfully I don't think mine is bad enough to warrant pins and stuff. Still, not looking forward to having a weak twig ankle when I start playing footy again.

Just to make you feel better, consider this.

As I was pretty much bed bound (I could make it to the toilet okay) for the first 2 months and so I had to inject myself with anti DVT medicine every day. I was given a quick demo by my local nurse but then had to do it myself. I got several boxes of these clever syringes that come pre-loaded with the drug and a sprung sheath that pops over the needle after you've pressed the plunger thingy. I had to inject all around my tummy button to take the drug. I actually began to enjoy the ritual after a while and now strangely miss it.

They might pin it. Generally they let the inflammation go down a bit then reassess you.

The bloke that cut my hair the other day did exactly what you have done. Football injury, broken tibia. He had a pin put in and was putting a third of his weight through it a week later and was fully healed after 8 weeks. He says now the pin is there he can hoof the ball harder than ever!

I never really had a problem on the first night with broken bones. And crivens I've had a few.. Normally I was so relieved to be out of that fucking hospital and back home that I didn't care. Plus I knew I wasn't going to get much sleep any way.

I don't know what they gave me when I got ran over, but I do remember being shit tired. I think it was due to the shock. I slept for about two days after they had poked and pulled me around for about ten hours.

Ugh, now you're reminding me how much pooing laying down sucks.

Broken themur.. Traction for months. God that was quite easily the worst thing that I have ever had to endure.

Christ. Peeing lying down in a hospital bed is difficult enough, and quite messy.

Pooing in bed must be terrible. Thankfully I never had to experience that.

Here is another top tip: buy a blender/smoothie maker. Getting the right level of nutrition can be really tiresome and involves a lot of chewing. Make the process more entertaining and easier by blending up a load of fruit with a decent slug of milk and then slurp it all down. It's your once per day vitamin fix and then you can eat what you like.

Any questions just let me know. I am something of an expert on this stuff by now, sadly.

Wear decent shoes, kids!

It was awful tbh. They would come in with a sleused pan (that was still bloody damp) lift me up and shove it under. Cold as heck too. Then I would try for ages to go, but I was so constipated..

Mind you the worst part was the needles. Every morning for two months they would take blood. I can't remember exactly why now but IIRC it was something to do with them not knowing if I was bleeding internally. I'm fucking petrified of needles now because of that.

8 months I was in there all told. I will never forget getting home and spending my first night in my bed and my ears literally ringing because it was so quiet.

Mind you there were some fun times. After about four months I got my wheelchair with a massive wooden plank on it to hold up my leg.. You should have seen the state of the walls in the ward corridor Great big lumps of plaster missing hahaha. It was there in hospital that I developed my love for smash (the fake mash) and still love it. I don't even eat real mash, nasty stuff.

Mash and beans. The diet of champions

All right, Coffey, you win. This time.

I've never broken an ankle though man. And I have seen a very similar injury to the one you had and man, no thanks.

My cousin did pretty much exactly the same as you about two weeks before Christmas. Stepped on some ice and went down hard. She's a big girl too, about 6'4.

I've never had to have pins either. And I'm super squeamish so that would probably make me ill. Thankfully my traction was sticky taped on and then bandaged up, but some poor sod in the bed next to me had to have pins in his lower leg and they connected the traction to that.

Problem with ankles is they're never quite right again. I've seen people who have had to have them fused. That's weird because you can't rock your foot from side to side.

Every time it gets damp or cold and damp (good old England !) I just ache all over. Today for example it rained fine rain and then got foggy. I could hardly walk all day.

Just to be clear, this is a leg injury, so you're not let off the pushups.

Get well soon, Jhohnnnny!

Sorry to hear it.

Can we sign your cast?