Life with a Broken Leg: A Post-Motorcycle Accident Assessment


Okay, so it has been nine weeks since I broke my tibia and fibula when I went down on my motorcycle, and my foot got twisted up as the bike spun out on a poorly paved lot where I was working. How am I doing?
First, I'll talk about how I'm doing physically. If you have watched the above video, then you know I'm healing well -- in fact, better than I had anticipated or was led to believe. The orthopaedist originally told me that I would not be able to bear weight on my right leg until February first, but when I went to see him at the end of December, he shocked me by saying I was cleared to bear weight and even transition out of the crutches and the boot I've been forced to use since November. When I got home from the doctor's office later that evening, I was so excited to be able to bear weight that I dispensed with my crutches altogether and started walking around my kitchen, utterly amazed that I could in fact "walk" again, albeit, limpingly.
Then reality set in.
Soon after I began to bear weight, the pain I had thought was more or less behind me came back with a renewed zeal. Almost immediately, I had to accept the fact that physical therapy was not going to be so easy, and that real walking was only going to return through some very painful rehabilitation. My leg has returned to swelling, and the itchiness I had been plagued with before was also back, as was the reliance on pain meds I had tried to wean myself off of.
Still, I have not used the crutches very much in an effort to force myself to use my right leg as much as possible. In the beginning, I was walking with my right foot pointed askew to the right because my foot wouldn't bend enough to allow me to walk normally. I began walking peg-leg style, my own real right leg acting like the peg. I started at PT and have been happy to say it is not anywhere near as painful as I had feared -- most likely because all my pain I cause for myself by walking without crutches most of the time.
Since the end of December, I have noticed marked improvement in my range of motion and my increasing ability to walk almost normally, my foot bending ever further in the natural way it has to in order to walk. The only thing that has not changed is the pain, which is ever-present when I walk, and which is still rather unpleasant even when I'm lying on the sofa with my leg resting up on a big stack of pillows.
I take vicodin twice to three times a day, and sometimes the pain is so bad, I resort to my percocet left-overs, though begrudgingly.
As for my emotional state, I'm feeling a lot better now that I can get around on my own without a wheelchair. Being almost entirely off percocet has helped too. That stuff does a number on you! I'm back from Winter break where I teach, and I'm happy to be busy, even if it adds to my pain. At least I'm using my leg.
I got on my bike recently to see if I could hold it upright. I knew I was taking a risk, but I felt I was ready for this experiment. It worked perfectly! The actual amount of weight my legs carry is not much at all. The balance of the bike makes holding it upright at a stop very easy. I even filmed this little moment of epiphany (see Youtube). But I haven't been brave or foolish enough to actually try to ride my bike because I'm afraid I might do irreparable damage to my leg if I need to put more of the bike's weight on it or if I somehow go down again. Plus, my wife is adamantly opposed to my returning to the bike because I could be even more seriously injured or even killed. I told her I'd get long-term disability insurance, but this has done little to placate her. I don't think she understands how much I love riding and how important a part of my life it has become.
I fully intend to ride again if for no other reason to face my fears and overcome them.I may yet end up selling my bike, but for now I only want to ride just to prove to myself that I can do it. I'm reading up on others' experiences with broken legs (MyBrokenLeg.com), and I've also found web sites dealing with how to overcome a motorcycle crash/injury and get back on the saddle. Thse have been very helpful.
So that is where I stand as of now. I'm in pain, I'm out of shape, I'm hobbled, but walking, and I am eager to get back to normal and start riding again.

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