As many of you may be aware, I was training to take part in the 2013 Grim Challenge when I managed to injure myself. The injury has so far stopped me running for over 6 months.
Luckily cousin Wendy still managed to do the Grim.
I was increasing my training pace and distance gradually so as not to injure myself when at the tail end of August 2013 I managed to hurt my leg.
I had a lovely endorphin rush whilst setting my best distance & time out running. There was a bit of a pull on my leg as I was running, but I thought nothing of it for the last two miles. I simply thought it was a slight twist or shin splint.
I got home, happy with my run, then sat down to a cup of tea.
I went to stand up and I couldn’t put any weight on it. Incredibly painful. I couldn’t even stand having it touch the floor without weight on it. In a word: PAIN.
Lumpy
I went straight to Accident & Emergency where I had the leg looked at. An X-Ray showed nothing to worry about, although this was 2 hours after it happened. I did asked if I should go back in a few days for another X-Ray, as a stress fracture would not show due to swelling so soon after it had happened, but the hospital staff said it was fine.
I was told it was muscular & to try and keep weight off, but keep it moving & stretching lightly during the healing period so that the muscle wouldn’t tighten up. I was given some strong anti-inflammatory pain killers.
3 weeks later I went to the doctor & said it was getting worse. He said that is expected from muscle injuries.
3 more weeks & the doctor decides this isn’t quite right after I show swelling and increased tenderness in a specific point on my tibia. I finally go for the second X-Ray.
When the results came through there were blatantly obvious fractures. The swelling appeared to be new bone growth that was trying to heal over the fracture, but I kept re-breaking whilst following the original advice of ‘keep it moving‘.
The specialist who saw me at this time said the last thing I should be doing is moving it around or putting weight on it… Yeah, that really didn’t surprise me.
A removable cast was fitted & worn for several months to no avail. It remained very painful.
Plastic Fantastic
I went back to the specialist who agreed something wasn’t right. I had an MRI scan carried out & a few weeks later when the specialist got the results he became concerned at what could be seen on the MRI scan images.
The specialist immediately sent me for a priority ‘same day‘ CT scan. I was a little concerned as they are usually reserved for serious bone issues or tissue problems such as tumours. I didn’t think it could be a serious bone issue, after all at this point my leg had been broken for close to 6 months… not exactly an urgent life or death break… which left a nagging ‘tumour‘ thought in my mind, which I pushed almost entirely to one side.
I tell you, nothing makes you panic in a hospital like being rushed around for urgent scans by a specialist. Suddenly I longed for the hospital visits that take so long you can finish a couple of good books whilst waiting…
A few hours later and the CT results come through with good news. I was told that the dark tissue areas were nothing to worry about (the fact they hadn’t mentioned these areas before did make me think that they had thought they might be a serious problem – hence the need for a CT scan). The fracture on the other hand showed no signs of healing. It had possibly stopped healing due to initial ‘muscle’ treatment & painkillers masking the injury.
I’m now over 6 months into this broken leg and have a few options left, which aren’t really options…
Oh Snap!
I have a fixed cast on my leg that covers my foot and comes halfway over my knee. In a few days time I am starting ultrasonic treatment to try and aggravate the fracture to try and kick start the healing process. To do this they will cut a small hatch in my leg cast for me to apply the treatment each day for 20 minutes for 6 weeks.
At the end of that they will scan the leg again and if the ultrasonic treatment is not successful, they will commence with putting a titanium rod down through the top of my tibia just under the kneecap, down to the bottom by the ankle.
Basically… really, really basically… it’s this:
This CGI shows the more technically accurate version, which is oddly less graphically repulsive,
YUMMY…..
So… the challenge is to do the Grim Challenge 2014… Watch this space.
Okay, I’ve seen lists in other blogs about wants, wishes, favourites and such like. Credit crunch means lottery thoughts make for a diversionary trip through cash fuelled dreams. Sure, I hope and aim to reach these goals, but until then, they are just lists…
2. Own an original or replica Cobra or Jaguar. In fact top of that list would be a replica Jaguar XJ13…. Big V12 sitting right behind your head, and you sit wrapped in the most elegant shaped bodywork ever. Failing that, a trip out in one of these would be superb.
5. Percheron or similar horse. 18 hands will do it. I love the shape of these horses.
Sometimespace 