This isn't a 'complaining emo' post, it's purely to have, online, somewhere i can point people to instead of going over the entire story all over again. This is a factual account of my physical condition since May2008, and i'm not looking for sympathy online, i get plenty enough of that as it is.
That having been said, anyone who has left me comments in the past, they are all apreciated, and i'm not going to shoot down anyone who says anything here UNLESS they tell me not to whine or complain, becuase that's not what i'm doing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE INJURY
On the 15th of May 2008 i was a passenger in a car accident in which i broke my tibia and fibula and got 4 breaks in my pelvis. I was airlifted to colchester hosptital, where, not long after, i had an embolism from one of my breaks travel to my lungs, causing me to need to be intubated and have a machine doing literally all over my breathing for me for roughly 3 and a half weeks. Over that time my lungs were filling with fluid which needed to be drained, bled enough for me to need blood transfusions, and in the end, i was incredibly lucky to not have died.

I spent a further 4 weeks waiting for my pelvis to heal enough that i was allowed to stand on my good leg, but by this point i'd been lying in a hospital bed for nearly 2 months, muscles wasting away from lack of use, and my badly damaged lungs meant my fitness was abysmal and it was painful even to stand on the good leg. Almost a week later i managed to get just about safe enough on my crutches to move the distance to get from one room to another in my own home and was allowed home, after a total of exactly 8 weeks in hospital.


THE RECOVERY
Usually when people get a broken bone in their leg, they are able to get about on crutches immediatly, but due to my pelvis and the further complications with my lungs previously outlined, i was out of action for the first 2 months completly (being in a hospital bed), and for the next couple of months i barely did more than travel from one room to another in my home, needing to rest after each journey.

With the lungs, pelvis and leg all attempting to heal at the same time, as well as my muscles trying to get back to a condition where i could support myself on my good leg and crutches, i healed very slowly. There was so much going on that my body couldn't even maintain growing new hair, which had thinned considerably since the accident.

The number of injuries my body was repairing meant i couldn't get active and slowed my recovery massivly, meaning i ended up non-weight bearing on my left leg for almost 7 months, which is why i now have problems with the joints on that leg.


2 YEARS ON
Now after nearly 2 years, i still suffer with pain at the site of the leg breaks on almost a daily basis, as well as having constant joint problems in my left leg due to it being out of use for around 7 months, and occasional pain in my right hip due to my altered walking style(the limp, and relying on my right leg to do most of the work), and my right shoulder and hand from using a walking stick for much of the day. I get cramps fairly regularly in my right hand, and slightly less frequently in my left leg.

I also suffer from tiredness regardless of how active i have been during that particular day, often fall asleep in the afternoons, and am severely unfit I have itching and soreness on the back of my left calf, where i had very bad cast sores from when my leg was broken, and have bad scarring all the way down the back of the bottom half of that leg.

After a period of trying to exert myself further than i usually am able to do comfortably , such as a family trip out for example, i get even more tired than usual, and end up having very sore leg muscles for sometimes days afterwards. This kind of thing doesn't happen very often though, since i often prefer to miss out on these times out with the family rather than cause myself pain and discomfort for several days. My legs, both muscles and joints, get very stiff and painful after these kinds of activities also, making it difficult and painful to use stairs or get in and out of the car. My legs stiffen up, though to a lesser degree, after any period much longer than 30 minutes sitting down.

I occasionally have my left knee 'give out' which causes me to stumble, and as a result, even on one of my better days, i'm not comfortable leaving the house without my walking stick due to a fear of falling over. Though i am able to get up of the ground if this were to happen, it is without the use of my left leg and is difficult to do so.

I also still have some slight swelling on my left lower leg, which makes the entire area faily tender to touch, so if something knocks off of it, it is painful also.



Not suprisingly, all of this leaves me feeling depressed quite alot of the time, meaning i currently live my life in an almost permenant state of physical and mental discomfort.