Ups and Downs of a Broken Leg

24 October 2009

Saturday, Madrid

Most of what goes on when you have a broken leg is not all that positive. I broke my left leg ingloriously in four places, managing to twist myself into a knot on a flat piece of sidewalk outside my office. It took two hours of surgery and enough screws to open a hardware store to put me back together. I then had a week on my back in the hospital, another week at home, still on my back and, finally, a trip back to the hospital to put on a semi-permanent cast of fiberglass. I now make my way around on crutches, I'm not allowed to put any weight on the broken leg for another three weeks or so.

I've learned that Madrid is not very friendly for disabled people. I suspect this is a fact about much of the world of which I was, heretofore, blithely ignorant. It's even hard to get into the hospital – I had to wait outside for an orderly to come and get me with a wheel chair, the steps are not friendly and the ramp is a marathon without a rail to hang on to. I cannot go to my favourite cafe near the office because the steps in and out are very steep. Getting into the office itself is a chore – there are two very short flights of steps before you get to the lift but neither has a rail for support so I have to call a colleague to come down and lend me his arm so I can hop up the stairs without risking another broken leg.

Our apartment is called an 'atico' and, in local usage here in Madrid, that means it occupies more than one floor on the top level of the building. After the first two times of hopping perilously up and down from the main to the bedroom floor and, simultaneously, scaring the hell out of myself, I figured out that discretion called for me to sit on my butt and scoot up and down, step by step. It looks undignified but it has taken most of the risk out of getting to my desk, to my bed and to the living room.

Bathing is a very long and involved process – I yearn for the luxury of just standing under a shower and letting the hot water just run and run (not very 'green' of me but I promise to do it only once).

I get up early, no one told me that there would an irritating amount of relatively minor pain that would affect my sleep. I put on my robe and have figured out how to make coffee and take a cup of it to my desk (I fill a big glass half full with coffee, put it in the pocket of my robe and try to hop smoothly back to the desk where I then pour the coffee into a smaller, more convenient vessel for drinking).

Everything takes a long time and I get tired. I weighed about 220 pounds when this began. I've probably lost about 15 or so pounds but its still quite a work-out to use my crutches to go any distance – I can certainly feel my shoulders and upper body getting stronger. And, that's one of the upsides of all this – I'm actually getting in better shape! I do, however, need more naps!

I just went for a brief walk – out the door of our building, down to the end of the block, a few minutes rest on the edge of a planter and back. I think it's time for another nap.