Bad break

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Waterfall said:
Yes please let us know how you're doing.
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I’m sorry I’ve been offline. I’m adjusting to my new surroundings/ routine and I find myself dozing off not long after I turn on my device. I’m too lazy/ tired to form written sentences by the time I try. I’m pretty fatigued mentally, emotionally, and physically it’s been overwhelming - but I’m glad to not be in the hospital.

Home support has been strange. I need minimal personal care and the staff is used to doing everything which I don’t want them doing - but then, it was put in my care plan that I require light meal prep (toast and coffee in the morning as that’s downstairs I just have a microwave and mini fridge up here and no counter), take dirty dishes down and bring up clean ones for the day, and for them to take out the garbage. That’s been a sticking point - they either don’t want to or say it’s not in their instructions. I get a shower/ bath once a week (I’ve done it myself anyway but it’s dangerous for me - so, mostly sponge baths). I told them I don’t want them washing me or even being in there I just want them to stand outside the door and then wipe the floor and make sure I don’t slip after (after I put my long tshirt/ night shirt back on) - there’s a different person everyday and today the woman didn’t even say her name before hurrying me toward the bathroom on the clock. She insisted on being in the bathroom because she said in 20 yrs none of her clients have fallen and she doesn’t want me to be her first. Anyway, the OT who told me that home support would make coffee and stand by while I did my thing, for safety, happened to call about something else and I told her - she said actually she did think it’s best if home support worker was in the bathroom with me. I don’t know. I might cancel them. I don’t like it. Things take quite a bit longer and may not be as safe but I can do it. They didn’t come for 2 days and I managed anyway. And I can ride my scooter to the coffee shop and feel normal.
 
The hardest thing is still putting on socks lol. It’s very frustrating. But I don’t feel justified in having home support come just for that. And as for making coffee - it would be nice to have coffee to wake up before doing all the time consuming hard work of getting ready to leave the house (just to go get a coffee), but that might be preferable to waiting for home support to show up at random times and be on their clock.
 
Also, I am having pain doing certain movements and not sure if it’s normal or not. It’s been there since the surgery while other pain has improved. So I went to the urgent care clinic and requested an X-ray. I had that done (saw it) and the gizmos in my hip look weird but the bones look in place, so I don’t know. Maybe something is hitting a nerve, maybe it’s just stiffness/ muscle weakness. I can’t tell my types of pain apart and what is and isn’t normal for a broken hip at this stage - never had one before. It’s not severe like when I broke it but it hurts quite a bit when I lift and move it to the side when lying down, but not nearly as much when I am sitting and move it up and down and to the side, for some reason. A GP will call me if they think something’s wrong. I don’t have range of motion restrictions except for bending too far at the waist and weight bearing on the injured side. Dr at the clinic said my incisions are healing just fine. I don’t see the ortho for a couple more weeks.
 
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Kimmio Laughterlove said:
Also, I am having pain doing certain movements and not sure if it’s normal or not. It’s been there since the surgery while other pain has improved. So I went to the urgent care clinic and requested an X-ray. I had that done (saw it) and the gizmos in my hip look weird but the bones look in place, so I don’t know. Maybe something is hitting a nerve, maybe it’s just stiffness/ muscle weakness. I can’t tell my types of pain apart and what is and isn’t normal for a broken hip at this stage - never had one before. It’s not severe like when I broke it but it hurts quite a bit when I lift and move it to the side when lying down, but not nearly as much when I am sitting and move it up and down and to the side, for some reason. A GP will call me if they think something’s wrong. I don’t have range of motion restrictions except for bending too far at the waist and weight bearing on the injured side. Dr at the clinic said my incisions are healing just fine. I don’t see the ortho for a couple more weeks.
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Hopefully just some time to heal. Often with a break there's soft tissue damage too.
 
