Southern Yacht

My little take on plus size fashion, life, travel and smurfs

Wednesday 13 May 2015

Ankles and absences and being an overweight patient

Hello there,

It's a been a while since I updated my little blog. Some of that was due to me being in Belgium (there's a post on that to follow soon) but I've been quiet mainly due to me having an op on my ankle and the recovery after that.

Some of you will know that I've had an ongoing problem with my right ankle. I'm a clumsy so & so and in 2013, I had a couple of major falls and my ankle has never been the same since.



Now I hate (with a passion) going to the doctor. I braced myself for a lecture on how my problems with my ankle were due to my weight etc etc. But surprisingly - I didn't get that at all. I suspect listening to other people's surgery stories that I was very lucky. But it's so sad that people (myself included) put off going to the doctors for so long because of the fear of being 'told off' for their weight.

I worked myself up into a real state over the pre-assessment, worried that they'd raise their hands in horror and say you can't possibly have a general anaesthetic, you weigh too much. But nothing - my blood pressure even behaved itself and didn't shoot straight off the scale which it has a tendency to do whenever I see a doctor or nurse. So there I was, all booked in for a right ankle arthroscopy. No getting out of it now!


 The arrow amused me no end, I know they had to mark the correct leg, but I so wanted to know what would happen if the arrow faced upwards.....


A very snazzy blue boot on what felt like the biggest foot in the world.



The crutch pose! Surprisingly easier to walk on than I thought. I had visions of face planting the floor, but I got quite speedy on these.

I'm now off the crutches and just starting to drive again. Still can't walk too far, but that will improve in time. I would say my days of high heels are over, but to be honest, I could never manage them anyway.

I do wish though that I hadn't left it so long to get sorted. My fear of doctors and their attitude towards plus size patients had warned me off. I suspect my experience through this surgery is in the minority which is sad. Not once (so far) has anyone suggested that weight or fitness was to blame for my ankle problems. You could say I was worrying unnecessarily but having experienced negativity in the past, it had really turned me against the medical profession. I will be braver though in the future, and reading about other people's experiences, positive and otherwise has given me the confidence and knowledge to approach the next encounter without panicking.

I hope that reading about this helps, if anybody wants any more info or details, just drop me a line.

Thanks for reading

Cathy
xx






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2 comments

  1. Wishing you a speedy recovery, Cathy! I'm so glad you weren't fat shamed at all. xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Leah, I think I was very lucky and I think, sadly, in the minority. It's so sad that people are scared of the medical profession because of this. xx

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