What to expect when your cast comes off

I think I need to write this post to warn people about what it means when your cast comes off. The magic of medicine means someone came up with this great idea to stick broken stuff in plaster and after 4-6 weeks the damage would have been repaired. Unfortunately immobilising a part of your body is also really unhelpful to the muscles. So my bone is all healed but my muscles are stuffed, it's really funny to look at my stick leg but also kinda depressing at the same time. 

To be honest, it almost feels like I'm back at square one. Just after I've got use to one crutch style, I'm now having to learn how to 'walk' again with my crutches and this walking keeps me up at night with pain. I'm a big believer in positivity but I think perhaps I had quite unrealistic expectations. I thought I could just work really hard and be back to walking within the week. The reality is that I'm still sitting in front of my computer, with my leg elevated for the swelling. I go to put on my compression sock and as I try to lift my bad leg up, it shakes as if I'd just run a marathon. So if you stumble across this and are about to have your cast off, please understand it's a slow process! Realistic expectations, are the key :)

Also there is a lot of dead skin! Gross! Lol I did save you guys from the pics of my 6 weeks worth of hairy-ness though, they recommend not shaving the first few days because the skin is so delicate but I couldn't help myself!

Moon Boot

So who knows what a moon boot is? I didn't until a few hours ago. My cast is off hurray! But unfortunately I've been strapped up into something very cast like and much heavier! So my realistic expectations pretty much came true. My cast definitely came off but I wasn't able to instantly walk, actually I couldn't move my foot at all once it was free from the cast...a mental thing, or physical..probably both! I'm allowed for the first two weeks to put a quarter of my weight on my useless foot but I'm still bound to my crutches and stiff in my moon boot. The real bad news came when I asked how long until I'm driving again...six weeks *gasp*. Six weeks seems to be the magic number and when I'm booked back into the hospital for, what I'm hoping is, my final checkup. The doctor said she hopes to see me, coming in on crutches, with no pain than walking in without out them in pain. *sigh*. I guess me and my crutches still have some time together.

The good news is that the moon boot is removable, so I can finally wash my foot and shave my very hairy leg! He he.

Oh and the Brisbane cast nurses totally paid out my cute Nambour cast man! How dare they, I tried to stick up for him! They used my cast as an example of what not to do and got all the nurses around to inspect. Apparently I got too much padding which made it difficult to get the cast off but hey it made my cast experience a dream. I told them my cast was super comfy and never gave me pain! They were also dubious of the glitter and asked if I had put it on myself. Apparently glitter is a rarity in the public hospital sector...score! I have to say despite there questioning of my amazing glitter cast, the Royal Brisbane Hospital has been a dream, super nice staff, quick waiting time and amazing help. I even got wheelchair escorted today!

Scarborough

So I'm back where I begun. Just over a month ago (the day after, I moved back home) the family and I headed to Scarborough and now today (the day before my cast comes off) we decided on another trip back there. Although a much gloomier day, my outlook definitely isn't matching the weather. Did someone mention my cast is coming off *pops champagne* :)

So I'll admit I'm slightly scared for the recovery process after the cast comes off, my brain is thinking, well you just walk! But I'm trying to brace myself for reality and pain. I am looking forward to the following things though
- having a super long bath/shower
- being able to carry stuff
- taking photos again
- making myself a coffee, it's the little things!
I'm also dreaming of shell collecting, swimming in waterfalls, running through daisey filled paddocks, you get the drift :p
In more serious notes my to-do list looks a little like this
- learn to walk
- learn to drive
- get my old job back
- find a unit and move back to the coast
Not so fun and a tad overwhelming but baby steps, literally! I'm on the home straight.

No Surgery

Got the good news today no surgery and my cast is off in two weeks time!

Moving Out

So I've officially moved out of my unit and back in with the parents. My parents pretty did my move/clean for me, since I'm still 100% useless, so a huge thanks to them. As for my broken ankle, it's still in the cast but I did score a hospital visit today. All they could tell me was that they're still not sure if I'll need surgery. I'm getting discussed tomorrow at their trauma board meeting, sounds official and the doctor said she would ring me tomorrow with the news. So tomorrow I find out if my cast is coming off or whether I'm useless for many more weeks to come! Ben told me, my blog was getting slightly cast picture heavy, so my apologies, it's just that there isn't much to take photos of. Maybe I'll get a new coloured cast to take pictures of :p

Present from Tim Burton

Okay pretty much one my best mail days happened! An envelope from Tim Burton *dies*. It all came about when I was selected by him as a finalist in an art comp, which you can read about here (so long ago it's even on my old blog!) Anyway, I thought it would be nice to send some art to Tim Burton, since I was hoping he had liked my art to have picked it for the comp. I was never expecting any mail back, so I was thrilled to pieces when this came!!!

He is one of my art heroes so it means so much to me, can't wait to be all nerd-like and get it framed. Amazing timing too, because I'm just about to move out of my place so if it had of arrived a few weeks later it may of ended up in the trash by my unit's new owners... so lucky :)

Big Things Blog

Having a broken ankle is amazing in so far that it forces you into doing those things you've been avoiding whilst you sit on your butt and let your body do it's recovery thing. One of those things I've been avoiding is compiling a Big Things blog of all my Big Things adventures, turns out despite its time consuming nature it was really fun to put together and will now be easy for me to update.

So here is the link, Big Things of Oz

My ankle by the way, is feeling amazing, two weeks seemed to be the magic time for no longer needing pain tablets every four hours. I'm having a lot of trouble getting into the hospital, so I still don't know if I need an operation or not, I have a feeling by the time they transfer me to a Brisbane hospital it will be time for my cast to come off, which is exciting in itself!

My next project is my cat book, which I've started designing and is keeping me creatively entertained, I've given up on my photo a day challenge and instead have become all consumed by cats!