Just broke my foot over the weekend and have been told I have to wear my plaster cast for up to 6-8 weeks (its up to my knee). The A&E nurse has given me crutches to use as I can’t put any weight on the damaged foot, so I have to hop everywhere. The problem is I have lymphoedema in my left arm and it has become very achy. Should I ask for a wheelchair or does anyone know if walking frames may be better than crutches. I’m 53 but feel 83 and very frustrated! x
Janet, just bumping this up in case anyone does know! Nicola
Hi Janet
What a pain! Have you been told not to weight bear for the entire 6 - 8 weeks? Sometimes they will change the cast after a few weeks to one with a rubber stopper on the bottom that you can walk on - this was the case with my daughter, she could put the foot down on the ground with the crutches but not her full weight, but she then managed with just one crutch - but she had screws inserted so maybe that allows you to weight bear earlier. We investigated borrowing a wheel chair from a local charity - it was a long time ago but I think it was the Red Cross, but didn’t need it in the end. If your lyphoedema arm is the other side to your bad foot, you might be able to manage with one crutch when you get the hang of it.
Walking frames can be ok - but they take up a lot of space and can be very irritating to use if your house isn’t laid out in a convenient way, particularly in kitchens - just remembering my grandmother’s and how it used to drive us all mad.
Hope you manage to sort something out. finty x
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Just got my appointment through for the Fracture Clinic this Friday so I’m going to ask if I can have a wheelchair for going out and for use in my home (I have a bungalow with lots of space to get about) as my arm is feeling worse every time I use the crutches. I also suffer from cervical spondylosis, so have very poor upper body strength anyhow. I spoke to my ld nurse, she just told me to ring British red cross to see if they had any for hire. I rang them and they have none at the moment.Thanks for getting back to me, fingers crossed the fracture clinic will sort me out on friday.