I can walk!
After a major ankle injury in March 2024, multiple surgeries, and months in the hospital, I can finally walk with support! My doctor is optimistic about a full recovery by summer. I’m losing weight, returning the wheelchair, and stepping into a stronger, happier me.
Let’s start this one off with a bit of a recap.
At the end of March, 2024, I had an accident while I was heading home from Shinjuku. I stepped back out of the way of a bicycle to let it pass and managed to fall over on my left ankle. The resulting fall completely dislocated my talus, fractured it, and caused damage to both malleoli. I was hospitalized for over two months, and had to undergo two surgeries.
In October, I reached a milestone where I was able to stand.
Entering into 2025, there are even more positive updates.
I welcomed the New Year on my feet in our living room with a dram in my hand (thanks for the Glenlivet, Rob!). I was able to stand unaided and perfectly straight for 10 minutes.
Last week, I had my first catch up with my Doctor since December.
The healing is going smoothly, but slowly and my Doctor has allowed me to 50% weight-bear on my injured leg. This basically means that I am allowed to stand and take steps for as long as it is comfortable.
What clinched the deal was being able to walk in (using my walking frame), rather than needing to wheel in the chair. I did a few tests with standing, and stepping with the doctor keeping an eye on me, and he’s happy for me to move around with both legs as long as I am using appropriate support and I am not in any pain.
On the subject of pain, nothing’s been really hurting all that much, apart from the strange stiff and useless sensation and some discomfort in my ankle, so I am also off the prescription pain medication. I should be able to manage everything with over-the-counter relief now.
I’ll keep an eye on any changes, and I have instructions to go straight to the Doctor if anything gets severely painful or uncomfortable.
For now, I am being as careful as I can be, and am hoping for the best.
I’ve already done some test runs to / from the pharmacy and such, and thanks to being able to use both feet now, I can keep my balance and walk with the walking frame safely to and from the apartment.
Previously, I had to use a wheelchair to get out, as the hill my apartment is on was way too steep for me to safely navigate one-legged. This meant that I couldn’t really go anywhere without Dean or a friend to help me with the wheelchair.
I need to shout out again how wonderfully supportive and patient my husband, Dean has been throughout all this. I think I would have gone crazy by now without his care and forbearance.
There is still a risk of the repaired talus in my injured ankle collapsing. This would be very, very bad. Not only would it be a pretty serious medical emergency, but it would also need surgery that would require another extensive hospital stay.
Unfortunately, the only way to really recover the use of my foot (which has bone and muscle atrophy due to not being used), is to actually use it. So the goal is balance the risks with taking small steps (literally), and hopefully build strength (and bone density) back up.
My doctor is optimistic about the healing, and with careful monitoring, patience, and a lot of luck, I should make a complete recovery by the summer this year, without requiring additional surgery.
I have some new instructions from the Doctor to follow:
- Keep losing weight.
- Be very careful while standing and walking, and stop immediately if it hurts.
- Do some stretching exercises with my foot and ankle to restore mobility to the joint.
- Take it easy and don’t rush.
- Did I mention to keep losing weight?
Next month, I’ll be returning the wheelchair I’ve been renting. My focus from now on is keeping on track with my weight loss, and transitioning from needing to use the walking frame to keep my balance to using crutches.
In the meantime, I’m going to be able to start going out by myself again. It also means that I can go out with Dean without him needing to worry about helping me with the chair. I owe him a lovely sit-down dinner, as we've not been out on a proper date since before the accident.
I hope 2025 is the year that I finish my recovery, and get back to life as normal - but with a new improved Ry! I’ll certainly be slimmer, and hopefully much more fit.
For now though:
I can walk!