Bed Rest + First Week Home // Pelvis Fracture Recovery

May 23, 2021

Last I updated you, I had a bad horseback riding accident and spent 6 days in the hospital.

Welp, now I am back home and I am working my way through my 6-week bed rest. The first week was not easy. Well, I had good moments and bad moments, but more good than bad, so that’s progress!

We rented a hospital bed, since I can’t sleep in a traditional bed and people need to have easy access to me and my catheter. The hospital bed comes with a nurse carer. She currently comes three times a week to help me bathe, change the sheets, and give me my daily massage. Once my mom leaves, she will work full-time since I can’t really be alone.

Currently, I sleep out in the living room and my mom and Alex take turns sleeping on a mattress on the floor next to me because, A: I don’t want to be alone, B: Someone has to wake up every two hours to clamp and unclamp my catheter and empty it, so it’s best if that person is out here with me.

Pain level

I broke out into a weird rash my first day home.

At the beginning of week 1, my pain was about 5 out of 10, but now, by the end of week 1, it’s a 2 out of 10 (with pain meds, of course). The doctor did say that about two weeks after the accident is when I’d have a huge decrease in pain and that has totally been true for me. In fact, I only take two pain meds a day – one in the morning and one at night – which is is way less than recommended. I also broke out into a bad rash my first day home from the hospital. Not sure why, but I thought I’d mention that.

I will say, laughing, sneezing, and coughing are excruciatingly painful. Well, at least, they were. I refuse to do them anymore so I’m not sure if the pain has gone down. On of my first nights home, Alex and my mom were making me laugh and I honestly thought I had rebroken something or moved a bone out of alignment. A few days later I sneezed and screamed so loud, Alex came running into the living room. I had to hold his hand until the pain subsided.

My first few nights home, I could not sleep, I was in so much pain. I woke up every few hours almost in tears. My mom had to lay in bed with me and massage my lower back just to keep the pain at bay. As the week progressed, I started sleeping through the night, which was a blessing.

Movements and Physical Therapy

In terms of movements, when I was in the hospital, I couldn’t really move at all. I think I was lying at an angle for my entire hospital stay because I just couldn’t scoot my body over at all. When I had to bathe and get my sheets changed, someone had to push or pull my body onto the side. Now, I am able to scoot my body over a little bit and roll onto my side with only a little bit of help. I still can’t lift my legs very much and I can tell that I am losing muscle in my legs.

I saw my physical therapist my first full day home from the hospital. She gave me a few exercises that I can do to keep my upper body and legs in shape during bed rest, so I’ve been doing those almost everyday.

Mental Health

My last view of the sky before my at-home bed rest.

I had one mental breakdown my first day home from the hospital about, you guessed it, my catheter. The catheter has been a really traumatic aspect of the accident. When the catheter was put in on my discharge day from the hospital, I had a total breakdown. It was so painful and I hated it. When I got home from the hospital, I started to see particles in my urine and was convinced that I had a UTI. I also had to poop for the first time, and if you remember from my time in the hospital, that was impossible for me. Anyway, I got through it and I am starting to feel neutral about the catheter.

Aside from the catheter, my mental health was really good this week. I was so excited to be home from the hospital and with my mom and Alex, that even the pain and being bedridden didn’t bother me that much. I think I only cried twice the entire week, which is a vast improvement from my daily cries in the hospital.

I made an advent calendar to count down the days until my bed rest was over, which has really helped. Blogging and documenting the experience on Instagram and YouTube has also helped a lot. Overall, I am feeling pretty good.

Am I working?

The first Monday home from the hospital (so about a week and three days from the accident), I had a meeting with my boss. I told her that I was eager to get back to work, at least part time. I really like my job and since I work online already, it makes it way easier for me to work from bed.

I really thought I could manage. I assumed I would be bored out of my mind and having some work to do would be a nice break. I was wrong. I naively thought that one week out from a pelvis fracture I would feel completely back to normal, but I did not. My pain meds make my brain fuzzy and loopy, so I can’t really focus in meetings or on work, and after doing my morning routine, it’s already 11 a.m., so it just didn’t make sense for me to keep working through recovery.

I had meetings with HR, my boss, and my insurance and we all agreed that I would go on short-term disability while I am recovering and I will reevaluate after the 6-week recovery period. I am really fortunate that I have great insurance during this time and I definitely don’t take it for granted.

How bored am I?

Shockingly, not bored at all. I’ve had so many visitors: Alex’s family, Alick, Matilda, Jess, Brad, Lara… I’ve had to fill out insurance forms, I’ve had to fill out forms for HR at work, I’ve had work meetings and a meeting with my old university supervisors, I’ve had two physical therapy appointments, I have to do exercises every day, I’ve gotten a professional massage, I’ve been facetiming people… and my body is repairing bone, so that takes up a lot of my energy haha. Also, everyday tasks such as bathing, going to the bathroom, and brushing my hair take 10 times as long.

I haven’t watched Netflix or Disney+ once during the day since I got home (watching at night is another story). I watch a YouTube video here and there, but I really don’t watch that much stuff. Now, if you are on bed rest and watching Netflix all day helps you feel better, then, by all means, do that! I just know that for my psyche, watching Netflix all day would put me in a bad place, so I’m proud of myself for not doing that.

Thank you so much for your support during this time! For more updates on my injury and recovery, check out my Instagram @MorganThroughALens.

I also made a YouTube video about a day in my life while on best rest. Check that out here!