The 1st Dr.'s Appt after Surgery

10/17 I couldn't wait for this. I needed a doctor to look at my ankle and just tell me that things look okay. This confirmation of "we're moving in the right direction" was a boost I needed for a pretty dismal time in my life.
Wayne wheeled me in and I got the confirmation I needed. A nurse in training (okay, I'm not going to lie. I know they need training but I don't want anyone near my ankle who doesn't know exactly what they're doing), removed my soft cast ~ the one they applied immediately following surgery~ and the great reveal happened. My foot didn't look as swollen as I might have imagined (though it was huge) but the sutures were pretty freaky. I had researched enough to know what to expect but when it's your ankle, it still surprises you. Here are the photos....not for the squeamish.

Are you still with me? Okay, the first photo is the outside of my ankle~ the longer scar. The second photo is from the inside of ankle. It became pretty clear to me that this particular kind of break doesn't play...this is a big deal.
So, after the nurse in training took a try at removing my sutures (no staples, which surprised me!) and the tears began to flow from the pain of that, the supervising nurse finished off the job and covered the fresh scar with steri-strips. Happily, I am healing well.  The surgeon came in, gave the stamp of approval and told me to start moving the ankle around while I'm lying around at home. Turns out that instead of the coveted, waterproof fiberglass cast I had longed for, the doctor had prescribed moving me to a big black boot. A big black boot that can not only be removed for showers but can be removed to sleep at my discretion. Terrifying!!...and exciting. No weight bearing but at least some relief from the bulky casts.
I was then sent down the hall to Tony who fitted me with a boot and, in doing so, stretched out my achilles heel without a warning shot about how painful that would be. It was quick but it was noticeable! We made an appointment for November 15th (praying, praying, praying that the xrays they take on that date will change their minds about 10 weeks of bearing no weight. Praying that November 15th results in my surgeon saying that my bones appear to be well healed and we can progress with some weight bearing and physical therapy).
My amazing best friend (who happens to be my spouse) took me to breakfast and took me to grab some skirts for a 3 day, very important weekend that I didn't want to miss. Now, I won't go in to that on this blog but I will say this...if you're 2 weeks and a few days post op from this type of surgery, don't get crazily aggressive and travel too far from home. It was difficult and, trust me, I had a lot of help...do yourself a favor and stay home. Continue to heal, continue to rest.

10/21  It's good to be home. I'm lying in bed with the boot off and moving the ankle around a little bit. I'm 3 weeks post op today. I refuse to believe I'm less than 1/3 of the way through this phase. As I said earlier, I firmly believe I'm about halfway to hearing those magic words of "You can begin to bear 25% of your body weight. Next week, you can try bearing about 50% of your body weight." Standing on my own 2 feet by Thanksgiving (8.5 weeks post op) is my goal and I'm relying heavily on the healing power of my body and the healing power of Christ. That said, I will always do what the doctors advise.

Don't take things for granted. Awesome things like walking, seeing, touching, seeing, etc.
Be blessed.
Amy

2 weeks post op

Oct.14, 2013
Well, I made it through the weekend while my husband was away serving at a Christian retreat. I'm so glad he was able to go! Nick, you are a hero in my book. Thank you for taking such good care of me while dad was away~ when I say I couldn't have done this without you, believe it wholeheartedly.

Over the last few days, I've felt less depleted; emotionally and physically. I haven't cried in a few days so that's a positive! I was literally beginning to scare myself with how dark my mood was~ how useless I felt and how negative my outlook. There is good news on the horizon! On Thursday, I get this 8lb soft cast removed (a soft cast is made of plaster and bandages to allow for the swelling that is most certainly going on down there) and, God willing, it will be replaced by something lighter and more comfortable. Before that cast change, the doctor will remove the sutures and staples that are on both sides of my ankle (about 4-5" long each, I think). I'll take pictures of that momentous occasion and will post pics on Thursday afternoon so if you plan on following on that day, be forewarned. I think it's going to be pretty hideous but, at this point, it's one step closer to walking again.
The retreat by husband went to? I'm slated to attend the ladies weekend from this Thursday evening to Sunday evening. They are long, emotional, beautiful, exhausting, wonderful days and I have thought of little else since this surgery. How can I go? How can I not? Well, I put my faith in God this morning and will go unless the doctor thinks it's just a terrible idea at my appointment. So if you pray, please pray that Thursday morning brings good reports from the surgeon and that my stamina and energy will be sufficient through the weekend. Be blessed. ~Amy

11 days post-op....

