Until now, I've happily spent much of my free time and energy arranging my apartment to please me visually and accommodate an active lifestyle of working at home and entertaining friends. But I now have a new and entirely different perspective on my home: that of a person convalescing after suffering a broken leg.
On the Saturday before Christmas, nearly a foot of snow fell on Seattle. I spent the entire, wonderful day reading by the fire with my honey while the snow piled up around my house, weighing the bamboo down and clearing the view from our windows where we could see the sledding and the snowball fights.
That night we decided to visit a friend who lives half a mile away. When we left a little later, we expected an uneventful, mostly downhill trek ending in our warm bed, but about a block from our friend's house, I slid and fell. Not a spectacular fall; more of a crumple-and-crouch that should have ended with me sitting in the snow laughing. Instead, I broke off the end of my tibia.
After a perilous ambulance ride (at this point, I-5 was empty and not plowed, salted or sanded, with deep snowdrifts crossing it) to and treatment at the ER, I woke a friend at 4am in the morning to pick us (my husband and I) up and take us to my mom's house, which is much closer to the ER with fewer hills. And there I've been for the most part, ever since.
The benefit of staying at my mom's house is, first and foremost, my mom is here. She prepares and brings my meals, brings my belongings with me from room to room when I need them, watches me climb and descend the stairs, and keeps me company. But I will have to return to my little apartment eventually, and I stayed there one night last week to see what I will need to make my space livable with far less support.
Here's what I've come up with so far:
Furniture arrangement. It was kind of sad to me to have to think about changing the way the furniture is arranged, since I worked so hard on it during the Fall Cure. But the truth of the matter is that I need wide walkways to the essential spots — the couch, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom — even if this means "bowling alley effect," pushing furniture against the walls, and losing some functional areas. My hard-won desk and dining areas are two such casualties. Also, my open living room arrangement used to see the lounge chairs at an angle to the couch; I changed this to make the chairs square to it, since a grid is much easier to navigate with crutches. A coffee table that's sturdy enough to elevate my leg on is essential.
Throw rugs. Light weight throw rugs, even with non-skid liners underneath them, present a tripping hazard with crutches. I asked my husband to remove the one we had by the front door. Even the bath mat has to go, since I'd have to walk over it to get to the bathroom. We left the big rug in the living room since it's heavy and held down by heavy furniture, so it won't move around.
Everyday items. When I broke my leg, I lost the use of not just one limb, but three, in a way, since walking with crutches takes the use of my arms as well. That makes carrying anything a matter of careful planning and accessories, like a backpack or over the shoulder bag. I put everyday items where I actually use them, instead of where they've been cleverly or aesthetically stored.
Stairs. My mom's house has stairs up to the bedrooms, and since I've broken my leg, I've fallen down them twice. It's a tricky thing to learn how to maneuver crutches on stairs, especially going down, and it's never as safe as with two healthy legs. My apartment is a single story, but getting up to it involves a very slippery wooden staircase. If I need to leave my house for any reason, I'll have to call someone to help me.
Pets. Our cat is now in my husband's sole care, and if I lived by myself I would have arranged for someone to take care of the pets, just as if I was on vacation and not home at all.
Bathing. Slippery surfaces + one nonfunctional leg that can't get wet = a challenge. There are a lot of resources on the web (like this one) for stools, chairs and railings that make bathing less of a hazard, but so far I've made do with a lightweight chair that I drag next to the bathtub to rest my leg on while I take a bath, and to ease the transition from laying, to sitting, to standing.
Image: net_efekt
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I have a suggestion about the stairs. After my daughter's knee surgery, the recovery room nurse told her that the easiest way to navigate a long flight of stairs is on your rear, using your arms to raise or lower yourself to the next step.
view mrs yow's profile
This is a good reason to start thinking about universal design.
view ange_lune's profile
Aw, sorry to hear about the leg! Thanks for the little reference of things to think about if something like this ever happens to me or someone I live with.
view girlonthem00n's profile
Ditto Mrs. Yow. That is definitely the safest way to get up or down stairs, especially if they're steep and narrow.
