My freak accident (life at home with a cast) PART III

Continuing where I left off…

My last post had me ending this series talking about a road trip with the family and I’m back from that trip and looking forward to a long hopeful four more weeks of cast at home.

The first few days with the wrapped leg at home were truly arduous. It was difficult enough not being able to walk and move freely like normal people before the accident and now, I have to drag a fiberglass cast that’s about twice heavier than my own leg. Add to that, the fractured bone and the daily swelling episodes when evening comes.

For the last many years now, I’ve become independent in the house; do whatever I want alone and whenever I want. The rest of the family can go on with their businesses without having to worry about me. In my house, I’m like a walking person. The only thing I can’t do there is climb stairs (I live in a three-story building and hibernates on the second floor)

Now, with a cast, I need assistance when moving or transferring from my chair to the bed or any other parts of the house. I can move and transfer myself but someone has to assist and move my cast leg. During showers, I have to elevate my right foot and keep water from getting in the cast. Everything I do takes twice the effort and time now but by God’s grace (and being honest), I haven’t broken down yet.

It’s going to be a few weeks more of this but I know soon I’d be free from this heavy burden. This morning, I was able to get from the bed to my chair alone and later in the day, will try from the chair to the bed. So I’m not just coping with the cast but also making progress with the cast.

From this experience I realize being in a wheelchair without a cast is so much better than being in a wheelchair with one, made me appreciate my life before the accident more though there wasn’t much of it even then.

My freak accident (The injury) PART II

Continuation….

The crowd started to thicken but I couldn’t see well because my glasses flew along with my fall. Good thing they didn’t break and nobody stepped on them. The guards radioed and we were assisted to the clinic right away.

The mall clinic nurses (two of them, pretty ones I noticed) were already alerted and informed of what happened before we got there. One of them checked my BP and it was 190 over 140 (That’s high – probably due to the shock and pain I was put through). I’ve no hypertension history. They gave me a pain killer and started cold compress on the injured leg.

We all thought, including me, that it was really nothing that my leg just got sprained or twisted. There was no sign of trauma, no swelling, discoloration, not even a bruise. It just hurt when moved. Nevertheless the nurses recommended an x-ray.

We had lunch and lots of food before we went to get an x-ray. One of the nurses suggested they eat without me and just leave me in the clinic, bring my food there but no way! Not going to miss lunch with family, NOT at Gerry’s grill! We were all hopeful it’s nothing. By this time, the pain killer was working so my leg hurt very little so I thought everything was just ok.

They referred us to the ‘medical city’ inside the mall and I had my x-ray there. I’m touched by my brothers’ support and show of love and concern. What a blessed girl being closely assisted by two good looking fellows (my brothers). While the rest of the family waited outside, the 3 of us went for the x-ray. The transfer from the chair to the x-ray bed was excruciating. MY baby brother supported my back as I leaned on him, sitting on the x-ray table while my other brother supported my injured leg on the film plate. I guess one set wasn’t enough so they had us do it again after a few minutes.

The shocking revelation

How surprised we were to see a 5 inches diagonal line crossing the tibia of my right leg. It’s called a hair line fracture or an oblique, closed fracture. It showed very clearly on the x-ray film, you won’t need a doctor to interpret the result, you can see it yourself. The nurses said I would probably need a cast for it.

I didn’t want a cast. I only wanted a splint and a stronger pain killer. I’ve been through worse than this and thinking this pain would be nothing compared to the pain I had to endure during my first therapies when I first got paralyzed. I just wanted to go home and was certain in a few days this leg will be alright BUT my brother convinced me to have it cast. He said the line fracture crossed the bone so if I don’t have it cast and I accidentally leaned on it or one more fall, the bone could break in two. He also said it’ll take longer to heal if not cast AND I might not be able to go with them to the trip if it becomes too painful to move it. No way, I’m letting this trip pass, I’ve let so many chances in my life pass and regret each one so NO, I’m braving this one…and with that I succumbed to having my leg cast.

They took me to the clinic one more time before we left for the National Orthopedic Hospital. They gave me another pain killer and took my BP. And it's gone down to 150 over 100. Still a bit high for my normal BP but understandable under the circumstances.

To be continued…

My freak accident (what really happened) PART I

(As you all know or maybe not yet, I'm already in a wheelchair before this accident happened, since I was 8.)

MY dad was going to treat the whole family to lunch at the mall and we were all just excited and thrilled - a pre-gathering before our family road trip up north a week after my accident.

We parked just a few meters across the entrance of the mall. MY dad was the one with me when it happened. The irony of it was that the accident happened at a ramp for disabled people and I’m disabled!

We were about to go up the ramp (only a foot high) and my dad gathered his strength to push me up the ramp but failed to notice the damaged part of the ramp, a crater just before the climb (obviously, negligence on the part of the mall building administrators and engineers). The smaller front wheels of my chair got caught in the crack and the impact threw me off my chair and into the ground! It happened very fast and so unexpected.

I could’ve survived that fall, in fact I’ve no bruises or any other injury except the fracture, BUT my legs got entangled. My right foot (the most paralyzed limb in my body) got caught under my left leg and the ankle bended the wrong direction, the pain just had me scream my lungs out!

The guards (2 of them) and my dad panicked and picked me up instantly (Guys, don’t ever do this if you ever see an accident. Let the victim lie on the ground unless the patient would be in greater danger there until medical personnel arrive – maybe try calming down the patient, asking what hurts so you’ll know where to not touch). I couldn’t mouth the words “Don’t touch me!” because a scream was all I could manage from all that pain. They failed to get me on the chair the first time, so they tried again and each time, I squealed like a pig when they moved me, each time I clutched my right leg to protect it from further damage.

(The story doesn’t end here but this is all I can manage for now. I can’t stay long on the computer yet, I have to move and elevate my leg to keep blood circulation – doctor’s advice. Thank you for reading and continue to pray for me.)

To be continued…