Broken Ankle Week 4

Activities of Daily Living

I noticed that most hospital and medical center web sites focus on the medical experience and requirements of healing. By weeks 3–4 I am more focused on my mental health (difficulty of living with this injury) and how to do basic activities of daily living (get food, do laundry, get dressed, work from home).

• Going up and down stairs! I live in a 3 story house and have been living on the ground floor with this injury. Upstairs is kitchen and living area. I ask my wife or daughter to bring my knee scooter upstairs and keep my crutches downstairs. Then I crutch to the stairs, leave crutches at bottom of stairs, sit down and go up the stairs on my bum, one stair at a time, one hand holding handrail, one hand pushing up the stairs with my healthy leg. This has felt so good! It gets lonely living downstairs.
• I started back to work about a week after surgery. I sit in a comfy chair with this elevation pillow on top of a pouf. My laptop is on a rolling desk and I spend most of my work day on Zoom. I’ve gotten used to this though I miss a bigger desk where I can put a bigger monitor.
• As it has been since the injury, my ankle still swells when standing up though it doesn’t throb as much now as it did a week ago. Outside of the cast I watch my toes turn purple. As soon as ankle is elevated again, toes return to their usual color and swelling reduces.
• New pains in new places are not welcome. I can feel the papercut pain of the incisions every once in a while. This past week I had new short term achy pains at different places in my ankle.