Making Progress On Tibial Plateau Fracture

Went to Suita Hospital today solo. This is me riding our elevator on the way out.

My dear wife wrote me notes just in case I got into trouble w/Japanese language issues.

 

Beautiful day, took a taxi over.   The driver was quite chatty, telling me about his trips to the U.S.

Here is the entrance to Suita Shimin Byouin, aka Suita Municipal Hospital.

This Nakamura-sensei, my orthopedist.

They have some pretty neat tools for removing old cast. Saws right through the tough fiberglass cast, but is gentle enough to hold up to your face. 

 

After getting the cast off, you can see the remnants of my "fracture blisters", which are giant blood blisters from hell, basically.  Now they are dried up, itch like crazy.  My leg is still considerably swollen up as well.

The verdict is a shorter cast for at least another 2 weeks.  I was hoping for full parole on the cast, perhaps unrealistically, but this is maybe like getting a transfer from a supermax prison to a medium security one.  Better than nothing and certainly nothing to complain about.

Nakamura-sensei and her able assistant get me fixed up in no time.  The lining material they use on the cast is really comfortable and the team applies typically extreme Japanese care and neatness employed in wrapping and packaging things:

 

 

 

 

So I've ended up w/a below the knee cast for at least two more weeks. Nakamura-sensei sez still no weight bearing, keep doing whatever I'm doing, see you in 2 weeks. She also wrote a fairly long note to my wife which will be decoded later today.

As I leave, I admire the hospital's pleasant aquarium in the entry area.

I can bend my knee some now. It is amazing how stiff and tight my quadriceps is. But overall, this a a great improvement, much smaller cast, I may be able to even start wearing long pants now.

I then catch another taxi home.  This driver is friendly again, but a little less talkative.  

Back home again, riding the elevator back to our apartment.  Can you tell the difference from the first picture?

Darn it, Another Accident

Well, I got hurt badly on July 2, 2010.  Now, less than three years later, on 12/23/2012, I broke my leg skiing in Hokkaido (that would be in Japan) on Niseko mountain.

Getting around on crutches is a LOT of work....

I'm getting a lot of good nap time in.  I'll be returning to the U.S. in the beginning of March and I'm determined to finally ride the Greenbrier Rail/Trail, it will be part of my rehab program.

For the enquiring minds, I have a Tibial Plateau Fracture, Type 1, non-displaced.  This is very fortunate, so while these are pretty serious fractures, I got off without surgery/hardware, although I have to wear a cast for somewhat longer.

And no, I wasn't doing anything stupid when I broke my leg. Actually, I think one of the bindings was a little faulty or maybe set to release at too low a tension and gave way when I did a hard cut....

But unlike my last accident, I don't have a police report or anything to help me deflect blame onto someone or something else.

The Japanese ski patrol guys were really great, I was near the top of the mountain, they packed me into a sled and skied me down a long, long way.  They didn't stick to the bunny slopes either, which I found pretty impressive.

Here they are packing me into a leg brace and a sled, could almost be passed off as an Everest rescue...

Happy New Year to all and I hope to be a more active blogger in 2013 than I was in 2012.