Wwyd?

[tinkerbelletreasure]

I broken my ankle in 2 places in Spetember of 2008. I had to have a plate and a bunch of pins put in and I have not had them removed yet because I was afraid I would be able to have enough stamina for Disney in march. I've debated and debated and while I can walk fairly normally, even done Silver dollar City all day before. I am afraid that 5 days of walking, even with a mid week break is going to be too much for me to handle.
I found someone on Freecycle that was giving away a very basic wheelchair and I got it just in case I need it. We are staying offsite and was planning o just bringing it in our vehicle and leaving it where Dh would go fetch it if I needed it. however, i have noticed in severalthreads that people mention it taking an hour or more to retrieve items from their cars.
My question is what would you do in the situation? I really don't want to use the wheelshair unless it's necessary. I want to be fairly normal and I hate to make Dh push me around. I also know it is very expensive to rent an scooter at Disney if I choose to leave it at home. Has anyone else ever been in a similar situation?

 

[3BoysRDisneyFreaks]

I don't know who posted that it takes over an hour to get to your car, but in my experience it isn't that long.
Especially if it is one person with no bags.
He could zip out, hop on the parking tram grab the chair. By the time he is coming back from the car there should be another tram coming for him to hop on. Then he can just zip through the line with no bag check with the wheelchair. Just make sure he has his ticket when he leaves.

Sarah

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

Thanks, sarah, that puts me a little more at ease.

 

[peemagg]

You can also rent an ECV for around $150-200 for the week from off site vender if that is route that you would want to explore. If it was me that is the way I would go. There are some out there that break down quite small for their size and can fit in the trunck of a car, but you have to specify that is the type you need when contacting the rental companies. It would give you some independence too.

 

[KPeveler]

if it is in your car at the MK, it WILL take an hour to get it (park to monorail to tram and back)... or if you are deep in World Showcase it could take close to that long... And AK is even bigger...

You can also rent a standard wc in the parks for something like $12 if needed

 

[SueM in MN]

if it is in your car at the MK, it WILL take an hour to get it (park to monorail to tram and back)... or if you are deep in World Showcase it could take close to that long... And AK is even bigger...

You can also rent a standard wc in the parks for something like $12 if needed

agree.
At MK, it is not a quick thing to get back and forth from the parking area no matter where you are.

For the other parks, if you are not deep in the park, you can get in and out fairly quickly. But, if you are at the far end of the park, it will take a while.

 

[PatsMom]

You might find you don't need a wheelchair. For what it is worth, I fractured my tibia and fibula in a fall in 2003. It took several hours of surgery and various plates and pins to put everything back together. I still have some pretty severe arthritis in the ankle and it is about twice the size of my other ankle.

However, after completing all of my physical therapy I find that I am able to walk the Disney parks without too much trouble. When I was heavy it would bother me a lot more than it does now. If you are getting around normally and doing small theme parks, you may not have any problem beyond needing to take an ibuprofen now and then. The ankle definitely swells up pretty good by the end of the day but some ice and elevation and I am good to go again the next morning.

I have chosen to leave my plate and other hardware in place rather than going through another surgery. It has worked for me, although everyone is different.

Also for what it is worth, when we did our first Disney trip the year after the great break we were a bit concerned about my ability to keep walking all week. We kind of approached it the way you seem to be, although we never planned far enough ahead to get a freecycle chair! We planned to just see how things went and to rent a manual wheelchair off and on if needed. The problem with renting a chair or owning one, is you have to push it around even if you don't want to use it! Fortunately, everything went well. I took a few extra breaks to elevate the leg but never got to the point of wanting a wheel chair.

Good luck to you. I hope you have a great trip and the ankle keeps healing!

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

You might find you don't need a wheelchair. For what it is worth, I fractured my tibia and fibula in a fall in 2003. It took several hours of surgery and various plates and pins to put everything back together. I still have some pretty severe arthritis in the ankle and it is about twice the size of my other ankle.

However, after completing all of my physical therapy I find that I am able to walk the Disney parks without too much trouble. When I was heavy it would bother me a lot more than it does now. If you are getting around normally and doing small theme parks, you may not have any problem beyond needing to take an ibuprofen now and then. The ankle definitely swells up pretty good by the end of the day but some ice and elevation and I am good to go again the next morning.

