News...of the good kind...!

Finally, today, i got a call from my lawyers, to say that they had some good news for me!
They were in court for another case today, and they phoned the insurance company again to try set a date to sit down with them.
The insurance company were evasive as usual, so my lawyers did a bit of threatening to try get them to meet with us. They agreed that we could set up a meeting within the next week!
Then, the driver's lawyers contacted us as well, and said that they were willing to meet all of my medical expenses since leaving the hospital if the insurance payout wasn't enough to cover everything.
This is a start at least! Definitely good news.
The best news of all, is that my doubts over my lawyers can be put to rest.
With a lot of time on my hands, and not many answers to questions over the last 3 weeks, it has been difficult to stay positive about events, so it is reassuring to know that i do still have someone on my side out here!
But, i wont get too excited just yet. I have had good news in the past, and nothing has come from it, so i will wait and see what the next week holds in store.
I feel like i have said those few words a lot over the last 3 months..."wait and see..."
Hopefully we have reached a turning point in all this now?
Exercises are going well.
My ankle is 60-70% back to normal already, after only a few days out of the cast. All the constant moving it around when i had the cast on has definitely helped.
If anyone reading this wants a hint, do as many small little rotations inside the cast as you can. I was constantly doing this for the 3 months i had mine on. The movement was small, but has made a difference i think.
Still moisturizing my foot every day too. The skin is still new, and dries out within a day if not treated.
Soft too. Gonna have to toughen up a lot before i can walk comfortably again one day.
Well, thats all for now...

The waiting game...

Yesterday morning i got a call from the lawyers.
They have been very busy the last week so they couldn't get chance to speak to me...
According to them no-one wants to talk to us at the moment. As in, neither the insurance company or the drivers lawyers.
Apparently we need to make the case with the insurance company first because we need to know how much they will pay us before we can recover the difference from the driver's case.
So, it is still a waiting game...
I have contacted South African Airlines and asked them to please postpone my trip back home by a month. I hope that they will be able to do this for me...
Looks like i am stuck here for the foreseeable future.
I suppose there could be worse places to be stuck huh? Caribbean...doesn't sound bad.
Just wish the circumstances were different.
Anyway, we blessed with sunshine every day of the year here, so, from this week i will be heading to the beach in the afternoons with a friend, to get some sun-tanning done.
It'll be a nice bit of practice on the crutches too every day!

For those interested in my exercise regime, I am now doing 2x sets of 25 dips in the wheelchair, followed by a final set of as many as i can. Around 40-50. Repeated morning and evening.
Also still doing a set of 30 raises with the 5kg water weight on my right leg twice a day.
Also been doing 30-50 situps each evening before bed.
Flexing my ankle throughout the day as much as i can. It does get sore after a while, so i need to take a break before carrying on.
For my knee, i am sitting in the wheelchair, and trying to put my left foot flat on the floor. At the moment, I can only just manage this. With my right leg, I am putting it over my left leg and pulling it into a bent position as much as i can. Doing this twice a day, morning and evening. While my knee is bent at its maximum, I am massaging the muscle around the knee, and also the quad area.
Sundays is my day off from exercise to give my muscles a rest.

Home improvement!

Well, 4 days on, and nothing much has changed...
I haven't heard anything from the lawyers this week yet, and the week is half way through.
Obviously some extremely important news that needed be told??
I did try yesterday to get hold of them, but they didn't get back to me yet...very strange behaviour?
I was waiting on my doctor to let me know whether i could get the cast off as well, but no answer there either...
Good news is that on monday i got myself a pair of crutches.
Monday night i headed out, my first "walk" in over 3 months!

It felt great to be in the upright position again!
The crutches did cause some bruising under my armpits, but this is totally normal. After a while i will get used to this. Also my forearms got tired real quick, but this too is normal, as i am using muscles that i haven't used in months.
Today, after another newsless day from the specialist in SA, i decided to take matters into my own hands.

Cast Removal 101 :

I think it went pretty well, and can safely say to anyone in the same situation, this can be done by yourself in just a few hours.
My leg was pretty dirty inside, but mainly from dead skin, as you can see in the photo's.
With the lack of movement, obviously blood flow has been restricted, and as such all the skin has died.
But i cleaned my leg up ok with some soap and water, and after, some surgical alcohol to protect it from bacteria. I also rubbed some moisturizer into my foot where i had removed all the dead skin.

Exercises are still going well. My upper body is getting nice and strong now. Just the fat around my waist to cardio off when the opportunity arises!
My ankle is really stiff after 3 months, so i am doing slow rotations of the ankle, and flexing up and down. So we will see how that goes...

