Positivity Through Injury – How to Get through a Tough Situation

We all know that life does not go the way we plan.  Like, ever. How we react to those plot twists is everything when it comes to health and happiness.  My latest adventure started out like a normal Wednesday, and I was determined to make it a good day. That day quickly turned south, but I managed to keep my humor throughout the whole day.

This is a longer post than what I usually write, so bare with me here.

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Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Tuesday was a fine day.  Well, it started out fine.  I was in major pain with a recurring shoulder issue, and I was functioning solely by a TENS Unit, biofreeze, and ibuprofen, but I was making the most of it.  After all, I was scheduled to try out a Smart Drive power assist device as part of the process of purchasing one through my insurance. Work was going fine, and then my appointment for the Smart Drive.  I was under the impression that I would be getting the demo on my chair to try out for a few days while the paperwork was being processed.

I found out that it was just a quick, 15-20 minute try-out.  When I asked about taking it home, the sales representative told me that I could, but it would delay the paperwork and process for receiving mine own.  So, I told him to forget it, I wanted the paperwork to be pushed through as quickly as possible. Besides, I was super excited to be in the process of getting my own.  Well, apparently that was the last straw for my emotional/mental state. After that appointment, I just started crying and I couldn’t stop for the rest of the day.

This is my theory

It happens

So, Wednesday morning, I woke up telling myself it was going to be a good day.  I had a terrible day the day before, so I was going to turn that around. I went to Physical Therapy, and that’s where my plot twist started. We started practicing floor to chair transfers that week.  The goal was to get into a tall kneel and then pull myself up in my chair and twist my body to be in a seated position. We practiced it a few times on Monday of that week, and decided to practice one more time that morning and then move to wheelies and curb skills.  

So, I got onto the floor and positioned myself just like I did on Monday.  I pushed up to get into a tall kneel and POP, something just happened.

We had no idea what that POP was

After hearing that, I immediately came back to the floor.  With the help of my PT, we straightened out my legs and she felt around to see if anything was wrong and took some blood pressures.  Nothing seemed to be wrong.

But, just for the sake of my safety and wellbeing, my PT paged my SCI doctor to get her input.  She suggested getting bilateral x-rays from the hips down to my ankles. Because I am a complete injury, meaning no function or feeling, I didn’t know if I was in pain.  So, I got off the floor – well, I should say my PT and a PTA lifted me off the floor since we were unsure if I did any damage.

So, down to Radiology I went

We started x-raying my right side, and nothing.  Everything looked fine. Then my left hip – everything looked good.  Left femur (thigh bone) and knee – everything looked good. The last x-ray that we had to do was my left tibia/fibula (shin bones) and ankle.  The x-ray technician let me know that we had one x-ray left and then I was good to go. I remember stating, “good deal, I have a meeting in 15 minutes,” with a little chuckle afterwards.  I never made it to my meeting

Turns out, in the very last x-ray ordered, I had a spiral fracture in my left tibia bone.  The tibia is the bigger of the two shin bones. So, the x-ray technician would not let me off the table.  I called the SCI doctor that I work with to see if he could help or who I should call in order to get things rolling.  I only had his phone number in my phone. He informed my SCI doctor and my supervisor of what was going on, built me a nice splint for transport (see picture beside this text) and we waited for EMS to arrive.

In came the course of action

A team of ortho residents came in to let me know that they were going to try to manipulate my bone back into place, and then place a hard cast on my leg, half-way up my thigh.  From there, my leg would be completely straight for the next 12 weeks, changing the cast every couple of weeks to try to prevent a pressure sore. But, a pressure sore developing was a very likely “side effect” of the hard cast.  I was not very excited about this, but I didn’t really get a choice in the matter. Something that I will speak up about, should a future situation call for it. Every experience is a learning experience.

So, they manually manipulated my bone and casted me and off for another x-ray I went.  Turns out, it didn’t set how they wanted it to, so a new course of action was presented.

The Next Steps

They said that because of my muscle spasms, the bone did not set correctly, so the new course of action was surgery the following morning.  I was fine with this. I wanted my leg to heal correctly, so that I wouldn’t have future issues. There were a couple different options that were discussed for the surgery.  They were first going to put my under anesthesia to manipulate my leg without worrying about spasms and hard cast my leg to halfway up my thigh. The recovery would have been similar to what they were first trying to do – recast every couple of weeks and deal with a straight leg for 12 weeks.  I was not happy about this, but, again, I wasn’t given a choice. The next step, if manipulating my leg didn’t work would be to put a rod and a couple of screws in my leg in the correct place. So the next morning came, and off to surgery I went.

The surgeon came to my bedside in the pre-op bay and told me some great news.  He was reviewing my chart and saw how active I am. We discussed me living on my own, working full time, driving myself, and being in physical therapy to strengthen my wheelchair skills.  Because of all of this, he suggested that we just go straight to the hardware option, and heal that way. I asked about the casting, and he told me it would be a soft, thick dressing from the knee down, and I would be able to sit in my chair and with little modification, continue on with my life in a mostly normal way.

YES! YES! YES!

That was exactly what I wanted to hear and the course of action that I wanted.  Surgery went well, and after a course of IV antibiotics, I was home by Friday afternoon.  I now have a rod and 5 screws in my left leg, with 7 little incisions that were held together by stitches for about two weeks.  At my two week follow up appointment, those stitches were taken out and I was told that I was pretty much good to go and he didn’t see why I would be on any restrictions from here on out.  My “recovery time” was a little over 2 weeks long, compared to the initial 12 weeks that it would have been in a hard cast – along with the pretty much certain side effect of a pressure sore which would have added to my recovery time.  Needless to say, I am very happy with how this is working out.

So, what made the difference?

I truly believe that if you remain positive about a situation, the better it will work out.  Obviously, some situations in life (insert broken tibia) stinks. But, embracing the stink is the key.  Sure, things happen, but the majority of time it is beyond our control. I had no way of controlling my leg breaking, so instead of being gloom and doom about it, I was cracking jokes and trying to figure out why it happened at this time.  And, a month later, I’m still trying to figure that out. Maybe it was solely for me to deliver this message – who knows. But, if you can’t control what’s happening, challenge yourself to control the way you respond to happening – that’s where your power is.  So, I have 8 things to remember whenever you are going through tough times or a tough situation.

1. Everything can – and will – change.
2. You’ve overcome challenges before
3. It’s a learning experience
4. Not getting what you want can be a blessing
5. Allow yourself to have some fun (humor is a big role in my life)
6. Being kind to yourself is the best medicine
7. Other people’s negativity isn’t worth worrying about
8. And there is always, always, always something to be thankful for

Give these suggestions a try the next time you are faced with a tough situation.  And, let me know how it helped (even if it didn’t).

As always, leave me some feedback either here – below this post, e-mail me (megs@thewheellifeblog.com), or on any of my social media platforms! (FB/IG/TW @wheellifeblog and Snapchat @megsh8).  I would love to hear from you and what I can do to help. If there is ANYTHING that you want to hear about – please let me know!  I can’t do any of this without YOU, so I would love to connect with you!

Let’s keep those happy thoughts, productivity and self-care going!  Live honestly, passionately, and with kindness!

Megs