My leg post-fracture, pre-cast/titanium rod

Dear Readers, apologies to anybody who doesn’t appreciate a fracture X ray while they’re enjoying their morning coffee, but today my physiotherapist shared the photographs of my actual leg with me, and I was so excited that I thought I’d share them with you. Above is my leg post my tumble down the stairs at East Finchley Station. What a spectacular fracture that is! You can see why it’s called a spiral fracture, it looks like an Escher drawing.

The fracture once it had been ‘set’ in a cast

Once I was in the Accident and Emergency Department, I underwent the joys of traction (basically a hunky doctor grabbing hold of your leg and trying to put your tibia back together, while someone else wraps your leg in plaster-soaked bandage). Thank goodness for morphine, that’s all I can say.

And finally, here’s the leg complete with titanium rod and nail. Honestly, what a miracle this is. I can hardly believe that it’s my limb.

Anyway, back to my physio appointment. I’d been sent off from Orthopaedics with the announcement that I was now fully weight-bearing, but to rest if my leg got ‘too painful’, so I had questions. The Physio, L, watched me walk down the corridor.

“You do know that you’re limping?” she asked.

Yep, I absolutely did.

“You should use one crutch on your good side, so that you can even out the weight distribution for a bit and allow that leg to get stronger”, she said.

Hallelujah! That makes a lot of sense to me. While my leg is technically strong enough for me to use all the time, I think it needs a tiny bit more support while I’m out and about. She also said that my target 3000 steps per day seemed ‘quite a lot’ at this point.

So I have balance exercises, and strength exercises, and another appointment for in three weeks time. I am a happy bunny, but hopefully I won’t feel like Hopalong Cassidy for much longer.