ChemGal said:
Hopefully just some time to heal. Often with a break there's soft tissue damage too.
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Also my tendons are spastic/ tight because I can’t stretch on the “bad” side. So I have more frequent pain on that side overall that’s hard to parse apart right now. This is a new experience so I can’t interpret what pain is coming from where, causing what other pain - if that makes sense. I can tell that some pain has improved since surgery, while other pain hasn’t, though. It’s hard to describe - you’d have to be here so I could point it out. There’s the more superficial pain (definitely better), the muscles, the tendons, joints, the nerves, the bones. It’s hard to separate them. I was having some muscle and joint and nerve pain pre-injury already. But I can move my leg much better now, whereas, after surgery for awhile I needed to use a strap around by foot to move my leg.
 
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Kimmio Laughterlove said:
The hardest thing is still putting on socks lol. It’s very frustrating
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Have you told an OT about this? It seems to me there's some sort of gizmo that will help you put on socks.

Kimmio Laughterlove said:
Also, I am having pain doing certain movements and not sure if it’s normal or not
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When I had foot surgery the full healing took about a year. Of course significant healing happened quicker. It was probably a year before my foot wouldn't turn red and swell after standing for a bit or just not having it elevated. There was some pain for quite awhile. Not significant pain, just enough to remind me it had been altered. My joint was fused so my situation is quite different from yours. It seems though that orthopedic surgery takes time to heal and the magic six weeks is just the start.

I was also surprised at how tired I was for the first few weeks. Sleep or nap when you need to. That's all part of recovery.
 
Yeah, they gave me a dressing stick but I find it’s still hard to use. I have a grabber claw stick too, to pull it up once I get it hooked over my foot (it’s not even both socks, just one lol). I have a long shoehorn that help with the one shoe. My mom bought me (I ordered online, she gifted) some new easy to slip on booties but they are still in transit.

I’m thinking a pair of long bbq tongs or extra long salad tongs that will open up socks would be good! There was another sock tube gizmo at the hospital but I couldn’t bring it with me.

Also, the OT told me the dressing stick is more for elastic waist pants/ sweatpants, not jeans. So pants are a bit of a challenge too. I only have one pair of sweatpants and some pj’s. Speaking of…The paramedics had to cut my best pair of jeans off! :(
 
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Kimmio Laughterlove said:
Yeah, they gave me a dressing stick but I find it’s still hard to use. I have a grabber claw stick too, to pull it up once I get it hooked over my foot (it’s not even both socks, just one lol). I have a long shoehorn that help with the one shoe. My mom bought me (I ordered online, she gifted) some new easy to slip on booties but they are still in transit.

I’m thinking a pair of long bbq tongs or extra long salad tongs that will open up socks would be good! There was another sock tube gizmo at the hospital but I couldn’t bring it with me.

Also, the OT told me the dressing stick is more for elastic waist pants/ sweatpants, not jeans. So pants are a bit of a challenge too. I only have one pair of sweatpants and some pj’s. Speaking of…The paramedics had to cut my best pair of jeans off! :(
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What you need is a sock aid. A thing you put your sock on, throw it in front of you and stick you foot in. You will need to be able to pull with both hand at the same time, so if you happen to be one handed, its not easy to do. Cost $18.99 at Lawtons ( in Atlantic Canada). Buy a ridged one, looks like a sturdy half pipe, not the flimsy thin plastic ones.
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Mrs.Anteater said:
What you need is a sock aid. A thing you put your sock on, throw it in front of you and stick you foot in. You will need to be able to pull with both hand at the same time, so if you happen to be one handed, it’s esnot easy to do. Cost $18.99 at Lawtons ( in Atlantic Canada). Buy a ridged one, looks like a sturdy half pipe, not the flimsy thin plastic ones.
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Yes! I had something similar at the hospital but I had to leave it there. It was just a piece of flexible plastic with holes cut out and string tied to it (one of the flimsy ones, maybe it was homemade/ DIY. Thinking I could make one with dollar store materials but I haven’t gotten around to such a project). That one looks better!
 
