First clinical experience

Last Friday I had a birthday dinner of an old friend. We used to play field hockey together for several years. Our parents where friends so we sort of grew up together.

We had of lot of fun and even went partying down town in Arnhem, first time in a very long time for me, it was great. A memorable evening ;-)

Today I had my first clinical experience. A morning in the pediatric outpatient clinic.

So I played doctor…. Or actually I watched and learned a lot from the pro.

pretty serious ;-)

It was great to see what it will be like when I’m a real doctor.

I saw 5 very different patients, from a 10 week old premature baby, so cute! to a 12 year old. Some kids had serious problems and others were pretty much healthy.

A very positive thing was that the pediatrician I shadowed didn’t even notice my limp! A big compliment, I have been working hard on a more regular gait. I know I’m improving but the best thing is when strangers don’t notice.

I got cleared for skiing 2 weeks ago and I still haven’t skied… But if everything goes according to plan I will start next week! So excited.

The ankle is doing fine all though there still are some minor problems.

Swelling and joint stiffness, my ankle is still swollen almost all the time, doesn’t matter what I do. My ankle isn’t too happy with long walks, it gets irritated, but doesn’t hurt badly.

According to the doctor this is pretty normal and can bother me for a year. Oh the joys of an articular fracture.

So it doesn’t have to keep me from training, luckily. Because I’m still improving I made a new rehab video.

Progress

Last Tuesday I got cleared for skiing! (ahead of schedule!) My fixed up ankle can sustain almost everything now.

So you would think that I have skied a lot all ready, unfortunately that isn’t true, due to epic equipment failure I still can’t ski.

The company that’s making my ski-orthosis keeps me waiting and I’m getting kind of desperate, the races I want to make my debut in are getting closer.

So let’s keep our fingers crossed that I’m first in line when Frank gets back, in that case my orthosis will hopefully be ready in time.

If all goes well with the orthosis I have a training camp in March, I’m glad that there still is an opportunity for a training camp since I missed all pre season training.

The camp is with the best 5 members of the talent group and we go to La Molina, Spain.

My ankle rehab is still going very well, I make a lot of progress. The only problem is that my ankle still gets swollen pretty quick, I have to ice it every day.

The ankle doesn’t get irritated with the exercises I do, not even with the jumps but when I have to walk a lot, it gets pretty mad with me, strange.

All I can do now is wait till my ski-orthosis is ready (and keep calling every now and then, they have to remember I exist). In the mean time I’m training in the gym, I know for sure I will come back a lot stronger. My physio has done some amazing work with me, my walking and balance improved a lot! Didn’t know it was possible. We keep on working together so who knows how far I will come. Today is a rest day, I’m watching the men slalom in Wengen now, maybe I can see something of the world champs para-skiing in Sestriere, downhill today, and return to my books somewhere today.

Pharmacology test

I had a pharmacology test today.

.... I might just go for the last part of this video

Equipment

My rehab is going very well, so we are thinking and talking about my return to snow! Still planned for the end of this month.

Skiing is an equipment sport but when you are skiing the way I am it’s even more. Besides the regular equipment I need a good orthosis and that’s probably the most complicated item to obtain. I’m probably the only one skiing (competitively) with an orthosis like this so it had to be invented for me. Luckily there is an orthopedic technician, Frank Jol, who can invent stuff like this.

I started skiing with an orthosis without knee function, since I have no knee function it was ok and worked. Frank invented a new orthosis which will simulate knee function. So that’s great! The only downside is that Frank is this good that everybody who needs prosthetics or orthosis for sports wants one from Frank Jol. So you have to wait a while…. I had my first talk and measurements taken in May 2010! Off course it took a while longer because I broke my leg and we couldn’t do fittings with the cast. I finally got my walking orthosis in the end of December and it was totally worth the wait! I was supposed to get my skiing orthosis in the end of January but unfortunately that isn’t going to happen anymore,  I should have had a fitting last week but he wasn’t ready. And now Frank is going to the world championships with the para-athletics team and he won’t be back till February. I was really disappointed, worked so hard to be ready to ski but without a proper orthosis I can’t. But like with most problems there is a solution for this one. They are going to mend the joint of my old orthosis so I can ski with a fixed knee with that one. And when Frank gets back he will finish my ski-orthosis asap.

Except for training and making arrangements for the orthosis I have been pretty busy studying.

Rehab training video

ski video