Fractured ankle on third day ever climbing

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Messages 21 - 40 of total 48 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Apr 26, 2017 - 08:18am PT
Hey, Snowflake, I'll convey yer woeful tale to my brother-in-law who also suffered a fall recently. Now he's driving a wheelchair instead of his usual B767, but to his credit he is mentoring younger spinal chord victims at the Craig Center rather than, well, you know.
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Apr 26, 2017 - 08:28am PT
SCHWARPREMA? I



Yeh, I knda' feel ya!

A Twisted sister either way,

.
Spider Savage

Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
Apr 26, 2017 - 08:32am PT
Shattered my left ankle in a lame bouldering fall in 1985. Two surgeries: screws in, screws out. (don't let them leave hardware in)

Climbing again after 9 months. Went on to decades of climbing, backpacking, skiing etc. It has been a bother these last 32 years but, what are you going to do.

Keep on truckin.
rwedgee

Ice climber
CA
Apr 26, 2017 - 08:33am PT
You can join Largo's gym club
steveA

Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
Apr 26, 2017 - 09:31am PT
I'll add to many previous posters that you will recover within a year from the ankle injury.
Much depends on your own motivation and drive, and just being a climber defines you as that type of person.
I have over 200 pieces of shrapnel from Vietnam in one of my ankles, and also broke the heal of that same foot. Years later I broke both ankles and shattered the bones over one arch, all due to climbing accidents. ( I'll never learn).
Sometimes these old injuries bother me, but at 71 I'm still climbing. Here is a photo taken a few years ago in Yosemite. You will be at it again-I'm sure.
Nick Danger

Ice climber
Arvada, CO
Apr 26, 2017 - 10:43am PT
Rock on, Steve, nice story, GREAT photo.
Also, welcome home.
Ken M

Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
Apr 26, 2017 - 11:02am PT
Lots of advice, little of it on point.

The people posting do not know what a "trimaleolar fracture" actually is, which is not a simple broken ankle.

I speak not only as a physician, but as someone who suffered a trimaleolar fracture. While I recovered, and went on to run (in a fashion), there is no doubt that it changed my life. I currently walk with a cane, with considerable pain. The fracture is the reason.

You only get one chance to get this right. Do what your doctors say. See a physical therapist or occupational therapist. Stop with the stupid stuff that has a potential to screw up your healing ankle. Mess it up, and it will NEVER, EVER be the same.

You didn't state your age, nor location.

You may even want to go so far as to seek guidance from a Rehabilitation Doctor. You only get one chance to get this right, and it has the potential to affect your use of the ankle for the rest of your life.

Don't screw around with this.

You can come back from this, don't worry about it.

Worry is not a useful position to take, but take this very, very seriously.
gwab72

climber
Topic Author's Reply - Apr 26, 2017 - 05:38pm PT
Thanks for the support and encouragement those of you who gave that. (I'm on my phone and so can't address specific users now but..)

1) thanks for the hangboard advice. I've got a clip in the ceiling and will look at reducing weight via pulley. For now, will stick to pull up bar in the doorway, and push-ups and resistance and on the doorknob stuff. I'm not very strong. At one time I was.

2) I am in Florida. I'll be 45 this year. Not much outdoor climbing here.

3) so super sorry I don't have climbing lingo down. God knows it was humiliating enough that I'm the only injured climbed to ever have the gym call 911 rather than driving themselves home with a broken ankle so please help me save the embarrassment of calling the wrong thing and tell me what I should have called it? "Bouldering path" will be forever stricken from my vocabulary. I assume I shouldn't replace it with "purple hangie things"?

4) thank you for the horrifying and sobering advice (from the physician) and for helping me understand that I'm not crazy or weak to be taking this extremely seriously and to be afraid. I went back to work today and I'm a constantly afraid that I'm going to fall.

Ken M

Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
Apr 26, 2017 - 06:35pm PT
Jeremy, people often have medical problems that they do not thoroughly understand. Also, such people have mostly exactly ONE experience with that problem, so they don't see the range of what can happen, so they think that what happened to them is what happens to everyone, and it isn't.
drF

Trad climber
usa
Apr 26, 2017 - 06:47pm PT
So says the racist Ken M....

He does know All
monolith

climber
state of being
Apr 26, 2017 - 07:02pm PT
I'm the only injured climbed to ever have the gym call 911

My gym has called 911 twice this year while I've been there, so probably there have been others. (1 leader drop, 1 upside down leader fall with swing into wall) They've gotten very good at cleaning up blood stains.
skcreidc

Social climber
SD, CA
Apr 26, 2017 - 07:02pm PT
3) so super sorry I don't have climbing lingo down. God knows it was humiliating enough that I'm the only injured climbed to ever have the gym call 911 rather than driving themselves home with a broken ankle so please help me save the embarrassment of calling the wrong thing and tell me what I should have called it? "Bouldering path" will be forever stricken from my vocabulary. I assume I shouldn't replace it with "purple hangie things"?

