My Weekend: My 4th Ankleversary

Hope you all had a good weekend. Last weekend I celebrated my 4th Ankleversary. A what you ask? Well, the anniversary of my ankle of course!

The Day 4 Years Ago

So on that faithful day four years ago I had a horrific climbing accident. I was bouldering (climbing smaller rocks without a rope) and at about 6 meters from the ground I feel my one hand slip, then my other and I am hurtling down at a horrible angle... When I hit the ground I do so with only the side of my foot and I instantly feel everything breaking...

I instantly know this is bad news, but I stay pretty calm on the ride to the hospital. Once I get there everything is too swollen to even get a decent x-ray. They bandage me up, tell me not to move and take a CT scan a few days later, right after Christmas. When the results come in it is all bad news: I have broken my ankle in 6 places, tore all my ligaments off with the bone, have a tear in my achilles tendon and tore off one of my calf muscles. And with that comes the hardest rehabilitation of my life.

The Inability to Move

I instantly become bed and house bound. I stay with my parents for one week, but go slightly mad of all their caring. I decide to go home but this means I need my friends to take care of me. I cannot shop (all hands are needed for crutches) I cannot cook (kitchen is on a different floor) and 500 meters is about my radius of movement before I get too tired or my leg starts to swell.

I decide to make the best of it, pick a bright color of cast and with the help of my amazing friends I get by. I am allowed a walking cast after 3 weeks and 4 weeks after that I see my leg for the first time in 2 months!

It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better

When I am out of the cast I am in for a disappointment. Instead of becoming more mobile I am in a world of pain and I can not really walk, only limp and drag. Soon it turns out that since my foot was not plastered in a 90 degree angle walking is too difficult. I need to go back into the hospital and get it fixed and.. back in the cast. I have a little cry when I am back in my room in the cast I have grown to hate.

But this is a story of hope! Because after 5 months in crutches and so much physio I do it! I can walk without a limp! I can move again, and have my life back! In this time I also meet my boyfriend and a happy time start: I walk lots, drive a car (wasn't allowed to drive for 5 months!) and... the mountains are calling! Even though I fell while climbing all I want is to go back into the mountains and be in nature.

And 7,5 months after the accident I do it! I make my first summit in Switzerland again!

I decide to celebrate my Ankleversary every year, because despite all the pain, all the trouble and my still quite poorly performing ankle, I can walk! I can experience the world on foot! I love to be in nature! So many things to be thankful for. But most of all, the ankle incident made me realize that I am tougher than I ever thought and that is worth a celebration. So happy Ankleversary to me!