Tuesday 6 November 2018

Broken leg and Writer's Retreat on Ibiza


Portinatx Club Hotel






















After a busy summer sailing and working on Eidos, I hauled her out for the winter and decided to do some traveling in search of sun, sand, and sea. 
At the end of October, I flew to Ibiza for the annual, week-long, Ibiza Tantra Festival and with about 350 other people, did a lot of yoga, also chanted, meditated, danced suntanned and swam in the sea in the nude. I also attended seminars, ate a huge amount and slept like a log. It was an extremely busy, exciting week. I plan to write an article about it.
But on Sunday, the last day of the festival, I slipped on a wet path heading towards the beach and hurt my right ankle.
It hurt quite a bit, so two men carried me back to the lobby of the hotel where the festival had been taking place and placed me on one of the comfortable sofas to RICE: rest, ice, compression and elevate.
By then the ankle was swollen. One person brought me a bag of ice and another lunch. I even received a healing session from one of the "tantrikas." 
I had already made reservations at the nearby Ibiza Yoga retreat centre for a week of well-deserved rest after which my plan had been to continue following the sun.  Perhaps I would join the annual ARC sailors across the Atlantic, I had thought. But first to take care of the ankle.
Ibiza Yoga retreat








I settled in at the Ibiza Yoga, and Jenny, one of the guests there gave me more healing sessions and also found me a pair of crutches in the garage. So now I could hobble a bit easier. After a few days, however, the pain didn't stop and in fact, increased when I tried to put some weight on my leg. 
Finally, on Friday, Sarah, the owner of the retreat drove me to the hospital where an x-ray revealed a small, closed distal femur fracture. That's the bottom end of the thinner, outside bone of the leg. Dr. Abdul Karim, the attending emergency room physician told me I needed a cast and perhaps surgery.
"No way, it's just a tiny break," I said bravely. "Just give me a removable boot and I'll be on my way. Thank you."
"We don't have any of those, and if you leave the hospital without a cast then you will not be allowed to come back again. You must have a cast, or the break will not join together and you might never walk properly or without pain again."
"And what if I decide to go back to Greece right now?"
"Then, I can give you an open cast so you can fly but upon arrival in Greece, you must go directly from the airport to the hospital to get a closed cast.
And you must leave within a week," he stressed. 
And so, my bravura deflated, I let him put my leg in a cast up to the knee. Before I left the hospital, Dr. Karim also gave me a prescription for Bemiparin sodium, an anticoagulant to thin my blood that I would need to inject myself into the muscles of my stomach.
"NO, I am not doing that!" I insisted.
"Otherwise you might get a blood clot which might travel to your brain or lungs and give you a stroke." It seemed that he had decided that putting the fear of death or disability into me was the quickest way of getting me out of his consulting room. He also told me to come back in two weeks for another x-ray and a follow up with a traumatologist.
Silently though, I decided that he was overreacting and only had to follow the protocol of the hospital - this had nothing to do with me or my leg.

Upon return to the retreat, I did some research online (Good old Dr. Google) and found out that some of the side effects of the medication were delayed bone healing! osteoporosis! and hair loss!
Now what??? I weighed my options.
In early 2000, while in Mexico, I broke my left ankle on board a motor yacht I had been working on, after stepping six inches down into an open floor hatch. That time, I didn't need to take blood thinners and only had to wear a removable walking boot. But that was 18 years previously when I was considerably younger (49) and with perhaps stronger bones and healthier veins. 
Research showed me that for people over 60, the risk of deep vein thrombosis due to lack of motion (while in a cast) was significantly higher. But I have no other risk factors: I don't smoke, I am not overweight, I am fit (note a week of dancing). I sailed all summer. "I am not the average senior citizen," I ranted to my retreat companions. Perhaps the doctor was overreacting to stay on the safe side.
And so, my choices are:
  • Follow the doctor's orders to the letter. This could include surgery - partially due to drug-induced failure to heal the bone. And the surgery has still more chances of complications.
  • Follow the doctor's orders except stop taking the blood thinners and take the risk of getting a blood clot in my brain or lungs. How big a risk? No idea.
  • Do the above and fly to Greece for a second opinion. But where would I stay? In Nidri with my friend, Toula involves a flight of stairs. On Ithaka with another friend, Ester is not near the hospital, only a small clinic. Aktio, where Eidos is hauled out, involves climbing up a ladder and a taxi for groceries or doctor. Also, I'd be alone there.
  • Wait two weeks to see the traumatologist or go now to an orthopedist for a second opinion. Perhaps two weeks is not enough time to weaken my bones, lose my hair and slow down the healing. Then ask to have the cast cut off and buy a walking boot. Stop the drugs and massage the leg to stimulate blood flow. 
I now have personally experienced the drawbacks of a plaster cast: 
  • it is heavy, so exerts more weight on a broken leg when moving.
  • there is room inside, so it doesn't support the fracture all that well.
  • or there is not enough room inside and it doesn't allow for blood flow.
  • it does not allow for positioning the leg comfortably.
  • there is always a risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis! and if medicated with anticoagulants, the risk of nonhealing of bone. 
  • And of course, walking with crutches means that I am lifting and balancing my weight on one leg and two shoulders, so there is more strain on the joints and muscles that are not injured and risking further injury. 
Furthermore, while I wait for my next appointment I need to watch for complications such as pressure sores, numbness or tingling, cold, blue tinged skin, burning, stinging, and increased pain or swelling.
All this means that I will be staying put at least until Christmas and perhaps even longer. Might as well accept it and make the best of it.
I think I found myself a writers' retreat for the winter... Come and join me!




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