The longest nightmare ever...

I wish i could write good words about my situation, but every time i find something else out, its another roller coaster ride into hell...!
I have heard nothing this week, and have received no reply back from my lawyers, even though i have tried to contact them thursday and friday!
So, this morning i decided to phone them again and see what is going on.
The story seems to have changed again now!
Apparently they have heard nothing from either the insurance company or the drivers lawyers yet.
I thought there was supposed to be a meeting with the insurance company, but this doesn't seem to be happening. Same as the last 2 weeks i was led to believe the same thing!
I asked why we haven't heard anything from the drivers lawyers to sit down with them, as we go to court with them in 2 weeks time!
Apparently we need to know how much the insurance company is going to pay out before we can go after the driver, as he will only need to pay the difference?!
I thought if you make a case against someone, you also put forward a total that you expect to receive, and then you take it from there??
Well this is apparently not the case here! God only knows why?
So, the short of it is, according to my lawyers, that i can only make a case against the driver if i first know the total that the insurance company will give me.
It sounds pretty damn crazy, and is the opposite of what i was told when i paid $400 to my lawyers to get the case set up in the first place!
It could be as much as another 6 months before anything is even discussed, let alone settled!
I was told "again", that the easiest way to leave here is to come up with 50% of the hospital's money and they will give me my passport back and let me leave!
Where the hell that is coming from i dont have a clue!
What is almost certain now, is that i will be stuck here for the foreseeable future!
Happy days...!
My lawyer told me that there are some very important things he needs to talk to me about! Why they haven't been discussed before i dont know, but apparently i will get a visit from them next week.
This whole damned mess just gets more messed up by the day!

The only positive thing to happen is that i managed to locate a pair of crutches, so i can start learning to walk around on them at least.
I have a fair bit of pain associated with the area that is where my fibula was broken. And this is just with my leg dangling when i try to walk on the crutches. I haven't even started trying to put weight on my leg as yet...

Oh, and Digna found a piece of wood for me for my laptop so that i can sit outside with my laptop a bit more easily now...

Till next time...
Who knows what the next post will contain...??  8(

A little news...

Well, the last few days have at least revealed some things.
I didn't really have much news until this afternoon.
I got hold of the driver's wifes number and tried to phone her repeatedly over the weekend, but didn't get any answer. Left voice message in Spanish, and also text message, but no response.
Meantime, Digna went to the clinic i had been told to visit by the doctor to get the crutches.
Turns out they only have children's crutches in stock, and they dont know how much longer it will take to get more in.
So, today she shopped a little more, and no one seems to know where to get any in La Romana?? It seems crazy the nearest pair of crutches for sale is in the capital, 2.5h drive away!
But we will keep looking...
My lawyers called me this morning and said that they are coming to visit me.
They arrived here after visiting the driver's wife's work. She was not there, but they left a business card with a message to contact us asap if she doesn't want this to go to court.
I gave them the number i had for her, and they phoned it, and got through to a guy, taking calls for her. We left a message with him as well.
Seems that the payment story was a hoax to threaten me into paying the hospital some money.  I'm not sure?
Speaking of which, my contract states that i owe the hospital only after the 6 month period is up. I am not obliged to make any payments before that time.
So they cant hassle me for money. They countersigned the contract.
We will wait now and see if we can make a setllement out of court soon with the one case.
My lawyers were sitting down with the insurance company rep today to discuss getting everyone round a table next week sometime. So, that sounds promising. We'll wait and see.
The specialist in SA has also said that the cast must come off now. 3 months is already overkill.
Also, my mom spoke to a physio back home, and they agreed with my thinking that i need to get out of this cast so that i can start exercising my ankle.
It hasn't moved for 3 months now.
So, tomorrow around lunch time i will head to the local clinic near me in town, and get them to cut the cast off.
Then i just need my crutches and i can start getting around a bit!
Would like to go for a walk every day to strengthen my legs and enjoy some fresh sea air.
The days tick down til i need to be in Sao Paulo for my return flight home...lets pray things get resolved quickly...

            CLOSE SHAVE OF THE WEEK:

                               WEEK 2

1 step forward and 2 steps back...

