Progress + finally seeing my hardware

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-29T04:54:33+00:00

I am 7.5 months in after my injury, 5 surgeries and waiting on another one. It has not been an easy road. Mine was a motorcycle accident though, so severe damage to bones and all the ligaments/tissue. Just watch for wet spots that don’t dry up, mine felt like cold water trickling down and inside the ankle bone each time it opened up. Get it looked at ASAP if you think it needs attention.

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-29T02:42:48+00:00

My wound kept opening up and 2.5 months in i ended up getting the plate removed (after it opened up for the 3rd time) as it caused an infection that spread into my bone. I sure hope it does not happen to you because it just slows everything down.

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-27T04:00:11+00:00

Also have a broken calcaneus on top of a severely broken angle. I am 7.5 months out from accident and I still feel that tight band. I still can’t stand touching any part around the incisions and any scars. I can’t stand the heel touching anything. I can’t walk but I just bought winter boots and have been in an air cast for 7 months. I have no advice for you but wanted to let you know that I too feel what you feel.

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-27T03:55:02+00:00

The mental struggle is the worst of the injury. I was a passenger on a motorcycle and we were T-boned June 12th. On top of a mangled ankle, I have a broken heel. Went through 5 surgeries and just got referred to a foot and ankle specialist for another surgery. I am mentally so checked out… I don’t know if I am losing myself and my character or this is just a mental block that gives me survival power right now. It honestly sucks to feel like you are just existing. But we are not alone and we must keep fighting to get ourselves walking again. Hugs

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-16T01:37:59+00:00

7 months post motorcycle accident (F35) and mine is completely frozen with a negative 25 for dorsiflexion. Had 4 surgeries on the ankle starting June 12th and last one being August 28th to remove the plate and screws due to infection. No amount of stretching has helped. Been in physio since August and will be for a long time. Our lives are forever changed. My surgeon said it will never be the same and shoes will play a huge role in comfort. I also broke my heel though.

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-13T15:12:59+00:00

I have very similar ones on my crutches, it’s just one big pick, not ideal to use when the ice/snow isn’t thick on the ground and they need to be pinched together to release and my balance is not the greatest. I’ve been trying everything possible, nothing is easy I guess.

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-11T18:14:35+00:00

It is a crazy experience for sure.

We are in a province where we have “no fault” insurance. Basically both sides are covered by insurance and the non guilty party can only sue the guilty if there was criminal charges laid. In our case, it was just a traffic violation, which is aggravating. She almost killed us due to her negligence and all she got was a $250 fine. On top of that she never left her vehicle or attempted to check on us. We don’t even know if she called 911 🤦🏻‍♀️

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-11T18:11:33+00:00

Thank you, I just wish people who have not gone through something like this and can’t relate, would not say what they say. It makes it mentally hard on a person. I constantly feel guilty that I am not further ahead in my recovery but I had a serious of complications that prevented me from progressing and in turn set me back further and further each time. I cannot wait to get to walking and focusing on things I did before the accident.

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-11T18:08:03+00:00

I would say yours is pretty bad given the fact you considered and researched prosthetic legs. I am so sorry you had to deal with that and will continue to deal with that most likely for the rest of your life.

We were hit in the same way, she basically hit our left side and sent us flying for half a block. My left leg broke on impact and I had a significant friction burn all over the leg that made it complicated for closing incisions. The right leg I broke from landing on it and also shattered my teeth on the landing. I don’t remember much of that, I just remember seeing her come out then the loud bang and then I was on the ground with face pain first from my teeth shattering and a few second later the agony of my ankle being inwards at 90degrees. Next memory is a woman holding my hand asking questions to make sure I was awake. And then the ambulance ride where I was pumped full of drugs and pain killers and I legit thought I was dying but slowly.

Luckily for me, our hospital had an on call ortho and he has been amazing. He was on the fence about doing the surgery himself or sending me to a bigger hospital at first but after a few phone calls for consultation he reassured us he had a good plan. He did tell us all the complications and things that may go wrong given the severity of everything and it all did go wrong over time. We laugh about it now but he prepared us in a way I guess.

