u/CleanUpOnAisle10

Hello, I’m in the US here but this question is for basically anyone whose injury affected their finances. How is everyone holding up??

I was in the process of starting a new job that I can’t do now because of my injury. And the job I did before that was delivery for Instacart that I obviously can’t really do now, either.
I can’t get any disability or workman’s comp because I didn’t get hurt on the job and Instacart is an independent contractor agreement. (And honestly it’s a gig I’ve been trying to get out of doing for awhile but that’s a whole other story)

I’m having no luck finding any WFH or remote positions. Weeding through scams nowadays has become a job within itself…

Thankfully, I’m staying with family who are supporting me financially at the moment. I know I’m luckier than a lot of others in that sense but I feel utterly worthless.

I’ve done a few things here and there like participate in online surveys/focus groups, etc but those are rare. And I do some tasks for a voting organization app online but it’s pocket change.

I know I should be focused on just recovery but I’m really really stressing out about money.

How is everyone else doing?

When is the last time you guys actually filled up your tank?? I can’t remember the last time I did even before everything went up this bad..
What are you cutting out of your budgets in favor of gas?!

I understand this might be a niche audience, but I’m supposed to ask 75 people a simple question about gas prices in PA and I’ve only gotten 30 responses (from people I know IRL 😅) I’ve officially run out of people. Is anyone a Pennsylvania resident that can answer this basic question? You can be vague or as detailed as you’d like!
(Other PA groups are not approving my post unfortunately I don’t think they like survey questions)

"When's the last time you filled your gas tank and have you had to cut anything out to budget these increased prices?"
GIF

Hey guys. I’ve been lurking here for a few weeks or so and my injury was almost a month ago. I’m so sorry you are all going through this, although it is comforting to know we are not alone experiencing this at the same time, although at different stages. I had my surgery on April 7th so I’m almost 3 weeks post op. I was trying to learn a little bit of the “lingo” here with all the abbreviations before I made a post😅. Currently still NWB for the time being.

Soo, I had a pretty bad break, I broke my left ankle in all 3 bones, or a “Trimalleolar ankle fracture with mild displacement" and now I’m at

“Trimalleolar fracture (post-op ORIF

recovery). Anyone out there with any type of advice?

First few days/weeks were hell in the splint, and I relied a bit much on pain meds if I’m being honest.

This is certainly the most serous injury I’ve ever had in my life. I’d like to think I’m past the worst part of the pain; some days are better than others. My pain tends to fluctuate from both sides of my ankle to my shin. The absolute worst pain I had was the day after surgery and the nerve block wore off. I tried to “chase the pain” with medicine, but that first day when it wore off it did not matter. Boy am I glad the pain has been nothing like that since because idk how I would have managed.

But I still do get pain sporadically, which I assume is normal? I was very excited to transition from the splint to the boot, but unfortunately so far the boot isn’t really that much more comfortable than the splint. :/ It was basically either the boot, stay in the splint, or go in a cast which I refuse to wear as I’m claustrophobic enough as it is. The good thing about the boot is my surgeon gave me permission to take it off when sleeping and showering. Is anyone else doing this? I still have pain when it’s off, but I still find it relieving when I can let my ankle/foot breathe. I kinda overdid it the first night by probably staying out of the boot for 14 hours (slept for about 8 or 9, then stayed awake in bed for a few). I wear the boot through out most of the way. I don’t want to mess anything up but I only have the boot off when I’m not moving really. I’m trying to be careful when I sleep as I flip flop through out the night like a rotisserie chicken.

TLDR; How long are you guys keeping your boot off during the day if you’re not doing much moving around anyway?

Any other fellow Trimalleolar fractures out there got any advice or just wanna vent?