Living with disability

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A little feedback on the Zimmer Splint. I hate it. Just over 2 weeks and it looks like a dog's been chewing at it, it's pilling, lint is stuck to the Velcro. It slides down every 5 steps I take. Every single time I sit down I have to readjust it. It twists around at night somehow even though I can't change positions and then one of the rods is pressing on my knee (which hurts quite a bit). A lovely clerk at Canadian Tire staple-gunned the bottom of it where one of the rods kept sliding out. I was there to buy crazy-glue and double sided tape and he offered to save me a few bucks. I got double sided tape to put on the inside, hoping that would keep the whole brace from slipping down so much. Doesn't work.

I looked them up and saw that you can buy one for about 60 bucks on Amazon. So, they are not so much an evolution in bone healing care, as much as a cheap solution to the staffing, and time it takes to do casting, and recasting. At this point I'm tempted to ditch this thing for a couple of strong sticks and some duct tape. I think it might work better. I don't see how this will really help me heal adequately if it's always falling down and not providing proper immobilization to my knee. This is just a glorified version of the age-old splint - but it's not glorious. Apparently, it is well known to not work very well on legs that taper (which is almost everyone but women's tend to taper more). Plus the physio said mine should've been the next size down, but I guess this'll have to do. I just accepted what they put on me. Maybe that's all they had at the time. So, the health system is cheaping out on healing broken bones. A major bone break, and I was given a cheap splint in emerg, then kicked to the curb - no cast, no stay for a few days, and several weeks between orthopedic visits. And I spent days on the phone wading through a red tape maze to get home care started. That's actually poor quality health care. That's my rant.
 
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Kimmio said:
A little feedback on the Zimmer Splint. I hate it. Just over 2 weeks and it looks like a dog's been chewing at it, it's pilling, lint is stuck to the Velcro. It slides down every 5 steps I take. Every single time I sit down I have to readjust it. It twists around at night somehow even though I can't change positions and then one of the rods is pressing on my knee (which hurts quite a bit). A lovely clerk at Canadian Tire staple-gunned the bottom of it where one of the rods kept sliding out. I was there to buy crazy-glue and double sided tape and he offered to save me a few bucks. I got double sided tape to put on the inside, hoping that would keep the whole brace from slipping down so much. Doesn't work.

I looked them up and saw that you can buy one for about 60 bucks on Amazon. So, they are not so much an evolution in bone healing care, as much as a cheap solution to the staffing, and time it takes to do casting, and recasting. At this point I'm tempted to ditch this thing for a couple of strong sticks and some duct tape. I think it might work better. I don't see how this will really help me heal adequately if it's always falling down and not providing proper immobilization to my knee. This is just a glorified version of the age-old splint - but it's not glorious. Apparently, it is well known to not work very well on legs that taper (which is almost everyone but women's tend to taper more). Plus the physio said mine should've been the next size down, but I guess this'll have to do. I just accepted what they put on me. Maybe that's all they had at the time. So, the health system is cheaping out on healing broken bones. A major bone break, and I was given a cheap splint in emerg, then kicked to the curb - no cast, no stay for a few days, and several weeks between orthopedic visits. And I spent days on the phone wading through a red tape maze to get home care started. That's actually poor quality health care. That's my rant.
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If you want to gain some perspective, speak to someone who had to wear a full leg cast for six weeks about how it feels to not to be able wash or scratch. We had someone using knitting needles to scratch inside a cast digging them into his skin getting a nice infection.
You could try to contact them and ask for a smaller size, but better turn the rant feature of when on the phone.
Several weeks between orthopedic visits are the norm- nobody can make your knee heal faster, academic title or not.
 
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I was in a body cast from the waist down when I was 2. All I remember vaguely is it was not a happy time.

There must be a better solution to either the Zimmer Splint or cast. It's 2018.

