One week, one day to go!

I realized today that if all goes well I can start training again next week!, I’m so excited – it’s been so hard to take a break from training for the last few weeks.

Last week I had to travel to Alice Springs for a workshop. I spoke with a friend a few days earlier who suggested I go back to hospital to get the cast adjusted so I could travel. To be honest the cast was so tight my foot and toes would swell up after about 20 minutes of having it hanging down and the thought of a 2 hour flight plus cabin pressure made me worry. At the hospital the plaster technician split the cast down both sides and crepe bandaged it closed.

At the airport on Tuesday the check in crew said it was good that I had it done as they might not have let me fly, especially if it was a newer fracture. They were going to insist on making me use a wheelchair and even pulled one out for me. But I insisted on using my crutches. I had an assistant stand by me when I used the stairs to get down to the tarmac and then up to the plane. I even had a buggy ride to get to the plane. The crew, included the pilot who was watching, commented that they were impressed at my stair climbing technique – hopefully they can suggest this to their other passengers who need to use crutches. Unfortunately my request when making the booking to get a front row seat was not considered when it came to checking in. Apparently they are reserved for their ‘frequent flyers’ so I was put somewhere in the middle. The flight crew found me a spare seat though so I was able to put my foot up in the end. They were so helpful offering me pillows, blankets, drinks etc. As I was cruising back to Darwin Airport in the buggy one of the passengers we passed commented maybe he should ‘get himself one of those (my cast)’ so that he could get the special treatment too!

The show casualty

Well it's pretty obvious what's happened here!

The shows were excellent and the feedback was overwhelming. I loved performing in the Entertainment Centre, it was such a great experience to do things professionally. The three shows happened pretty much flawlessly (I'll get to my injury) and everyone finished feeling like all the hard work paid off - plus some! We had one night of rehearsal in the venue and I had my acts plus supervision of the trapeze girls to worry about.

On rehearsal night the aerial acts were left out as we ran out of time. I was pretty peeved and so were the trapeze girls - seven hours of waiting around for nothing! So on opening night we had an opportunity for a run through of our act - it had to be run through regardless as the technical side of the act (stage light & sound) had to be organised. It happened about an hour before the first show went on and we were super rushed through. So much so that the ground mats for a tumbling act was not set up correctly - during the show I have a moment when I have to run across them. But my foot slipped through either a crack or just off a double stacked mat (I can't remember exactly) and it twisted and I got up on it. I keeled over in pain but stood up to try to finish the act - no good, something wasn't right! My foot blew up immediately, we strapped and iced it straight away as I thought it was a blown tendon. I couldn't believe my bad luck as I only had an hour to deal with it before the shows started!

But I did all the shows, limping backstage and full weight bearing during my acts as I didn't want the audience to see I was injured. People who noticed the strapping thought I had it on there for support. After the two days of shows I presented to the hospital, was xrayed and told it was a fractured base of 5th metatarsal (long bone of the foot near the ankle). Everyone was surprised I had performed on it - so was I, it never even occured to me that it could be broken! Thankfully it was a nice clean break and hadn't displaced.

Treatment is a cast on for 6 weeks, non-weight bearing and elevated as much as possible. I'm halfway through, 3 weeks and one day to go! The hardest things for me is not being able to train and relying on everyone to give me a lift to get around. I'm getting the hang of these crutches and have been able to cut my showering/dressing time from 60 minutes to half and hour. I desperately wanted it off within a day of having it on but after 3 weeks I've been talked into realising it's best I keep it on!