Calling it a "problem" might not upset anyone.

Seriously tho, don't weight the thing till the Dr. gives the OK. Then, if you are having ankle swelling problems, try compression socks. They have been a godsend for me. You know your getting old when you gush about old people socks. But, within a week of putting them on my ankle was significantly less swollen.
gwab72

climber
Topic Author's Reply - Apr 26, 2017 - 07:09pm PT
yeah apparently the guys working the gym told my partner something along the lines of "most people who hurt themselves here are just like 'take me to my car' and she's the only one to actually say 'I'm hurt, call 911'"

He tried hard for the save: "no I mean, they're saying it's cool that you did that, it gave them a chance to practice their protocol."

yeah, okay.

I'm trying - ok, failing- to resist the urge to point out that I was alone there, and didn't know anyone there, and was 37 miles from my house. It never even crossed my mind for a second to try to get in my car and drive away. That would have been reckless as all f*#k.
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Apr 26, 2017 - 07:19pm PT
Oh dear ! I'm sorry if there seemed some comments that made no sense.

To the 1st most no context to you comment ,
I think, probably you missed an actually important referance, funny , in a dark way,
is a reference to one of the all time great climbers of his or any generation, and recognized as the best rock climbing adventure writer of the the last and this century, !
John Long , or Largo , as he posts here. The comment refers to his gruesome ankle fracture s
That were the result of failure to tye his knot while climbing in-doors , after an amazing number of ascents of hard fearsome out door rock climbs
Godfather of the Stonemaster, the name eventually synonymous with everything that climbing embraced throughout the country over the last 45 years.

Which is seen as highly ironic After having literally written books that teach climbing. You definitely should get these , while you are rehabbing.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Rock-Climb/dp/0762755342






Then myTwisted Sisted comment, I'd hoped to elicit a response,..



Ankle , I meant a twisted ankle sister.

The reference to a banned troll - should and was ignored.

When I checked the type of break, I was surprised that the top five or six (5-6) top choices
all , went right to the issue of returning walking . There were many questions like will I ever walk down stairs again and scary will I ever walk again. I was not trying to be-little The thouroghly life check that you've been thrown,
So I'm sorry if my comment seemed to harsh.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
Apr 26, 2017 - 07:31pm PT

Just remember this--Yer GONNA DIE!!!!
gwab72

climber
Topic Author's Reply - Apr 26, 2017 - 07:33pm PT
Gnome, I didn't find your comment harsh. All good.
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Apr 26, 2017 - 08:12pm PT
I climbed and fell in my ankles for 20 years then exploded both heels in '94 I didn't Snap or sheer anything plates n screws and I climbed and danced at my wedding in '97. I refused a recommended fusion, had a reform to the shape of the subtalar joint, basically successful experimental surgery, that has held up better than could be expected.


The link from the department that made me walk again.

https://www.hss.edu/orthopedic-trauma-case2-ankle-fractures.asp
jgill

Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
Apr 26, 2017 - 08:56pm PT
Calling it a "problem" might not upset anyone


As an aside, historically, the British coined the word "problem" for their short rock climbs in the Lake District as they began the sport of rock climbing there in the 1880s. They also gave us the word "bouldering" at about that time. Bet you didn't know this stuff went way back in history.

As you recover, you might be entertained by my website on the history of the sport: http://www.johngill.net
Gnome Ofthe Diabase

climber
Out Of Bed
Apr 26, 2017 - 09:04pm PT
Admittedly, she said Boulder "path"
I don't climb inside,so I thought it was possible that the phrase was indoor lingo.



I knew that you meant to wish the women a speedy recovery as well,
And that you just got occupied with the perfect finish*' ( see below)
As my capture of it is meant to say;
thank you for that full affirmation,
I'll be sure to share that with sprouts both on and off the path. just



Blasphemous treatment of a Single Malt;
'*PERFECT FINISH, , (NOT THE RINSE)
I just knew, that having , not to much of an ice cube, is important.
I have it down,
I use the back of a table soon, medium heavy tap, breaks a standard cube in half,
a second pop, yields that perfect chunk to take a second, shot,
(so, extravagant for me so) and a blasphemy
I know, but it extends the butter just that much,mi drain the glass before the ice is gone.


We are due some brilliant weather and if I can I'll call it "Peet & Stone"
crankster

Trad climber
No. Tahoe
Apr 26, 2017 - 09:34pm PT
Yes, read jgill's website. Every climber should. Actually, every person should.
Messages 21 - 40 of total 48 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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