To say yesterday could have gone better would be an understatement.
I got through to the clinic around 2.30pm, and was number 2 in the queue.
I only waited about 45min, and then the doc showed up, and i was seen straight away!
A good start i thought. Maybe this was my undoing?
He wrote me a prescription to get my xrays taken, and then i was wheeled through to where you need to pay for the xrays. Then it was off to the queue outside the radiology dept.
This was an hour and a half wait while everyone else went first.
When i finally got to the front of the queue, the woman shut the door, telling me to wait a while.
Half an hour later, with no one else even waiting to go in apart from me, she let me in.
I climbed onto the table where the xrays are taken, and proceeded to sit there for another 20min while other people that had started arriving in the queue, just walked in and chatted to her, then she disappeared off with them to do something else?!
Eventually it was my turn, and the xrays were taken.
As she was finishing up, my doc walked in and looked at the xrays with me.
It was a little strange because normally i would head back to his office to discuss things, and get my cast off on this particular visit...
So, we looked at the xrays very briefly, and i asked him if the gap between the bones on my repaired tibia was a good thing or not.
He replied that i should put full load bearing weight on my left leg so that the weight of my body on my leg pushes the bones together and they can mend properly!!
What???
I couldn't believe what he was telling me!
The specialist in SA had told me that i was to put very little weight on my left side, as my hip was still fragile and should be looked after.
Then he asked me to sit on the edge of the table with my legs dangling over the side, and told me that my exercises i have been doing are not good, as i should have a lot more range of motion in my left knee by now.
In the sitting position, he took one hand and held my quad firmly down on the table, and with his other hand he forcibly pushed my leg inwards, effectively bending my knee.
Obviously my knee did not have this much flex in it, and it hurt like hell, then he straightened it again, and then pushed back in again!
This carried on for about a full minute while i screamed in pain.
He told me that i should be doing proper physio every day.
Well, this is impossible as the physio is in La Romana, 40min from where i stay, and i cant afford to hire a car every day to drive thru for this! Plus find someone to drive me every day!
So i will have to try figure something out at home??
And that was it.
"Thank you for coming, and by the way, pop back on monday to pick up your xrays!"
Yeah, sure, i'll just hire a car, find someone to drive me and pop in again on monday?!!
So, 4.5 hours spent getting 4 xrays taken, and my cast stays on for another month!
I think that the cast didn't come off because he was in a hurry to get home, which is why he arrived early.
And is also why he came to see me in radiology.
So, thats great...another month of this damned cast!

Digna, my helper, is in La Romana today, and i have given her a shopping list to buy me some crutches, and also the pain meds that the doc prescribed to be taken before physio! This evening will be my first "proper" physio session then...

As far as the legal side of things goes, my lawyers spoke with the hospital, and then spoke to me after.
They have no idea whether the driver's wife has paid any money to anyone. They will be investigating this further in the next few days.
They have also advised me to pay the hospital some money. Even though my contract states i have 6 months to pay them even 1 cent, my lawyer said that our case would be better if i paid them something, and we got a signature from them with a receipt...

So, all in all, nothing really positive to take away from this visit.
Apparently my lawyers are having talks with the insurance company next week, but i was told last week, this was happening this week, so i wont hold my breath...

Hopefully the next few days will hold some sort of answers...??

Next turn on this roller coaster ride!

Unbelievable!
Just when you start to think there is some sort of semblance of normality in all this, i have another confusing morning!
The hospital has phoned me a few times in the last week asking for my address here.
I eventually gave them a near enough address, and they managed to track me down this morning...
The same woman who shouted at me in Spanish and waved documents under my nose in the hospital, and her male colleague just finished a half hour visit here.
Everything was conducted in Spanish, which i understood most of anyway.
They were here because they have apparently spoken to Katushka, the drivers wife, yesterday, and she told them that she had given me money to pay the hospital??!
Also, they were here to discuss me giving them a false passport. Apparently they had information that i had a duplicate UK passport???
What the hell?!!
After assuring them my only passport was the one which they had safely locked away in their offices, we moved onto the issue of payment!
She said she gave me the money. She might have meant she gave it to my lawyers to give to me to give to the clinic?
No matter who she gave it to, if she did indeed give it to anyone, i know nothing about this, and have no clue where the money is, or how much it is??
I phoned my lawyer, and after a long time, he phoned back and spoke to the clinics lawyers, arranging to meet them tonight at 5pm at the clinic.
Luckily this ties in with me having arranged a lift to the clinic today to get my plaster cast off, so i will also be there around that time. At least i can chat to my lawyer straight after and see what the hell is going on?!
I spoke with him now on the phone, and obviously asked him where the money was, and what she was talking about?
He said he doesn't know anything about this, and that if she had given money to my lawyers, maybe she gave it to my first lawyers, who still haven't gone away!
This would just create a bloody nightmare situation, because they still want their $4k that they say were the expenses for the 3 weeks i lay in hospital and they didn't lift a finger for me!
Problem is, if they have gotten a payment from her, pretending to still be my lawyers (which technically they still are), then they will probably insist on keeping their $4k out of however much she paid them!
Ah shit man, this is just an ongoing bloody nightmare!
I dont have Katushka's number to speak to her directly, but have left a message for my friend to please get her to contact me urgently so that i can at least know what has happened before i hear anything from anyone later on.
I suppose the only positive i can draw from this is that if she is telling the truth, then a payment has been made, and we can at least try to get the clinic off my back?!
But, as far as a client has a contract with his attorney, they should speak to me before accepting any amount of money from any of my cases, as i am ultimately the one who decides if the offer is good enough!
This is all well messed up again now!
Today should provide some very interesting information...
Stay tuned...!