I realize casts are not fun. With the amount of times in a day my knee bends inside this thing when it is not supposed to (that's when it hurts, pain lets me know I have moved it too much) I actually wonder how much it's working. The orthopaedic doctor who I saw a few days after the accident did not mention a smaller size when I let him know the brace was sliding down even when I tighten it.
 
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Sounds like a visit to your health support team for a better solution. If it isn’t immobilizing your leg it isn’t going to work

I had one of those air casts for my broken shin which came off and on but was very supportive when on. Logically you would think that sort of cast is available for the entire leg
 
Lastpointe said:
I wonder if a tensor bandage at night might be enough support. Keep your leg straight but not jabbing you?
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I can't see a tensor keeping a knee straight. I would imagine something similar like a knee brace with the rods would exist? Would like be on the pricey side though, as those types of things are much more fitted in terms of sizes and I don't think would be covered by the government.
 
Lastpointe said:
I wonder if a tensor bandage at night might be enough support. Keep your leg straight but not jabbing you?
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I thought that, too. Maybe I could wear it with the splint for extra firmness. The PT was here to assess the bathroom and how I get out of bed, and recommended the bathroom devices from Red Cross. She was really nice, but "subbing" for someone else who will be calling me tomorrow, I think. I spoke to that person briefly the other day but we discussed something else.
 
ChemGal said:
I can't see a tensor keeping a knee straight. I would imagine something similar like a knee brace with the rods would exist? Would like be on the pricey side though, as those types of things are much more fitted in terms of sizes and I don't think would be covered by the government.
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this does have rods in it but it doesn't stay in place. There is an expensive one not covered. I don't think I can get a "loan" to buy it because my parents are already treating me like I did this in a skydiving accident rather than falling on the way to the bus stop, to go grocery shopping. It is my responsibility, but they aren't too enthused to be helping me get through this. They are very much, tough love, pull yourself up by the splintstraps, kind of people.
 
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Kimmio said:
this does have rods in it but it doesn't stay in place. There is an expensive one not covered. I don't think I can get a "loan" to buy it because my parents are already treating me like I did this in a skydiving accident rather than falling on the way to the bus stop, to go grocery shopping. It is my responsibility, but they aren't too enthused to be helping me get through this.
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Do you mind sharing approx how much?
Are there organizations that would help cover it? Maybe not because what you already have is an option.
 
It's a few hundred dollars vs. 60. So that's expensive for me. I live on a tight budget, I am on a lease paying rent for an empty place right now, and I have to move once I heal, so I can't do it. I am going to try working two short shifts next week - my boss offered to give me his desk, even, so I have space to put my leg up!
 
ChemGal said:
Not sure if what Jae is describing is something like that or more related to the brain. I know I've heard of people describing 'brain zaps' due to changes in medications like anti-depressants. Not sure if what Jae is saying is similar?
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"brain zaps" are fun
they are like brief short circuits in consciousness
as well as the bodily feeling of being shocked
(but unique, not like an electric shock...not like the times I have held onto an electric fence or stuck something in an electrical socket)
but it isn't an experience id like to have chronically
 
BetteTheRed said:
A friend of mine developed permanent tinnitus from a cold turkey withdrawal from SSRIs. I can imagine that a persistent noise in your head would be disconcerting. I get wyrd auras with jagged rainbow edges that are, apparently, visual migraines, periodically. It's never happened when driving, fortunately; it's a little un-nerving. Don't like erratic senses. Declining is another matter, lol...
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have you ever tried drawing these auras?
 
Inannawhimsey said:
have you ever tried drawing these auras?
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No. What an interesting idea. I must be a bit more observant next time. They're erratic halos, and I don't know if they're around a specific item/pattern that I don't know I'm focussing on because they seem sorta random to me. They certainly get in the middle of things I'm trying to read.
 
I've had brain zap withdrawals from missing meds - they are disconcerting the first time. They do feel like little electrical zaps to me. They come and go in a second. There is no prolonged buzzing in the head.
 
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