Eiurope in 5 days, but my wife just broke her foot?
 

We are scheduled to leave for Europe in 5 days (Sunday) and my wife fell down the steps last night and broke a bone in her foot. She is now in a cast and has to use crutches for a number of weeks/months. We are in serious deliberations on what to do. This would be our second trip to Europe and would hate to miss it, but atleast we have memories from the last trip to carry over if we have to cancel. <BR>Has anyone been in this situation before and went on with the trip? We had plans for Paris, Brugge, Amsterdam, St Goar, Heidelberg, and Trier. I figure that if we go, we can cancel the larger cities and focus on the smaller towns for less walking (crutching) and spend more time in the car touring. <BR> <BR>Any thoughts and experiences would be greatly appreciated. I would be able to recoup all of my costs except the fee to change our airline tickets to next year.

I hurt my foot while in Paris several years ago. It wasn't broken, but I limped around in pain the whole time. My travel companion was also not pleased at having to wait while I rested at every corner. My injury happened after I had already arrived in Paris, but it taught me a lesson, which is to save travel for times that you are well. It may be frustrating to delay your trip, but you will have a much more pleasant time if both of you are healthy and able to see and do everything you have planned. <BR>Best of luck with whatever decision you make.

Oh, I am so sorry for the both of you. <BR>I guess alot depends upon how much pain your wife is in,how capable is she on crutches, and how easily you can reschedule a trip. <BR> <BR>I can not comment on going to Europe, but I can on flying/traveling on crutches. <BR>A few yrs. ago, I tore all the ligaments in my right ankle, and was on crutches for over a month. <BR>My family and I had to fly to Florida for my parents' 50th anniversary. <BR>The ***only** benefit to flying with crutches is one is allowed to board first, but we had to wait til last to disembark. <BR>Plus the stewardess took my crutches away, because they could be flying missiles!! <BR>I was in my mid-40's at the time, and am pretty active and strong, but getting around on crutches got wearisome at times,and can be a real pain (no pun intended) <BR>Especially when we were trying to get our flight and there was no wheelchair to be found!! <BR>Hobbling through an airport in a rush is not fun,, but it certainly was good exercise. <BR>So, while part of me would say "go for it, let this be an adventure, and you will be in Europe!" <BR>The other part says, "stay home,get better, and go when you can see everything you originally planned" <BR>Anyway, Goodluck with your decision. <BR>Keep us posted! <BR>nancy <BR>

Quite the dilemma. I would agree with the above poster, since even if you go ahead with the trip you will have to make some strong changes in a trip that you had probably put a lot of planning into. I would only add that I had put a lot of work into planning a trip for the summer of 1998, and had to postpone for a year. When we were able to pull off the same trip in 1999, it went really well (great memories of it now) and was near-effortless to pull off since I had already set up our itinerary! <BR>Maybe this is the time to hang low, and save the trip for next year.

What does you Dr advise? If your wife runs into complications over there are you covered by your insurance. If your wife is in a cast that means that the limb is very immobile and with a long flight I would think that she is at very high risk for developing blood clots in that leg but that is only my opinion. I would serously consider cancelling.

Steve - Rent a light weight wheel chair and take it along on your trip. Tom

Speaking from experience (my wife broke her wrist on a trip to S. America), I would advise that you cancel. Post-fracture complications can be extremely serious. If you cancel, there will be another year. If you don't and there are complications, you may regret going for the rest of your life...alone.

I broke my foot last summer - it took over 12 wks to get the boot off, and I wasn't allowed to even put weight on it for 8 weeks. The crutches took about 6-10 days to build up chest muscles, very sore until then (couldn't raise my arms above my head due to muscle soreness). The other problem was swelling - no ankle for weeks, continued to swell even after regained walking. I hate to be negative, like to make the best of things, but a European vacation for me is too big a $commitment$ not to be able to fully enjoy and walk freely. A wheelchair is not going to help much, because you still have cobblestones, stairs, curbs and non-handicap environment to deal with. Did that in Manhattan, and it was very hard (a lot of restrooms in restaurants were up or down stairs, no elevator). I hope you purchased trip cancellation insurance, as this would be the time to use it...Then you can head off to Europe in the spring and fully enjoy it.

