Tibia mostly healed, Physical Therapy, out of bed, foot blister slowing up recovery, sadness and loneiness

Well I am out of bed and I would like to stay out of bed, except for sleep time, that is.  I am reading that it takes up to a full year for a tibia to fully heal, but three months to be able to bear weight.  After two months, my orthopedist gave me a boot to put on, but I couldn't stand with it.  Something was going on with the bottom of my right foot [the side of the fractured tibia], but I didn't know what it was.  Well, I was distraught thinking that I still couldn't stand and in the back of my mind I thought maybe I would never be able to stand again.

The next morning, the aide on duty went to clean the bottom of my foot and noticed a blister, right in the spot where the cast ended. So it seems that the rough edge of the cast was apparently rubbing against the skin.  I had an appointment already planned that week with my primary doctor and she looked at it, told me to see a podiatrist, and gave me a light antibiotic in case it was infected.  The day I finished the antibiotic, I saw the podiatrist who said the blister was not infected despite th pain and there was nothing serious doing under the blister.  But it would take a few weeks to heal.  He lanced and drained it and I had weekly visits for the next month until it totally healed.  Needless to say, I was in bed an additional month.

Finally, I am standing almost as well as I did before the injury but I have home physical therapy to exercise the leg to strengthen the joints around the tibia like the ankle and knee.  When you're in bed for more than three months, the muscles atrophy and have to be "woken up" again.  All in all, I was lucky that this happened during the cold winter and apart from doctor visits, I didn't have to go outside.  Going outside for the doctor was difficult, since my toes were exposed and sticking out of the cast.  One time, we missed Access-a-Ride because we were fighting with a too-small elevator coming out of the orthopedist's office.  There was no courtesy phone call; she just pulled away right in front of my aide.  And when the aide ran after and caught up to her at a red light, she [the driver] refused to come back around or wait.  So we walked from 66th and Second Avenue to 60th Street to catch the Q60 MTA bus and my toes froze.  Luckily we were near the Q60 that goes from Manhattan to Queens.  But then we had to walk/roll from the bus stop to my apartment, toes exposed again.

There's nothing that gets you thinking and reflecting more on your life than being stuck on your back in bed.  And there is nothing lonelier. I really found out who my friends were and they were few, but I consider myself lucky.  More on that later.  I also have certain emotional addictions [more like obsessions] that reared their ugly heads during this time, and I had to pull myself off social media in order to not feed into those addictions.  Social media can be very dangerous for me, especially when I can see the wonderful fun other people have and how they are surrounded by loving friends and family.  Not that I wasn't lonely in my healthy able-bodied days, but I could get out and do something about it.

Month three of broken tibia and blister woes and wheelchair cushion problems

So it's coming in on the home stretch of the three months of recuperation from my tibia fracture. I enter to my two month follow up at the orthopedist and he removed the shorter cast? Which went below the knee. This was an improvement on the first cast, which went well above the knee so imagine my delight when they cut off the second cast and gave me a boot thing aka soft cast -- and told mr I could stand using this new improvement. I couldn't wait to get home and do all the things that the ability to stand, allowed me to do.

That happiness was short-lived, however. I tried to stand and the leg with the broken tibia produced the most blood-curdling yelp when I tried. Something was going on with the bottom of my foot and it wasn't good. Was it something wrong with the bottom of the boot? I had no idea. Not to mention that the good leg wasn't perfect either. You see, after two months of lying in bed, my muscles had atrophied and needed building up again. I realized how important it is for me to have physical therapy. Suddenly, my aide looked at the bottom of my foot and saw a huge cyst-like blister.  Oh hell, I thought. Great!! I happened to have an appointment with my internist a few days later and she looked at it and said it seemed infected nd gave me a one-week round of Amoxicillin.  She doesn't like to give antibiotics recklessly and for that I love her.  So I loaded up on probiotic capsules and drank kombucha to compensate.  And I made an appointment with Aadvanced Foot Care, who had solved my plantar fascitis many years ago.  The podiatrist determined I didn't have an infection, but a pus-filled blister.  He lanced it and told me to put bacitracin on it and see him in a week.  It improved but still hurt.  I went yesterday again and he said I could try putting my weight on it.  So when I came home and had to use the commode, I decided to try.  My aide had trepidation, but I did it!! It wasn't great and my leg muscles have atrophied somewhat with three months of bed-rest.  I have a prescription for physical therapy to help me build the muscle, and I also found a website with exercises for a post-fractured tibia.  I have to decide if I want to go outside for PT or have home PT.  I have had both and each has its pros and cons.

Then there is my wheelchair cushion.  When you're sitting in a wheelchair upwards of 16 hours a day, a comfortable seat is very important.  An uncomfortable cushion is painful and can cause skin breakdown and pressure sores [the bane of all people with disabilities].  I recently got a Roho cushion, which has waffle-like compartments filled with air.  It has to be regularly inflated to ensure enough comfort.  Well, one morning, we found the valve on the floor; it had come off the cushion.  A Roho cushion that cannot be inflated is useless.  In almost no time at all, my cushion deflated and of course the wheelchair vendor technician came to my apartment and confirmed that the cushion was not fixable.  So I am in the waiting period for the insurance process; this means it could be several weeks before I get a new Roho cushion.  I thought about buying a standby extra cushion -- $350.00 -- I don't think so.  The ALS Association will come to my rescue some time tomorrow with a loaner cushion.  Their loan closet has saved me many many times.  One thing I have learned to get used to is a waiting period for any wheelchair repairs or components often exceeding six weeks.  A real pain!!  Since it's painful to sit in the wheelchair with a deflated cushion, I would still find myself stuck in bed.  Instead,  I have learned from these three months that it's beneficial for me to have a couple of hours of "bed time" each day for the post-thrombotic period [after deep-vein thrombosis, or DVT].  Below is a picture of a Roho cushion.  You can see the "waffle" air compartments.  It's considered the "Rolls Royce" of cushions and is not just for wheelchairs; it can help anyone who can benefit from better weight distribution and to prevent pressure sores.  It is great for old folks who might not have a lot of butt padding and compromised back muscles.