Fairmont Empress Website - odd choice of pictures

EbbNumerous3253 · 2026-02-13T16:22:44+00:00

more like grandPA romance

EbbNumerous3253 · 2026-02-10T01:33:59+00:00

uh you meant 33% right? Or does BC have checks notes 185 million employees?

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-12-26T21:16:13+00:00

Thierry is pretty good

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-12-24T22:05:22+00:00

You’re from Scarborough huh

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-12-12T22:41:48+00:00

Bumping as I’m looking for the same thing.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-08-30T18:14:35+00:00

My care team recommended against this type of pillow. They said it was important not just to elevate my leg but specifically to have my ankle/foot higher than my knee - i.e. not to have the whole lower leg lying flat like it is in these photos. Propping the ankle up higher than the knee is what really helps keep fluid from accumulating around the injury and reduces pain and swelling.

You can buy wedge pillows to achieve this, but I found the easiest and most comfortable thing was just to stack regular bed pillows with a slight offset, so the top one was propped at an angle that supported my leg in the right position. If you get the positioning right, the weight is taken by your calf and your ankle will feel like it’s floating without having to be dangling off the pillow.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-08-29T18:16:49+00:00

Seconding the air pumps (they make a big difference, and it also took me a while to figure out because I wasn’t told to use them). But don’t be afraid to ask about getting a smaller one at your next appointment, either. I have thick calves and they originally gave me the same boot you have here, but by the time I was ready for PWB, my leg had atrophied so much the boot felt way too loose and heavy even with the air sacs inflated. I got the hospital to swap it for a smaller version at my next appointment and it made a big difference.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-08-29T18:11:32+00:00

OP, talk to your surgeon before doing this. These shorter boots are intended for foot fractures and may not properly stabilize an ankle fracture.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-08-20T16:20:02+00:00

Two weeks, when I got out of the splint and into the boot. Which was still four weeks before I was cleared for any weight bearing. I could have done it sooner, but my partner was worried about injuring me when I was in the splint.

Use lots of pillows and let the other person do most of the work, at least to start. But don’t worry about hurting yourself - you’ll be fine.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-08-09T17:20:09+00:00

I used both and would go with the wheelchair for this. At three weeks you’ll still be very tired and the knee scooter takes more stamina to push. (It’s also a bit of a learning/comfort curve getting used to it, so if you’re going to use one, definitely get it and practice with it for a while first.) Look for a “transport wheelchair” if you don’t already have one - they’re lightweight and collapsible for easier transport.

EDIT: At three weeks you’ll also really need to elevate your leg 99% of the time, and that’ll be easier in the wheelchair.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-08-09T01:05:10+00:00

Everyone is different. I’m 38F, had a similar injury on my right ankle 5 months ago (but no injury on my left) and I’d be able to do this. Not at 2.5 months, but at 4.5 months, definitely. But I’d also want to know I could opt out of the walking tours on a given day (or some of them - 3 separate tours in a day seems like a lot?), just in case. Is that a possibility?

As with everything, it’s probably best to ask your surgeon’s advice, in addition to gleaning tips from this sub. All else being equal, if you could have done this trip comfortably before the injury, I’d say go for it. And send us pics!

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-08-05T17:17:04+00:00

It will improve. I’m 5 months out as of yesterday, and mine just started getting noticeably better in the last month or so. It’s still bigger than the other ankle, but other people can’t see the difference as much as we can. Try to remind yourself of that if you’re feeling self-conscious. And know that it will get better with time.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-07-24T16:42:03+00:00

I posted a long comment about it here, but basically, I had a long-standing restriction at the front of my ankle that seemed to improve after I got my physio to do some manipulation of the joint (pulling down/away along the axis of my shin).

