u/psychso86

The past two days I’ve seen a MAJOR jump in progress with weight bearing, and tonight I managed to go crutch free (albeit very very slow and slightly limping) for 45 minutes straight. Feels like a goddamn Christmas miracle. That said I did start to get dizzy and short of breath and had to house a soda to come back to baseline, and yes I’m back on the crutches and resting now, but compared to where I was even a week ago??? This is improvement I can really set my hopes on.

Tomorrow marks 5 weeks since the initial injury, and I very much intend to flip that “anniversary” the bird with both crutch-free hands lol.

So I’ve thrown myself at the pavement going high speeds more times than I can count with minimal damage. You know what does me in? Tripping backwards at 2mph in an unwieldy outfit that just so happens to snag my leg parallel to the ground on impact. Snapped the fucker (tibia and fibula) clean in half, joy of joys!

I’m 1 month post ORIF (nail down my tibia and an unsecured fibula) surgery, and while I try to not let things get to me vis a vis when I can return to the sport, it’s impossible to stay positive some days. Skating became my life this past year, I moved to a whole new city because of it, started my life over entirely, met so many amazing people. And now I’m completely without and feel so hopeless.

To get to the point though, has anyone else dealt with this kind of injury? And if so, what was your recovery timeline? When did you put the skates back on?

I feel like I’m at least on a fast track because as soon as I got my staples out, my surgeon instructed me to start weight bearing and I’ve not been put in a cast or a boot.

My man focus is urban skating, the highest impact skills being curb/crack/manhole/etc jumping, but I can forgo that even just for trail skating, anything to get back out and on wheels.

No I don’t expect to be out and about even by the end of next month, but these 6-12 month recovery timelines are beyond depressing me. Would really appreciate any insight if you have it to share.

Snapped my leg clean in half rollerblading last Sunday, they stuck a nail down my tibia but left the fibula free floating. In the past two days there’s been a horrible evolution to my pain localizing at the injury site (whereas it’s mostly been at the screw sites thus far) to where when I stand from any sitting/laying position, it feels like acid and lava pooling straight in the fracture site and pummeling me like a lightning strike.

It dissipates after a few minutes but leaves me literally in tears/breathless/almost screaming in agony every time I have to get up. I’m going to call my Dr tomorrow (they’re closed rn obviously) but any reassurance that this kind of pain is normal would really help keep my panic under check. I also was able to weight bear on crutches up until Friday, but not anymore with this atom bomb going off in my leg.

And yes I have pain meds (5mg oxycodone every six hours) and no they don’t touch this whatsoever 🫠

No other aggressive symptoms so far as I can tell. No fever etc, bruising around my heel is slowly healing, but swelling and associated ankle ROM immobility has remained pretty much the same.

Dictating this absolutely high off of adrenaline. Went downtown to skate with a cycling group, then branched off to zoom home on my own. A usual thing for me, but tonight had plans in the works it seems.

First, I almost got run over by some dickhead at a red light because he wanted to do an illegal right turn and literally started ramming his car into the back of my legs as I stood in the cycling lane. Couple blocks down, a girls crossing the street asks me if I’m OK because of that incident, I assure her I’m fine and I’m reinvigorated by her kindness.

A little further on, a very boisterous gaggle of tween boys on scooters passed me by and cheer at my LED wheels. Ordinarily they would startle me bc tweens are so moodily unpredictable bless em; but these were some good lads.

A little further on, I stumble up upon Midsummer fest on Clark Street, I had no idea that was going on. Proceeded to cool off with some shave ice, get chatted up by an extremely handsome man about my pastel pink cargo pants, get a bevy of compliments abt my skates, and purchase a wonderful necklace from a vendor who regales me with her skating endeavors back in Puerto Rico. I exchange information with her about our various skate groups and tell her I hope I’ll see her at one of them.

I then sprint the rest of the way home with house music bumping down the smoothest darkest emptiest side streets. I definitely hit 25 mph at one point.

It’s a near daily occurrence to feel replenished about life since moving here after moldering for five years in a dying city back in North Carolina, but some nights really do take the cake. I love this city so goddamn much.