Wednesday, February 27, 2019

The Broken Ankle, Three Years Later

Jamie Allison Sanders, ankle break, broken ankle, Beautifying the Broken Ankle, Betty and Veronica Betty Sweatshirt Dress, Rachel Antonoff, Santa Barbara, photo shoot, Jake Douglas
Today marks three years since I broke my ankle. In some ways, that feels like a lifetime ago. In others, it’s like only a second has passed. And, you know what? It was actually the best thing that ever happened to me.

That fateful day, I slipped on ice crossing the street while visiting friends in Pittsburgh. (And, yes, I was sober. And wearing Uggs. Who knew I should have been drinking and wearing heels?) At the time, I didn’t think anything of it. I got up, tried to put weight on my leg, and I couldn’t actually walk -- but I just figured I’d twisted my ankle or something. It never in a million years occurred to me that I may have broken it. I called my friend Michaela, who I was going to visit, and said, "Well, I fell on ice and can't walk all of a sudden." She came downstairs and immediately said, "We have to go to the emergency room. You can't walk." She called me an uber, she and the uber driver basically carried me to the car and then got me a wheelchair at the hospital, and then the real fun started.

In actuality, I’d broken two of the three bones in my ankle -- the tibia and fibula -- and would spend the next two weeks in the hospital, having two surgeries that resulted in two plates and two months not walking. And eating a LOT of hospital food. (It’s amazing that I don’t hate the number two.)

Jamie Allison Sanders, ankle break, broken ankle, Beautifying the Broken Ankle,
My first picture post broken ankle. This is before any surgeries, before the plates in my ankle, before I even really knew what the long road to recovery might look like. Thank goodness I had gotten a pedicure before my trip to Pittsburgh.

Fast forward to today. The photo above was taken this weekend in Santa Barbara by my good friend Jake Douglas -- and I think it depicts exactly how I feel now. I’m living a far better life than I ever could have imagined. Sure, my beautiful heels from my life pre-break sit in my closet most of the time. But I am happy. I am healthy. I am grateful every day for the moment that changed my life for, not just the better, but for the best.

We don’t always know the very moment that changes our lives. But I do -- and I am living every moment to the fullest because of it.

Read more about my broken ankle journey here.

6 comments:

  1. I can't believe that it has already been three years since you broke your ankle! I remember when it happened, and it seems like it happened much more recently!

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  2. Great post and positive attitude!

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  3. I'm glad you are perfectly healed. That was about the time I broke my foot and couldn't walk on it for 2 months and used a walker after. The end result of mine was that as soon as I was healed my husband insisted we move into a ranch instead of our colonial. Not being able to get upstairs to take a shower wasn't fun!

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  4. Wow, 3 years already! You have flourished since then!

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  5. So glad that is all behind you! Here's to even better times from here on out!

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  6. Wow, I can't believe it's been 3 years already! I'm glad you are all healed.

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