My recent trampolining injury turned out to be much more major than first anticipated, and I now find myself in a moon boot with walking crutches for the next 12-16 weeks. By my calculations, that pretty much takes me through to October before I lose my new accessories, and let’s just say, I have acquired many other accessories that I vastly prefer over these ones…
Initially when the xrays came back showing no breaks, all seemed good. Managing a sprained ankle was something I’m already familiar with, having done that just at the end of last year (accident prone much?). But the physio didn’t think it was that simple, so sent me off for an MRI to better identify what was going on. When he told me it showed bone bruising through all the bones around the ankle, I still didn’t think it sounded that bad, but it turns out to be nowhere near as innocuous as it sounds. He used a great analogy, which was thinking of your bone as a Crunchie bar (as pictured for those who may not be familiar with this delicious piece of Australian confectionery), and while my chocolate is intact, my honeycomb is well and truly shattered. It actually takes ages to repair, and supported weight bearing is a necessity to allow this to occur. Voila crutches and a moon boot.
I’m very rapidly gaining an appreciation for just how difficult life is when your mobility is restricted, and at least its only temporary for me. I know for the many people who have this as their permanent reality they are not only well aware of the challenges, but are also probably a whole lot less whingy than I have been about the whole thing. The biggest negative is, as well as not being able to utilise your foot, you also lose your arms and your ability to carry anything. Quite a challenge, particularly when my next four weeks involve trips to Israel and Lockhart River (an Indigenous community in Far North QLD). So far I’ve switched from handbags to a backpack, just located a cup holder for crutches on Amazon (can’t wait for that to arrive, have you ever tried to carry a cup of coffee on crutches??) and discovered that moon boot bling is an actual thing.
But the one thing that is still super simple to use is my Glass because it’s HANDSFREE! I’ve talked often about the benefits delivered by Glass’ hands free, voice controlled capabilities in the healthcare setting, but I think the next few months are also going to provide a great opportunity to road test the lifestyle benefits delivered by this same tech (I’ve got to look for the positives right? Better road testing hands free Glass and being able to pack double the number of shoe options because I only have to take the right foot are my top two so far!).