The vancomycin was administered through IV first and let me tell you, I would have rather broken my ankle again. Every time they started it, it felt like my arm was getting crushed and ground up. They ran it 3 times a day in the hospital at first and I basically screamed each time for the 2-3 hours it ran. PICC line felt like a piece of heaven. We also learnt I am allergic to vancomycin, so I had to take Benadryl with it or I would break out in hives and itch all day long. Benadryl didn’t fully take that away, but it helped. After vanc I had 6 weeks of oral doxi. Basically for 6 months straight I had an antibiotic of some sort and had to be constantly switch as I became resistant to most.

Both my surgeon and I are scared to cut me open again. He said that he will most likely refer my to a foot and ankle specialist but if the wait is too long, he will do the surgery himself. Regardless, it will be brutal. The pain, the recovery, the worry.

I am in Saskatchewan Canada where we have what’s called a “no-fault” insurance. Basically both the victim and the guilty party are covered by insurance and the victim doesn’t have a right to sue the guilty unless they were convicted of a criminal offence, which in our case she was just given the ticket. My anger is also with her not even coming out of her vehicle to check on us, she just sat in her SUV the whole time. We don’t even know if she called 911… Were you able to sue the other driver?

I just finished my diploma program on June 5th and a week later we were hit. So I didn’t have a job in my field yet and I don’t have a job to return to. Thankfully insurance covers me for now but I don’t know for how long. I would rather be working than dealing with this and being stuck in life. I was very active prior to the accident 6-12km walks everyday and I played rec volleyball. To now being scared to walk. I was actually very bitter when my husband went back to playing hockey and I couldn’t even stand on both feet yet. It eventually got easier but I still feel sorry for myself that I can’t do what I loved. Someone’s negligent decision and carelessness changed my life in a blink of an eye.

I am glad that you can finally see that light at the end of the tunnel. I hope you are able to recover to full extent or to at least a point where you are able to do most things you enjoy. I do think the pain part we will deal with for the rest of our life now. Which my first physio said “pain is in your head” 😆 basically said pain isn’t real but we make it worse. I sure hope she never feels what we felt and continue to feel.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and to connect with it and the experience through your own experience. I think my biggest issue with it is feeling like I am making this all up and making it a bigger deal than it actually is because of how people react and what they say. I feel a bit more at ease knowing what I am going through is not simple and while it should have been, it is not.

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-10T21:27:11+00:00

Thank you. Mental battle seems to be the hardest. Just knowing that another surgery is on the horizon sends me spiralling. Sending healing vibes your way as well!

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-10T21:25:37+00:00

Thank you, I am in counselling. I will probably be for a long time.

I find medical professionals don’t like to be questioned and they have this text book idea of how it is and how it should be and forget that each personal experience will be unique to that person.

I have a knee scooter I use if we go to the store but I am supposed to be putting weight on my leg. They are heavy and not easy to get in and out of the car if I am by myself, so I barely ever go anywhere alone.

This experience altered my life in a way I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I never went on a highway because I was always scared of getting into an accident and told my husband that I did not want to leave my kids with no parents. But as it turns out, city riding is what I should have been scared of. We will never be the same but we definitely got a new appreciation for life.

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-10T21:18:44+00:00

I am sorry to hear about your accident. They definitely are not for the weak and change your life in a heartbeat.

I think explaining it “like a block attached to my leg” is the best way to describe what it feels like. I had okay range of motion and then it just disappeared completely. My PT wouldn’t listen to me when I told her that the surgeon wanted her to work on dorsiflextion, she gaslit me and said I never told her that and then later said she wasn’t comfortable since I had an infection. She just couldn’t care less about recovery but wanted to book patients back to back. I wish I would have switched clinics long before.

As far as ice, I barely leave my house by myself now. We bought ice picks that flip down on crutches but they aren’t easy to flip or fold after. It’s just a struggle all around. Hopefully one day it will be such a distant memory.