10/9/13 Last night was the first night since I've been home that was really difficult. I woke up and needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, for one thing. So I wiggled down to the end of the bed and reached out for my walker. I knew that Wayne had been packing all evening and my first thought was that he may have left bags around the room and I couldn't see where they were. If I fall while on the walker...well, let's just say I can't think of much worse than falling on the walker. Turns out he had moved all of his bags to the side (of course he did) and I made it to and from the bathroom without incident. But what happened next really stunk~ I had crazy nightmares. Completely unfounded, crazy dreams that were just my biggest fears realized. Being left alone. Being abandoned. I woke up at 7, exhausted and in need of getting ready for Home Health Care.   8am~ an hour of exercises meant to strengthen my left leg and my arms and all I could think of was getting back to bed. Getting sleep. Escaping from this reality.
10/9/13 evening   Wayne took me on a car ride up to Brooksville to get me out of the house for the first time and I was so overwhelmed, I just cried for the first 15 minutes. I hate all of this crying and just can't seem to stop it. I was crying because the sunset was so beautiful and I was so happy to be OUTSIDE and I was crying because I realized how life was going on without me as I sit in my house convalescing. This is my favorite time of the year~ has been my entire life~ and I had plans of walking every morning with the arrival of the cooler weather and taking my dogs on long jaunts...but that isn't going to happen now and it's just incredibly sad for me to take in.
10/10/13 morning   Wayne left for work this morning and I won't be seeing him until Sunday night. If it were a business trip, he would have canceled it~ but this time away has been planned for the last several months and he'll be serving God and serving men. He needs to be there. Nick (my son) will be available and I'll be fine. Nick has been a Godsend. He uses his lunch hour every day to come home, get my lunch together, take dogs out, etc. and never complains. He just helps me with a good natured attitude and I'm so blessed by that.  I'm going to hobble with my walker out to the lanai this morning and enjoy the temps and fresh air. I'm going to try very hard to maintain a positive attitude...especially over the next few days. I'm looking ahead to next Friday when I'll see my orthopedic surgeon and he will, God willing, give me a new (lighter!) cast and encouraging words about my recovery so far. I would appreciate your prayers for that, as well.

How in the heck did I break 3 bones?

I've gotten a lot of questions about how I did this. So let's start there. You might be surprised how easy it was to suffer this stupid injury.
I was at the Sep.29 Tampa Bay Bucs game. It was a 1pm game; it was hot and I didn't hydrate, which just happens to be the story of my life. Anyway, I had several signs that my body wasn't reacting well to the heat but I waited until halftime to do much about it. At that time, I trudged up the 10 or so steps from my seat to the party deck area where I quickly found some shade and thought the worst was over. Somehow, I lost my son and husband enroute to the shade and that probably made all of the difference. The shade didn't work quickly enough, I fainted, and collapsed directly on my ankle. All of my body weight on an ankle.
When I landed, things began to happen immediately. EMT's were putting me in a wheelchair, masses of people were asked to move out of the way and I was rolled the short trek to the First Aid room. Almost immediately, Wayne and Nick rushed in and the look on Nick's face told me all I needed to know about my ankle. After a very uncomfortable transfer from wheelchair to stretcher, I was wheeled into some underground portion of the stadium for transport via ambulance to the hospital. It was made acutely clear to me that I was unable to receive pain meds at that time because my BP was 72/42, dangerously low to receive narcotics.
Once we arrived at the hospital, I was treated by a mass of doctors, nurses, xray techs, resp techs, etc. I remember when they finally got my BP to near 100 over something, I was able to receive morphine and I thought things would look up. Unfortunately, it didn't quite go that way. A doctor told me that in addition to the obvious surgery I was going to need for this tri malleolar fracture, my ankle was dislocated and he needed to put it back in place. Right then. They asked Wayne to wait outside (why on earth would anyone want to witness that??) and he proceeded to twist, push and manipulate my ankle for minutes on end. When I say the tears were flowing, that's an understatement. Eventually, that ended and he said they'd take a quick xray to make sure he had gotten my ankle realigned. Suffice it to say that the ankle had not been relocated completely and we had to go through that process again. Childbirth was nothing compared to this. Nothing.
Eventually, probably well into the evening, we made our way up from the ER to my private room.
Surgery Day: 9/30/13
I woke up in some pain but I knew that once surgery happened later that day, the pain I was feeling at that moment would be insignificant...and I was right. Someone wheeled me down to pre-op and Wayne was, of course, right by my side. I had a little meltdown somewhere between the surgeon talking to me and the anesthesiologist coming in but I vividly remember Sister Pat (I think her name was Pat) praying with Wayne and I right before I went into surgery. Everything went dark before I even got to the OR and the next thing I knew, I was being wheeled back to my room~ ceiling tiles above me and a head full of cobwebs.
I should add here that if I didn't have an amazing husband who stayed every night of my 4 nights in the hospital, who helped me get to a bedside toilet (sexy, I know) when needed, who brought make-up and blowdryers from home, who talked to me and encouraged me, etc., I literally don't know how I would have gotten through that hospital stay. It was so difficult.
Day 6: 10/6/13
Our 29th wedding anniversary. Not our best. I sunk into a huge depression as Wayne cleaned all day and I sat on the couch, in and out of sleep. I only mention it was our anniversary so that I can remember never, ever to revisit that particular day again. Dark day. I've had a few this week, a few times of complete meltdown~ crying jags spawned from this place of uselessness. I enjoy doing things for my family like making lunches, dinner, having a clean house, etc. and now I do nothing. I can manage to get from the sofa to the bathroom or the bedroom to the kitchen with the use of a walker and that's it. I'm a burden and it's the toughest pill I've ever had to swallow in my life.