WolfWalker Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 Just 9 weeks ago I was out geocaching by myself in a local heavily wooded park. I found all the geocaches there was to find, and as I was making my way out of the woods I was walking down this small hill..........and slipped on my left foot. As it slipped, it turned towards the right and it rolled. I heard a loud snap and went down in the middle of the path. As I lay there on my back I kinda already knew that this was bad, but I still got up and walked the 2/10's of a mile back to my car, then drove (5 speed stick) to my friend's house. She then drove me to a local hospital. Once I got checked in at the er they took me through their "fast track" part. Although my blood pressure was on the high side, my friend and I kept our spirits high, joking around about my antics. They took me back to x-ray and it was determined that I had 3 spiral fractures on the distal end of my left fibula, with 2 bone fragments, one of which was near my ankle joint capsule. Amazingly enough, there just happened to be a well reknown orthopedic foot and ankle specialist there seeing a different patient. He heard them talking about this crazy x-ray (and the semi-crazy patient) so he went and looked at my x-rays, then came to introduce himself as "my doctor." The following week I underwent surgery where I gained 1 metal plate, 8 screws, and lost the 2 bone fragments. Long story short, I had my "final" appointment with the ortho surgeon this morning. In just 8 weeks following surgery my ankle is totally healed. The bones are healed, the screws are set in the bones, and I'm released to (as my doctor said) "resume life!" And in celebration my best friend and I went geocaching afterwards, and logged 5 finds/3 dnfs. All in all a great day! On a side note now: Shoes! Hopefully everyone is wearing good shoes while they're out geocaching, but I just want to share with you what my ortho surgeon told me about shoes. My injury was most likely caused by my shoes. While they look ok, they were not. They were somewhere between 5 to 7 years old. And, as I stood in them, they were worn out enough to shift my weight to the outside edges of my feet. That's what caused my ankle to give and roll. He explained that what we should do is long before our shoes get worn and "comfortable" we should buy new shoes on average every 6 months. The basic "structure" of the shoe starts to break down after that, and then they make us prone to injuries. I've since went to Rack Room where you buy one pair, get one pair half price........and he was quite pleased to see that I took his advice. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment
+G0ldNugget Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 Sorry about your injury but glad you're ok now. Thanks for the tip re. replacing old shoes. I need to do that ASAP. We're probably lucky that more cachers aren't injured considering all the hiking in remote areas, tree and rock climbing, searching within feet of cars whizzing by, suspicious muggles, ants, bees, spiders and snakes and the myriad of other potential hazards for the adventurous geocacher. Stay safe out there! Quote Link to comment
+cerberus1 Posted February 11, 2022 Share Posted February 11, 2022 22 minutes ago, G0ldNugget said: We're probably lucky that more cachers aren't injured considering all the hiking in remote areas, tree and rock climbing, searching within feet of cars whizzing by, suspicious muggles, ants, bees, spiders and snakes and the myriad of other potential hazards for the adventurous geocacher. Stay safe out there! Like this? I found a bunch in less than a minute in a search for "injured", but some odd reason they didn't load... 1 Quote Link to comment
+colleda Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 I need new shoes but I'm not sure now how to go about it as I have recently developed bursitis of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd right foot metatarsal bases. Very painful. I went to a local podiatrist who suggested I get fitted for shoe inserts at a cost of about USD500. Ouch! More pain. My feet hate shoes due to effects of past rheumatoid arthtitis. Even sandals and flip flops (we call them thongs here) become annoying. Quote Link to comment
+Mysterion604 Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 (edited) I feel for ya. I feel on a slope while coming back from a cache last year and broke my wrist. Injuries suck, and though I was wearing boots, they were work boots and not hikers, so I upgraded. Still, I am not sure the fall was 100% avoidable, since the issue was loose gravel rolling as I stepped. I see these trail runners running by on the steep terrain sometimes, and I wonder how they manage not to trip / slip and break their necks. Edited February 14, 2022 by mysterion604 Quote Link to comment
+baer2006 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 On 2/11/2022 at 6:41 PM, G0ldNugget said: We're probably lucky that more cachers aren't injured Well ... depends on who you're talking to, I guess . I had my share of mishaps - the most serious ones were: - An eye injury from a small twig. - A torn ligament in the left ankle; slipped on a steep incline and put me out-of-order for anything with T > 1.5 for two weeks - A cheekbone fracture, when slipping from a tree branch, and falling off the tree sideways from about 2 m height. That could have gone seriously worse, though, and I consider myself very lucky with the outcome. In fact, I could drive to a nearby hospital myself, and after a thorough check (x-ray etc.) I asked the doctor what I should do now. He just smiled and said: "Nothing special, except not falling off trees" - the cheekbone had a single fracture, but was not dislodged, so it would just heal by itself within a few weeks. With that diagnosis, I continued the caching tour as planned (ok, I skipped the remaining tree-climbing cache). Quote Link to comment
+Lostboy1966 Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 I was out scouting locations this past weekend, and even though the temps were the high 50s (14c), the snow had been compressed to glacial ice on the trails by skiers and hikers - had to walk along the edge of the trail for the whole trek. I'm amazed I didn't break my neck. Come on, Spring! Quote Link to comment
+Jayeffel Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 Hope my wife's ankle heals as good as yours, in a hospital or nursing home since Dec 5, we find out March 9 if she can begin the process of putting weight on it. I am going crazy with all the paperwork involved with applying for medicaid. Just got paperwork for part of her coverage from 12/5 to date of the letter 12/22/2021 $74,550.95!!! Luckily it say wee owe 0. No scam involved with medicare. Quote Link to comment
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