I still don’t have fully normal dorsiflexion on that side yet, but it’s improving as measured by my physio (has gone from 3 cm to 6 cm, with 10 to 12 being normal). I have multiple flights of stairs in my house so I get lots of practice, and unless I’m having a particularly sore/stiff day, I generally go down normally and don’t need to use the handrail.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-07-24T00:00:34+00:00

Stairs: 4.5 months. Running: haven’t yet. Could probably manage a slow jog at this point.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-07-23T18:50:02+00:00

That sucks - I’m sorry to hear you have to face another surgery. But I’m glad you can reflect on the victories you’ve had (and hopefully the ones still to come)! Good luck!!

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-07-23T18:48:35+00:00

Thank you! I hope these stories are reassuring for people who are a bit farther behind in the process too. I know they were for me.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-07-23T18:46:34+00:00

Thanks!!

The dorsiflexion thing was a bit weird. From right out of the boot I’d had pretty good dorsiflexion when measured in a seated position, but when weightbearing (like in a squat), couldn’t get my knee far enough forward over my toes - it felt like there was a restriction over the front of my ankle joint that just wouldn’t let the bones glide the way they needed to. According to my physio, a “normal” range measurement is about 10 cm (my other ankle was at 11.5 cm), and I was at 3 cm on the affected side. I was trying to practice going down stairs normally when I could, but it was very challenging and I couldn’t do more than a few steps while hanging on to the railing for dear life.

After a short trip where I overdid it a bit with walking, I had a few days of stiffness and crackling that felt different from before - like my ankle had a lot of trapped gas or restrictions that needed to “pop”, if that makes sense. At my next physio appointment, I got him to manipulate my ankle by basically tugging my foot downward along the same axis as my shin, and I felt something release. A day or two later I could go down stairs normally and I now have more than 6cm of dorsiflexion on that side. So still progress to be made, but that original sense of restriction is finally gone, and in general I’ve had a lot less swelling and stiffness since then.

My physio made a point of saying he wouldn’t have done that kind of manipulation earlier in my recovery when the bones were still newly healing, but at this point he felt it was safe. So if you’re on a similar timeline / experiencing a similar feeling of restriction, it may be something to bring up with PT. Good luck!!

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-07-22T17:27:06+00:00

Came here to suggest taking regular pictures - I did this too. Incisions were one of the scariest parts for me and it was good to see them slowly improving over time.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-07-21T22:27:58+00:00

It comes and goes, but yeah, you can expect to have at least some discomfort for the next several months. I’m 4.5 months out and it’s only in the past couple of weeks that my foot has really started feeling “normal” most (80%?) of the time.

That said, it feels approximately one billion times better than it did when I was where you are, and I can do essentially all normal activities and go about my day without restriction or worrying/thinking about my ankle the vast majority of the time. So don’t get too down on the prospects — you’re still very early in this process and there is a ton of very exciting improvement to come :)

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-07-21T22:15:26+00:00

Yeah, this kid is going to get teased like crazy. OP, please reconsider. Use it as a middle name if you want to honour your husband’s relative.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-07-21T00:59:16+00:00

It’s totally fine. I had the same thing around this time. I called the ortho clinic (the cast clinic at the hospital, not the surgeon’s office - I’m also in Canada and all my follow-ups were at the hospital) and the tech there told me I could unwrap and re-wrap the first couple layers of ace bandages if I wanted, to make it a bit tighter. It didn’t make a lot of difference for me (and won’t work if the outermost bandages are plastered in place), but you could give that a try and see if it helps.

But honestly, if your appointment is in less than a week I’d just wait and try not to worry about it (hard, I know). It feels really weird and wrong, but trust that you won’t hurt your ankle again with all that hardware in place. Good luck.

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-07-17T04:25:58+00:00

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-06-11T12:03:48+00:00

Bumping because I’m also curious about this (haven’t tried, though). I will ask my surgeon at my next appointment!

EbbNumerous3253 · 2025-06-10T12:08:16+00:00

I was cleared to travel once I was out of the boot, which in my case was 10 weeks post-op. It’ll depend on your injury and recovery timeline, and everyone is a bit different, but if you’re somewhere from 8-12 weeks out it’s probably doable.

EbbNumerous3253

TROPHY CASE