A week of promise...

Well, after speaking to my lawyer on the weekend, he has told me that this week he is set to sit down with both the insurance company and the driver too.
I am hoping that i will be a little bit closer to wrapping things up by the end of the week, but i have learnt that with this country comes the reality that things take their own time here.
So i wont hold my breath on this one. We'll wait and see...
He did say that in his experience, once we have sat down with them, the cases should get wrapped up soon after, so, like i said, we'll see what gives...?
My mate who has helped me in the past with the trip to the doctor, has just started a new job today, so he wont be around to help me this week to head through to get my cast taken off.
Another mate has a day off on thursday, but doesn't know if he will be able to drive me.
I have 1 more person to call on, otherwise i am not sure how i will get there? It will happen, but maybe not this week then?
I have also decided to start a "Close shave of the week" photo section of the blog, for while i am still here in the DR.
My first "Close shave of the week", you'll find below!

Just a bit of fun to while away the time, and shock anyone that may choose to visit me!
Haha!
I'll be in touch with anymore news as soon as it breaks...

Exercises...

Hey there,
Just a quick post to let you guys know what exercises i am doing to strengthen my legs and upper body.
My left leg I am doing exercises with my helper in the mornings and evenings, and as much as my knee will allow during the day as well.
Normally, about 10min or so of her letting my leg bend as far as it can in a sitting position, and then lifting it slowly back to straight again for me.
After about 10min the knee and muscles have warmed and loosened up enough that i can lift my leg by myself without pain in my knee.
So the next 30 repetitions i do myself, without any help.
Like i say, this is twice a day, and as much as i can in between.
Also twice a day, morning and evening, i do some weight lifting with my right leg to prevent the muscles atrophying there too.
I have taken a 5l water container, and looped my belt through it to form a noose that i put around my ankle, and then support my leg with my hands, and lift to straight and back down again.
This i am doing 30 repetitions of as well.

Lastly, i am using the wheelchair to do dips to strengthen my upper body.
I started a month ago with these exercises, and in the beginning it was 3 sets of 15 dips with a break of about 30s between each set.
When i started it was a struggle to complete the 3 sets, but now i am much stronger and complete them easily.
I am now doing 2 sets of 20 dips, followed by a final set of as many as i can manage, ie, to failure of the muscle.
At the moment my final set i can manage about 30-35.

Just a quick insert for anyone that reads this blog, with the same injury, and was wondering what they could do to exercise, etc...

2012...

Happy New Year everyone!

Lets hope that this year holds many wonderful surprises in store for all.

As it has been the festive period, nothing much has happened really. But i did get a bit of news yesterday from my lawyer...

The driver's wife has agreed that her lawyer can sit down with my lawyer and try and settle things out of court. We have a court date with the driver at the end of January, so hopefully we can come to an agreement. The meeting will be sometime in the next week.

The other bit of news is that apparently the insurance company would like to sit down with us and discuss things too. This is great news to get things started, but, as with any insurance company, it is going to be a slow process of bargaining with them. But at least we getting the chance to talk to them so soon!

As far as how my leg is doing, i am still doing my exercises every day, and my injured leg is now strong enough to lift the weight of my plaster cast on its own. The muscle has returned to my quad section of my left leg, and it is feeling much stronger.
I still have limited mobility in my left knee though. Not much more than the last time i wrote.
This is a little worrying as i have no idea how long this takes normally to come back? I will ask the doctor when i see him next week to have my plaster cast taken off.

I am doing exercises on my right leg as well, and they coming along ok. My left leg actually feels stronger than my right! I have a set of crutches waiting to be used as soon as i get my plaster cast off. I am excited to start using them, as my mobility will be improved over the wheelchair. But most importantly, i will start using my right leg again, so can start to strengthen it again!

Still waiting on news back from the specialist in SA. He has been away on holiday, and i think he came back yesterday, so hopefully in the next few days...