I agree with Tom - definitely rent that wheelchair. That way you can both visit more places than you could with your wife on crutches, and she won't get so tired out. Good luck.

We had a similsr experience a few years ago. My Daugter was knocked down by a car & broke her leg a few weeks before our holiday to the USA. We ended up going ahead with the holiday after asking the Doctor's opinion. She was fitted with a 'synthetic' cast ( with detachable plastic sleeve ) so she couls even go swimming ! We also took with us a letter from the Doctor stating she was OK to travel ( can be important for immigration purposes ). She took crutches & found Manhattan ( Yes Manhattan ! ) no problem & was able to go on most of the theme park rides in Florida OK. IF you do decide to go ahead consider the 'synthetic cast' if not already fitted & be sure to ask your Doctor for a letter stating she is OK to travel ( assuming he thinks she is ). Also bear in mind it was weeks in our case, not days, before we travelled.

My aunt and uncle had a similar situation. He fell and broke his leg about a week before a trip to Europe. They went,anyway, and had a blast. He used a wheelchair often, with many pushes from her, and made plenty of changes and slowdowns, I'm sure. I must say, though, that they were both very positive, adventurous, sunny-side-of-life people. Never prone to wasting time being glum. If either you or your wife gets cranky easily, it may be a different experience. <BR>Good luck with the decision! <BR> <BR>I believe they were both late 40's, early 50's when that happened.

I would look into renting a wheelchair after checking with her doctor 1st. It will not be easy but it is doable. My son uses a wheelchair. Just to let you know alot of the train stations elevators/lifts were not working. Something to keep in mind. We just returned from Amsterdam, Brussels, and Luxembourg City.

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= <BR>Steve: <BR> <BR>So, what's the decision??? Inquiring minds want to know - go or stay? <BR>

O.K. here goes. Take her to the nearest train station, opps forget that. To easy. It has to be a metro station where she will have no way to go down but to use the steps oh same do have escorlaters only the bigger stops. After that take her to a few bus stops, see if she can handle that too. Europe is not handicap friendly at all. Well if you can afford to use taxi's and not worried about being ripped off by them, just use cabs. Cost a fortune but what the heck, you'll see Europe and your wife's ankles won't swell. Been there done that It was my worst vacation ever. I thank God that I was not obese, it would have been worse I am sure.

The show must go on. When we visited the emergency room for x-rays, the Dr's made us feel that it was pretty serious. After visiting the Orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday, he said that if she had to break any bone in her foot, this was the one, as it will heal without surgery and fairly quickly. He fitted her with a removable walking cast. As of yesterday, she was mobile without the crutches. He said that she may even be back in her tennis shoes before the end of the trip. I guess we really lucked out on this one..... <BR> <BR>Thanks for all of the advice <BR> <BR>Steve

Steve, so happy that you and your wife will be able to make your trip. The same thing happen to my son five days before our June trip to London and Paris. He broke a small bone in his foot while playing soccer. I was terribly worried about having to cancel our trip for our family of four. As it turned out, he was fitted with a walker boot and crutches. After six days in London he was able to get his foot into some stretchy shoes we bought before the trip and was able to leave the crutched behind in London as we traveled on to Paris. Hope your wife's foot heals as well for her. Good luck and safe traveling.

Lucky you!! <BR>Let us know how things went when you return. <BR>**Have Fun** <BR>

Steve, I am so happy for your wife. I did say a Prayer for her as I know first hand what it is like to brake an ankle. I'll keep her in my Prayers. Have a wonderful trip. Yes keep us posted how it went please.

So sorry to hear about your wife's accident. I will not offer any advice but I will commiserate. I sprained my ankle at my wedding reception and had to leave the next morning for our 2 week honeymoon in Hawaii. I was on crutches for about a week. At first I was VERY depressed especially when I slipped the first night walking around the pool with my crutches and my husband had to get a wheelchair. I could not believe I was on my honeymoon in a wheelchair! However the silver lining is that my new husband showed me the true meaning of "in sickness & in health". He was very selfless and did not complain once in 2 weeks. Even when he had to carry all the luggage, push me in a wheel chair and had to cancel some of the activities. Three years later this brings back warm memories! <BR>Please let us know if you went on your trip and how it turned out!