I have chosen to leave my plate and other hardware in place rather than going through another surgery. It has worked for me, although everyone is different.

Also for what it is worth, when we did our first Disney trip the year after the great break we were a bit concerned about my ability to keep walking all week. We kind of approached it the way you seem to be, although we never planned far enough ahead to get a freecycle chair! We planned to just see how things went and to rent a manual wheelchair off and on if needed. The problem with renting a chair or owning one, is you have to push it around even if you don't want to use it! Fortunately, everything went well. I took a few extra breaks to elevate the leg but never got to the point of wanting a wheel chair.

Good luck to you. I hope you have a great trip and the ankle keeps healing!

I'm hoping I don't need it at all. That is why I didn't want to just take it in the park (and have to push it) or plan on an expensive rental( still paying on medical bills)
I guess I'll wing it and bring plenty of ibuprofen and extra baggies to make ice packs. i guess if I am bad enough to need the wheelchair it would probably take Dh and hour to limp me back to the entrance anyway to leave, so might as well wait on him to go back and do it and not ruin the rest of the day for the kids.
I really debated about putting the trip off another year, but my stepdaughter is turning 13 this summer and has already got a lot of the teenage attitude and I wanted to have one last little girl vacation with her.

on a side note, are you worried at all about pins breaking?I'm not worried about the plate, and if/when I do have teh hardware removed I may ask them to leave th eplate because it is kind of comforting to know that part of my ankle is indestructable. But I have 4 large pins crisscrossing from ankle knuckle to ankle knuckle (broke the end off one) and my doctor said I didn't have to take the hardware out if I didn't want to but that they would probably eventually break and cause a lot fo problems. I am kind of thinking it might be better to have a planned surgery than an emergency one. But like you, would rather not do it at all.

 

[peemagg]

I have had it both ways as far as hardware in the body. I originally had a plate and 4 screws in the arch of my foot. These I had taken out just because of the way they rubbed in my shoes. It was causing more problems than what it was worth to leave in. I now have 4 more screws in the same area that can't ever come out. I think if you can leave them in and not have any problems, why tempt fate and risk greater injury of some sort if there is no reason to take them out. Trust me the more surgeries you have in an area the more you are at risk to other greater problems.

 

[PatsMom]

I'm hoping I don't need it at all. That is why I didn't want to just take it in the park (and have to push it) or plan on an expensive rental( still paying on medical bills)
I guess I'll wing it and bring plenty of ibuprofen and extra baggies to make ice packs. i guess if I am bad enough to need the wheelchair it would probably take Dh and hour to limp me back to the entrance anyway to leave, so might as well wait on him to go back and do it and not ruin the rest of the day for the kids.
I really debated about putting the trip off another year, but my stepdaughter is turning 13 this summer and has already got a lot of the teenage attitude and I wanted to have one last little girl vacation with her.

on a side note, are you worried at all about pins breaking?I'm not worried about the plate, and if/when I do have teh hardware removed I may ask them to leave th eplate because it is kind of comforting to know that part of my ankle is indestructable. But I have 4 large pins crisscrossing from ankle knuckle to ankle knuckle (broke the end off one) and my doctor said I didn't have to take the hardware out if I didn't want to but that they would probably eventually break and cause a lot fo problems. I am kind of thinking it might be better to have a planned surgery than an emergency one. But like you, would rather not do it at all.

I don't worry about the hardware. So far it has caused no problems. I have tons of hardware in my jaw from reconstructive surgery. That has been in there for almost 20 years. So I figure the pins and plate can stay in my leg that long as well. It is my right leg so having the hardware removed would mean a stretch of not driving while everything healed up. And I hate the thought of that!

One thing that did help me out a lot the first few years was to wear a compression sock to help with swelling. That and a good supportive shoe did wonders. No flip flops, etc. Birkenstocks were OK but not good for tons of walking. I found a good athletic shoe with a wide ankle opening and wore them.

One thing I did learn is that after about a year it was as good as it was ever going to get. The arthritis in the ankle is permanent - the orthopedic surgeon said he would be surprised if it had healed with no arthritis, especially since I have osteoarthritis in other joints. So putting off the trip might not help much.

I hope you have a great trip! You adapt and slow down. Take a few more breaks during the day and put the foot up on a bench. You can get ice at any counter service restaurant.