I've always liked doing physical activities - the more wild the better. Mountain biking, snowboarding, hiking, and climbing - the more tied to outdoors the better. This is especially fun living while living in our beautiful Alberta - the nature has so much to give.
But accidents happen. And mine led to a broken ankle, and a surgery that required screws and pins.
At the end of June 2022, I've just acquired a certificate for belaying which granted me a permission to go to any climbing gym in Calgary. My eyes were not on rope climbing, though.
I want to build strength and become a spiderman of bouldering. I have been watching International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) YouTube channel for months. Up to a point of me being addicted.
It didn't help that my fellow country-woman is the Michael Jordan of climbing. Google Janja Garnbret and be amazed. The G.O.A.T!
Before the solo session on boulders, I've completed a 4-week course on how to tackle different holds.
I felt I was ready to go solo.
Next session I brought my friends and tackle couple of beginner and intermediate boulders. Peace of cake.
Then I wanted to show of and jump to a top hold. Dyno style :D.
I was able to grab the hold with one hand but I swing to far to another way and lost the hold.
One half of a sommersault down I landed on my elbow and my ankle.
I heard the crack. I knew it wasn't good and my foot was pointing into unnatural direction.
That wasn't good.
Ambulance took me to the hospital. My foot was still in poor shape.
Medical staff tried to put the foot back into socket to see what type of damage was done. On the third time, with a help of a doctor they finally did it.
After that I got my prognosis - multiple fractures and complete dislocations – I was headed into surgery the next day.
The procedure went ok - but I was left with permanent hardware installed in my ankle.
The next thing would be a loooong recovery.
I've got the cast for 6 weeks and a pair of crutches so I could go out and about.
But I was in pain and the crutches were painfully slow to get around. And I was also thinking about my dog "Darryl" - a 2-year old husky-something rescue who is VERY active as well.
I've used the cructhes for first few days to get around my flat. I've asked my neighbor Kate and few friends to take Darryl out in the mornings and in the afternoon.
But I was also getting tired of not being outside much. I couldn't walk my dog, crutches meant that my distance was limited to a few blocks and since I bruised my elbow that wasn't fun either.
I got moody and bitter.
Then I heard about a knee scooter at the hospital check-up. It seemed as a better alternative than crutches and decided to order it. I went with a All-Terrain Knee Rover model with bigger wheels since it would allow me to use it on grass as well.
I didn't get the knee scooter on prescription although I could have asked for it, but I did find out that most my insurance would cover the cost.
That sounded great to me so I rented it out for 4 weeks.
It was a great decision. First few days I got used to the steering and the fact that I'm going to look funny on the streets but that was the least of my worries.
Knee scooter allowed me to go on longer walks (more like rolls) and spend more time outside. I knew I have enough energy to get back home even If I went further.
Then I discovered another trick. I could walk Darryl if I was very careful. I used the hands-off leash and tied his leash to my waist. I've tightened his collar a bit more than usual and we went to town.
It worked! We looked as the most unusual iditarod couple but we both enjoyed it.
After 4 weeks, I changed my cast for a plastic boot and extended my knee scooter rental for 2 weeks and then another 2 weeks.
Knee scooter was a great solution for my broken ankle and raise the quality of life during my recovery.
I was happy to return it back though.
The experience thought me to offer the same alternative to other daredevils who hit a speed bump.
P.S.: Climbing is still amazing and I hope it doesn't deter you to try it out. I was just unlucky.
P.P.S.: Yes, I still watch IFSC sessions on YouTube.