Pride goeth before a fall. Literally.
Also, watch out for dusty surfaces when you are using crutches. Your crutches can go shooting out from under you in the most unexpected manner. Water on linoleum has the same effect - grocery stores or entryways during rain or snow are high risk.
Get a back pack for carrying things around. Or a house-elf.
Good luck and heal fast!
view Aldyth's profile
Yeah, I agree. When I was on crutches I found the easiest and safest way is to just go down on your butt
view Laura's profile
I hope you get better soon Danielle!
view lizzapearl's profile
Aw, sorry to hear about your accident, Danielle! May you heal well while catching up with your favorite authors, reposing on a favorite divan, and sampling a plate of your favorite chocolates or cheese puffs or spiced nuts.
view wig3000's profile
When I had my food operation there were two things that made my life easier: my Ikea stool (for in front of the bathroom sink, and beside the tub) And my desk chair with its casters and adjustable height (is stayed in the kitchen with me so I never had to stand up in there). The one thing I wish I had invested in was a small trolley with casters, because moving little things (like the remote control or the phone) from one end of the room to the other became very hard, I guess a tool belt would also come in handy!
view Hollie's profile
My fiance broke her leg seven months ago and, although I loved her dearly, I had to put her down. Poor thing. ;)
I'll invite her to comment, maybe she has some insights. She was nearly hobbled by an errant piece of paper at the post office. Slippery.
view The Lab's profile
* oops! Foot!
view Hollie's profile
In case nobody has already mentioned this, be SURE you put your weight on your hands not on your armpits, while using crutches. You can seriously hurt your nerves otherwise, and make your life even worse!
Heal fast! (And remember your "universal design" discoveries -- they are not bad for incorporation in the homes of the undamaged, too!)
view SherryBinNH's profile
danielle, i've been there... in a third floor walk up.
my suggestion: a fishing vest. call ll bean. it in you can store juice boxes, fruit, other snacks, and bring things from room to room.
view love,alyssa's profile
Thanks everyone for the well-wishes! Every little bit of encouragement helps, and I really appreciate it.
love,alyssa -- that is such a great idea! I'm checking the LL Bean website now for a fishing vest. I'm sure it'll come in handy after my leg heals as well (for photography and travel, I'm thinking?).
Also, step trash cans are a great invention for people with crutches!
view Dani's profile
I spent a period of time on crutches after breaking my ankle (which I managed to do by falling off a sidewalk), so here's a few things I picked up:
-Stairs, far easier to navigate on your behind.
-Rolling chairs are your friend.
-Coffee tables, and other things easily knocked into, are best moved out of the way until recovery is done.
-While you're stuck at home, find a few seasons of television you've been meaning to catch up on.
-Play video games. Even if you've never really been into them, find one with a fun story and waste some time on that.
-Invest in some nice, oatmeal-based skin cream, because your skin will be kinda itchy and gross after the cast comes off. I recommend Lush's Dream Cream. My skin was so dry it was flaking before I started using this stuff.
I hope you heal quickly! Broken legs are not fun.
view SputnikSpak's profile
My sympathy! And when elderly people visit, these are good ideas to make the house more comfortable for them.
(I was bit sorry that you didn't write "We broke Our leg." Sometimes the editorial-we adds a spot of humor to a weekday morning.)
view m_j_s's profile
i'm so sorry to hear you're injured! but it was really lovely to read this post; one of my new year's intentions was to try and refocus on useful, functional, practical and lovely design.
i love apartment therapy (especially the books!), but sometimes i feel myself getting frantic and frustrated that i can't purchase the "affordable must-have" thousand dollar sofa or whatever. so it was wonderful to read about how design is something that needs to work harder for you in your space. best of luck healing and and a speedy recovery!
view curvatura's profile