(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Free at Last!
Free of paster casts I mean of course … anyone who has ever been in one knows, you are generally sick to death of it within after day two of having it put on, so 10 weeks is mind-numbingly long even when common sense (or in this case, Doctors) tell you it was necessary.
In case you’ve never seen one before, they use a small specialized oscillating saw to cut plaster casts off. It rather defies logic by being capable of cutting hard materials but not soft ones, and it does produce an unnerving buzzing sensation though which I can only best describe as semi ticklish. This sensation was at it’s worst when I still had the metal pins in… and whilst it’s not all together pleasant, luckily it doesn’t hurt.
The paster department people told me that it’s unusual that they have to do so many plaster changes on a patient for one injury but that’s simply because I managed to do some rare damage to myself.
Various hospital staff have asked if I would mind medical students and plaster technicians learning from my case (I didn’t mind), so there have been lots of x-ray studies on computer monitors, and a heap of medical jargon that was the explanation to go with it as people learned something new, (so this stupid fall’s been good for something then! LOL)
Kiwi Daughter was very curious right from the beginning to know what was going on under the plaster works, where the pins were etc, so my pocket-sized point-and-shoot camera went with me to the hospital so that I oblige her curiosity… the plaster specialists were actually delighted by this and had a lot of fun getting into the photos, which helped to inject a little humour into (most) of the experience over the course of my visits.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Staff would ask when I came in if I had bought my camera and we documented progress.
On the desk where the plaster department handle the administration, there was a wooden doll of the kid that artists use to practice figure drawing and getting proportion right. Their little model had different coloured plaster casts of various lengths all over it’s limbs. There was even one around it’s middle.
I have one of these wooden figures at home and jokingly told them that it needed a cast to match mine… they laughed and to my surprise said that this could be arranged. I needed to have x-rays done after my red cast was cut off, so whilst I was away they decorated my artists dolly with a little reminder of their department. They even added an arm cast for fun too.
My kids thing it’s a riot that dolly now has coloured paster.
One thing that I didn’t expect is that my foot would be so swollen, The Doctor said I’m supposed to walk with a pressure bandage for support and to keep my foot raised up at all other times so that the swelling can go down. A good solid shoe for support is recommended as I start to walk with crutches, but I found when I got home that I can’t get into even my oldest shoes, and it’s hurting far more than I anticipated so I’m back on maximum pain relief.
Luckily our physiotherapist is also a friend and she says it’s clear there is too much swelling at the moment, so a quiet weekend with my foot elevated is prescribed and she will come over on Monday to see what the next step will be.
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
(photograph © Kiwidutch)
Today’s pain is less than yesterdays so progress comes in small steps, but it’s a good start…