Kimmio Laughterlove said:
Yes! I had something similar at the hospital but I had to leave it there. It was just a piece of flexible plastic with holes cut out and string tied to it (one of the flimsy ones, maybe it was homemade/ DIY. Thinking I could make one with dollar store materials but I haven’t gotten around to such a project). That one looks better!
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Yes, you can make them yourself, to have the right bend in the “ half pipe” you cut it out of a larger bucket. I have a template for one at work. Important is the angle and depth of the “ groves” that hold the top of your sock - the cheap versions often have too deep a grove and the sock gets stuck in it. Important also to smoothen the edges or you are going to rip your socks. Above photo is actually of a more expensive one ($30)which is lined, so your foot slides in it better. I think pop bottle plastics are too sharp to work for this. When I was a student in 1998, those things were not on the market and we learned in OT school how to make them.
I would imagine your local stores would have affordable ones, too.
 
Mrs.Anteater said:
Yes, you can make them yourself, to have the right bend in the “ half pipe” you cut it out of a larger bucket. I have a template for one at work. Important is the angle and depth of the “ groves” that hold the top of your sock - the cheap versions often have too deep a grove and the sock gets stuck in it. Important also to smoothen the edges or you are going to rip your socks. Above photo is actually of a more expensive one ($30)which is lined, so your foot slides in it better. I think pop bottle plastics are too sharp to work for this. When I was a student in 1998, those things were not on the market and we learned in OT school how to make them.
I would imagine your local stores would have affordable ones, too.
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That’s cool that you learned how to make them in school. I guess nice covers could be sewn for them too if one is so inclined. The one I used at the hospital didn’t have grooves - or maybe just indents at the sides. There were no wedges cut out of the middle. It was a really cheap version of that. Sock didn’t quite go on straight. I had to try to turn it once it was up high enough, to get toes and ankle in exactly the right spot. It wasn’t perfect but good enough. I guess they work best with tube socks.
 
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The home care workers now have coffee and toast (which needs to be done downstairs), and taking out my garbage in the instructions (I can’t reach and lift the top of the dumpster without standing, or else I’d just take it out on my scooter. I could do recycling myself but it all needs to go out at the same time - maybe not. My roommate has done it for me - I’ve paid her for some chores because I don’t want to take advantage, we’re not best friends or family, I’ve only know her since I moved in, and she has her own life - so it will help a lot for them to do it). Today home support made toast and coffee and helped me with the one sock, then she left. That’s all I needed. I can wash up well myself (sponge baths) and change my own clothes - it just takes much longer to get myself ready than before but I’m ok with that. I think what she did took about the time allotted anyway. I have more people doing home visits, and medical appointments coming up tomorrow and all next week. Wednesday, I was told by the nurse on the phone, I find out about weight bearing from a physiatrist. I thought I didn’t until the ortho appt in the first week of April. I have another drs appt that week too. We’ll see. It’s hard to keep track. I need to find out if I sprained a ligament or muscle along with the break. Feels like there’s something like that going on.
 
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The nice thing - if you can call it that, I’m looking on the bright side lol - with being pinned together internally, is that the swelling has gone down (there wasn’t a lot) and I can wear my normal clothes. I put on a few pounds in the hospital (3 dedicated meals per day, lying in bed a lot, and it was more than I’m used to eating when it was decent - breakfast was often gross but the second hospital had better food than the first - they shy away from salt but they also give you at least one sweet dessert per day. It was pretty high calorie food) so today my pants feel snug in the waste but otherwise I don’t have to wear a cast or splint and when I’m on my scooter nobody can even tell anything happened. I feel relatively normal (my normal) when I go out. I have to remind staff at the coffee shop I need help with the cream and sugar because of where the stand is, I can’t put my bad foot down to get leverage to reach it. I had to get help transferring from my scooter for the X-ray the other day - but otherwise I’m carrying on about the same while out n about. It’s doing stuff at home that’s harder.
 
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