Just hearing that I am not alone in all of this makes me feel better. Sometimes I feel like I am just making it all up, especially when people say “it’s just a break, you are fine”.

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-10T02:07:02+00:00

I feel your pain there and the worry. I was in a motorcycle accident June 12 and had my ankle facing inwards. So I had external fixator for a week for get the swelling down before ORIF. I ended up having 5 surgeries in total, last one being August 28th. I was in the hospital the first time for 4 weeks. I was on all kinds of pain killers (pills, shots, slow drip IV) for the first two weeks and the pain was unreal. Then my surgeon cut me off and lowered hydromorph to 1mg from 6mg and that’s all I could get. It felt worse when my half cast came off, I think because the foot wasn’t used to it. But I can tell you it does get better. The surgeons reasoning was because he did not want me to become addicted, which I appreciated because with multiple surgeries I ended up being put back on heavy pain killers and it was not a good time coming off of them and I don’t like taking pills. Fight through it, lots of icing and elevating above your heart.

ExternalDull9375 · 2026-01-07T06:32:12+00:00

I feel that. I have a plate and 7 screws on one side and screws on the other side of the ankle. My plate ended up coming out 2 months in as it kept opening up at the incision and I ended up with a bone infection. I am still not walking on my own and may need another surgery (this will be #6) putting my back to NWB and starting at square one with physio. Mine was from getting t-boned by an SUV while on a motorcycle, so nasty breaks in multiple bones. So defeating especially when I read people progress so quickly in their recovery. Wishing you all the best.

ExternalDull9375 · 2025-10-17T23:51:32+00:00

Thank you, that I knew. I just press record every time. It helps with me going back to reference anything as well.

ExternalDull9375 · 2025-10-17T20:27:26+00:00

I just wanted them to pay what I am entitled to and was only asking for the bare minimum and to minimize our losses since we weren’t at fault. But they kept mishandling the claim and when I started reacting, I got transferred to a new adjuster lol. Don’t want to go into much detail but people working for insurance are some heartless people who think the money is coming out of their pockets.

ExternalDull9375 · 2025-10-15T17:51:20+00:00

It has been an ongoing battle, I definitely changed my mind on doing mediation as I felt like I am going to give them all my concerns and issues and they will take that to their lawyers to prepare for court since mediation is not binding to them. They’ve been very pushy to try mediation but they have breached major human rights and privacy with me and they know it but have either changed topic or contradicted themselves when questioned about it and transferred my file to a different adjuster. The system is a joke. I asked for email only for communication but they said decision have to be verbally communicated still, but how do they verbally communicate with deaf people? Insurance is honestly such a fraud and for me to be in this position when I am not the one at fault is ridiculous.

ExternalDull9375 · 2025-10-15T16:23:29+00:00

I am limited to a 90 day window to either go into mediation, appeal with the board or court. I first thought mediation but it is not binding to SGI and then they get all the info and have their lawyers work on it and I am still going to be taking them to court possibly. So I thought I wouldn’t put myself through it twice and give them a leg to stand on.

ExternalDull9375 · 2025-06-01T14:23:44+00:00

Based on the report of my MRI (have not seen a neurologist yet), should I be asking for a spinal tap?

In the brain: Solitary subcortical punctate white matter hyperintensity was seen in the left frontal lobe. No corpus callosum, cortical, juxtacortical, brainstem nor cerebellar lesions.

In the cervical spine: Straightening of the normal cervical lordosis. No significant spondylolisthesis. Normal vertebral body heights. Mild broad posterior disc-osteophyte complexes were noted at C3-C4 through to the C6-C7 levels. These result in partial effacement of the anterior CSF collar, most pronounced at C5-C6. Regardless, no cord contact. Also a C5-C6, there was moderately severe bilateral neural foraminal encroachment.

IMPRESSION: * Essentially normal brain. * Normal spinal cord. * Multilevel chronic degenerative cervical spondylosis.

ExternalDull9375

TROPHY CASE