Week 1 Crippled at University: January 11th – 16th, 2015

Moving back in after winter break was a mess. Hobbling around on crutches, I was stressed and hot, not yet acclimated again to the Miami humidity (and hotness even at night).

The first lesson I learned was that crutches are a nightmare. They worked for getting around very short distances, but try going to class and you’ll end up huffing and puffing and sweating and moving at .25 miles per hour, and rolling into geology about 10 minutes late, after hobbling down the stairs (the elevators are poorly placed and extremely difficult to find). Ugh.

So the wheelchair life it was. Some of my favorite parts of the wheelchair is being able to carry my backpack and other things on the back of the chair, getting a nice arm workout wherever I’m going, and no risk of slipping and falling (which I had experience with on the crutches…). And I can do things like “accidentally” run over a frat boy who was in my way at the dining hall.

Since I’m an avid runner/biker, I had to find other things to do to occupy my time.

So we dyed my hair.

I tried to go purple, but it ended up being pink highlights. Still cool. Gotta keep it fashionable when you’re wheeling around.

I saw x-rays of my new hardware for the first time this week. It’s just kind of shocking. Like that’s my ankle….I’ve got metal in my ankle…I guess it’s cool. I’ve got a plate with 8 screws, 2 huge screws extending through my ankle, and 2 other pieces of equipment that hold a ligament in place.

Also got Jamba Juice. Always a good decision. (Living Like Larry refers to Larry The Lobster from Spongebob in the event that you were confused.)

Before winter break, we had this cool idea of building me a bike since I only had a mountain bike/hybrid kind of deal going on (not great for medium/fast paced group riding and long distance riding). I had been looking at a pretty blue frame and fork at the Magic City Bike Collective, so we went and picked it up on Thursday. It was good to get off campus and feel like I can still do things and go places.

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below contains photos of my incisions and staples. It’s extremely nasty. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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There’s still time to turn back

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seriously

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this is turning into one of those elementary school chain e-mails

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are you sure you want to see this? ….. okay…….

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if it looks painful, it’s because it is.

I get my staples out next friday…that should be fun!

I’m in a boot now!!!!! but no that doesn’t mean I can walk. (but it will be significantly better than a cast!! I’ve heard casts are hell) I still have at least 5 weeks of not being able to walk because in addition to breaking bones, I also damaged some ligaments, and those take much longer to heal/strengthen.

I did go to the gym on Friday! I’m able to do almost every weight machine and I found 1 cardio machine…a bike for your arms and your legs, so I can pedal with my arms and my right leg. And watch The Office at the same time.

I can still do many things! But there are many challenges/frustrations that I face daily and get to solve creatively, for example:

Steep ramps/hills on wheelchair. A bit of physical exertion, and a lot of fear of what would happen if I lost grip and started rolling backwards.

My dorm has no handicap accessible showers or bathrooms. Joy. So I get to wheel over to the Wellness Center whenever I want to take a comfortable shower (in my own dorm, if I so choose, I can use a plastic chair we borrowed from outdoors while the shower stall door closes on my leg and afterwards, I can face the slippery floors of death of the bathroom).

Today I waited two separate times for someone who was not in a wheel chair to finish up in the handicap bathroom stall so I could use it. Once I can walk again, I will never use a handicap bathroom again.

I almost got run over by an Uber car full of sorority girls tonight on my way back from the gym, but hey, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

What’s life without a challenge?