I’ve been on crutches just over a month now. Good thing I already had strong arms, shoulders and back! I haven’t had any muscle soreness there. What I’ve had instead is pain in the heels of my hands, especially the left hand, I’ve developed a weird discrete lump on the top knuckle of my left thumb on the outside (not the palm side). It’s not in the joint, it’s clearly separate and I’ve noticed that it gets bigger (and more painful) if I’ve been using the crutches a lot and goes down when I’m on them less. Oh and my left pinky finger is on fire (guessing tendons or ligaments or something).
When Kent and I bought our home just over five years ago, we thought this house would be suitable for aging in place. After being on crutches this long, I think we were mostly right. It’s a ranch house, so the only stairs are the couple of stairs to get into the house (front door or through the garage), and the stairs to get to the basement. However, while I can manage the stairs to the garage, if I were truly disabled, say needed a walker, I’m not sure I could get into the garage directly from the house. If you look at the picture, you can see the problem. The stair at the door to the house is narrow front to back, and we can’t add another stair because the stairs to the garage are right there. We can’t move the stairs to the garage, or at least we couldn’t move them without a lot of money and somehow rebuilding the entire garage because the stairwell is concrete.
The shower in the master bathroom might be problematic if either of us were truly disabled—it’s got a lip about four inches tall and three inches wide, but that could be fixed. The other bathroom has a tub/shower combo so that one would just go unused.
It’s also been interesting to see how people react or don’t react when I’m out and about. People at work have been great, offering to hold doors, help me set up for meetings, things like that. When I’ve been out with Kent running errands, some people notice and are careful to give me extra room but a lot are just flat out oblivious. Since I’m the one who’d pay if I got knocked over, I stay extra vigilant. Children are, ironically, mostly the best about paying attention. I suspect it’s because they see the crutches more because of their eye height. When they notice, I can tell they’re really curious and they often stare almost rudely (I take zero offense). However, if children are roughhousing in a store or chasing each other, then I really have to pay attention. They are so focused on their fun that they often don’t see me until it would be too late.
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| Basement stairs are on the right |
The shower in the master bathroom might be problematic if either of us were truly disabled—it’s got a lip about four inches tall and three inches wide, but that could be fixed. The other bathroom has a tub/shower combo so that one would just go unused.
It’s also been interesting to see how people react or don’t react when I’m out and about. People at work have been great, offering to hold doors, help me set up for meetings, things like that. When I’ve been out with Kent running errands, some people notice and are careful to give me extra room but a lot are just flat out oblivious. Since I’m the one who’d pay if I got knocked over, I stay extra vigilant. Children are, ironically, mostly the best about paying attention. I suspect it’s because they see the crutches more because of their eye height. When they notice, I can tell they’re really curious and they often stare almost rudely (I take zero offense). However, if children are roughhousing in a store or chasing each other, then I really have to pay attention. They are so focused on their fun that they often don’t see me until it would be too late.
I can tell the fracture is healing, although not fully healed. When I am at home, I can lurch around a bit with either one crutch or sometimes no crutches. But based on everything I've read (thank you, Dr. Google), I need to give this fracture plenty of time to heal. Others who've had the same injury have reported it taking months (like four, five, or more). My long term goal remains to return to running so I will (or not do) what it takes to get there.
1 comment:
As you know, I've used crutches and a walker, and a doorway like the one you picture would be tough, but not impossible. When I first come home from the hospital with a new joint, the people driving and helping me usually help hold the walker from the front so I can pull up on it at a narrow place like that.
Our shower is not easy to get in and out of with a right leg that's not strong, and the floor of it seems never to have been installed right, as we had it redone a few years ago because of cracks. Now there are more cracks, and one of them is exactly the size and shape of the bottom of my crutch.
What I'm saying, overall, is that your house will probably be easy to live in and adapt for how well the two of you get around. Most people don't end up in wheelchairs, needing that kind of access at home, but if you do, you'll find ways to adapt, like maybe a longer ramp past those other stairs.
The good part is that you will heal from this injury, if you continue to be patient. I know how hard it is to be patient. Sending you hope for continued patience!
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