I broke my toe a week ago today.

I just read this whole thread, then walked back over to the couch and stubbed the exact same toe on the coffee table.

Ow.

Lemuel Gulliver wrote:Apparently, I complained to the anesthesiologist about this. I even said "hello Cleveland" when I met him.

If only one good thing comes from this birthday, it's that you have created a fantastical new operation etiquette. Fingers crossed that it's a long time before I need any kind of surgery but when I do, I know exactly what I'll be thinking about.

Broken bones: only a nose for myself, and that healed itself fine. I worry that I'm storing up some unprecedentedly bad and shattering incident for one day in the future.

I know personally of two people who have broken their bones incredibly badly. One, a lovely guy from my office job who finally got out to work as a trainee tree surgeon, perfect for the outdoors type that he was. I handled his leaving presentation, and told him for a joke that when he fell and hurt himself he was welcome to come back and work with us again. Within six months a branch he was anchored to snapped, took him twenty-eight feet to the floor, and sent his shinbone up into his thigh bone with little regard for his kneebone. Amputation was being considered at one point, but he got through it and can climb walls again and stuff - although the real physical side is gone for him, now. He's training to be a physiotherapist and he'll do great.

Other one, I didn't know her but I saw the 'accident'. Walking into town in a group one night, behind another group who'd been drinking in the same pub but that we did not know. By Morrison's supermarket, an articulated lorry pulled out from the back road having made a delivery and waited to be able to turn into the main road. The sequence goes like this - I looked at the gap under the trailer and thought, 'yeah, someone could get under there if they got bored waiting for this truck to move. And, if they were real dumb'. As that thought finished, girl from group ahead fucking went for it. Just as lorry began to pull out into road. She held onto something under the trailer, got dragged into the road, until she could hold on no more with the lorry picking up speed. She let go, and the three rear wheels on that side of the trailer went over her legs. There was much screaming from her friends, and little movement from her; I called an ambulance and gave a somewhat lame message ("I can't see how injured she is - she's a hundred yards away - all I can tell you is a lorry drove over her and my first aid can't do anything, please send an ambulance"). The hospital is very near there so she had medical attention quickly and we hung on until we'd talked to the Five-O and she left alive.

We could find nothing out about her, until about a year later I started seeing a girl who happened to be friends with her. She'd come close to kicking it, apparently, but recovered from her two broken legs and broken pelvis to the point where, when I finally met her, she was striding around the same pub again as fine as ever, but incredibly embarrassed about the episode.

So I guess my point is, I know people who have done worse, in worse circumstances; and they've recovered just fine. Stick it out and do everything the doctors and perhaps physiotherapists tell you and look forward to enduring your next birthday(s) when people refer back to this injury ad nauseum. I know it's not free in the USA but I think if you can get some physio happening for you, take it: like you realise, staying fit is a challenge now, and it certainly helped tree guy out a lot.

My other point is that Jesus, I hate my god damn insomnia and the way it makes me tell protracted long stories on the internet. Sorry.

I broke my foot while making out with my boyfriend once and wound up on crutches for almost two months. That sort of sucked, as it was the winter, icy, and I had to hobble to class.

I broke my arm ice skating down a hill, have broken most of my toes several times, and cracked a few ribs fighting boys for entertainment purposes.

In my time spent as a frequent emergency room enthusiast, cleaning the area beneath a cast with a long cotton swab dipped in alcohol was the best one could do to prevent lingering odors from forming.

lemuel, i'm very sorry. it hurt to read rescription of the accident. i twisted my knee a year ago but it wasn't 1/10 as bad as your case. i wish you full and fast recovery.

Wishing you a speedy recovery, mr lemuel. Drink the milk, as much as you can, to help with the knitting together and general bone healthiness.

I did this a year ago





playing cricket.

Now my little finger, she doesn't bend so good. I should probably give up guitar and take up pipe-smoking - my pinky is now perfectly shaped for tamping down tobacco, if not a great deal else.

i've broken nothing!
the secret: no sports or bike.

three years ago i landed on my pinky while playing football. i did this:



i remember thinking that people have this happening to their legs and arms, and how bad it has to be.

i took the plaster off after two weeks intead of three, played football and obviously ball hit this finger directly. it now looks like this:

if you apply yourself, you can get pretty good on crutches. I was flying around, lost 15 lbs - apparently crutches are not a real efficient way to transport yourself, but it sure burns calories.

i heard that pineapple also speeds bone growth. so eat pineapples. and milk. and do some PT once you get the cast off.

take a bath, with the leg hanging out, or shower with the cast covered in plastic bags.

you will get through it. why not go to the T&G party? Surely your insurance will cover the medical expenses?

TandG... I dunno. There's the money. The insurance isn't that good. It's what I could afford, and I bought it specifically thinking "I never hurt myself or wind up needing the hospital." I'll have to pay something like 20% after the deductable, and that's with a student loan. I should've gone to a county hospital.

As far as Chicago... It takes too much damned time for me to get around. I'm breathless just getting up to pee. I'd hate to be reliant on you peoples' charity as far as place to crash and someone to lift my leg and make sure the knee's straight, etc. I couldn't drink. I'd really want to drink. The after party would be as good as the festival itself. Taking the train with crutches when I already don't know where shit is in Chicago?

There are just a lot of reasons this would be a bigger pain in the ass for me than a reward. Perhaps in 5 years.

Lemuel,
If you have not been casted yet, or are due to get another one, ask the othopedic MD for a gortex cast. They are waterproof and you can get them wet to your heart's (or stinky butt's) content. I had a roommate that was casted for an entire summer, they did this for her. I took pics of her with the cast, flying off my aunt and uncle's rope swing and into the river. It was her best day of the entire summer. She could even soak her foot in an ice bucket to help with pain and swelling. I think all casts should be waterproof in this day and age. Best on your healing.
-KAOS