About a month ago I broke my ankle playing ultimate. I’ve been hopping around on crutches, trying to manage everything without the added benefit of stability and balance. It has been an interesting experience, trying to rebuild the daily necessities of life around my new handicap. Everything from simply sitting down to dressing, showering, cooking… and then the larger parts of life, like interacting with people and getting to class.

I now have an enormous amount of sympathy and understanding for other people with disabilities. It’s actually a great bonding experience, to hop down the street and exchange collegial nods with people on crutches, in casts, or just limping. Even people without obvious issues like to tell me how they’ve broken their pelvic bone, or mushed a toe when they were six. A surprisingly large number of you people have been injured.

Let me not mislead you: despite all the insight you may gain, and the wide range of temporary friendships you may make, breaking your ankle is a not a good idea. First of all, it’s kind of painful. In the first few weeks this was mostly due to the swelling, the pushing of the unnaturally large foot against the cast. I had to change casts thrice as the swelling went down. Second, your armpit is not used to very much activity. So using crutches can be a bit of a pain in the armpit. It’s true you are not meant to put much weight on that area, instead pushing up with your hands and forearms, but its hard to avoid not using the armpital area. Third, people will call you names. Like gimp, or gimpy, or the gimpster. Name calling is never good. The final thing that does not recommend a grave injury is the fact that your muscles waste away and long term recovery is difficult – this is what I am most concerned about, especially after reading the only medical article I could find on the topic.

All this ended Monday, when my orthopaedic surgeon buzzsawed off the cast and set me free. I’ve been so absorbed in schoolwork that my one-leggedness had faded into the background, becoming a minor annoyance during parties or class when I have to prop it up to relieve the swelling. The greatest, silveriest lining of all was the extra time I got to sit on my butt and read. But even that is something I won’t miss terribly. Begone, fiberglass enslaver of my ankle! I feel like I’ve been carrying a piece of me to term, and am about to give birth.

The next step, and in some ways the most challenging, will be rehabbing myself back to normal.  A few more weeks remain before I can walk close to normal.