One of the things I have wanted to write about on the blog for a while now is my ankle injury and recovery. I had forgotten about writing about it for a while, and recently thought about it again because my ankle has been in a lot of pain lately. I just have a feeling something is not right, so I am heading to the doctor tomorrow.
December 19, 2013-
19 has always been my unlucky number. It was my last day of exams before heading home for Christmas break. I had taken three loads of stuff out to my car. I was on my last load of stuff. I live on the second floor. I made it down the stairs just fine. But then, that curb that changes from sidewalk to parking lot came up to get me! Next thing I know, I am on the ground and my mom's brand new wrapped up CrockPot flew out of my hands. Don't worry, the CrockPot was fine. However, as I hit the ground, I hear: crack. crack. crack. The only words I can manage to get out of my mouth are mother fuck. I was in complete shock. I tried to get up and couldn't. Thank God I had my phone in my pocket and one of my roommates was home. Still thanking the big man upstairs for that, to this day. I called my roommate, and she took forever to answer the phone. Still unable to get words out of my mouth, all I could manage to say was "come outside." She was out in an instant, and helped me to her car where we headed to the emergency room. Needless to say, I didn't go to my exam. On the way, I called my mom. She's a teacher, so it was not surprising that she did not answer her phone. Next, I tried my dad. He picks up right away, and doesn't even say hello. All he says is "What's wrong?" Then I started sobbing and he was out the door on the way to get me. (My house is about an hour an a half from my college). He calls me back a few minutes later, and asks if I called my mom. I'm somewhere between hysterically laughing and sobbing, and told him that she wouldn't answer the phone. So he decides to go get her before coming to get me.
We get to the ER, and I am seen right away. That is probably the only ER on the planet where I have never had to wait. Within 30 minutes, they had already taken my x-rays, and told me I had a trimalleolar fracture (all three bones that make up the ankle were broken), and that I was going to need surgery. I called my parents back, and told them what was going on. I was put in a splint since they were not sure if the surgeon was going to put me in a boot or hard cast. By the time my parents got to town, I was just getting discharged from the emergency room. Perfect timing! My mom already had an appointment scheduled for the next morning with the orthopedic surgeon.
December 20, 2013-
Sleeping in a recliner because you can't sleep on your side sucks more than you can imagine. I might also add that this is my right leg... aka no driving for basically forever. I barely slept the night before. The hospital had prescribed me hydrocodone for pain. I woke up and told my mom I needed a bucket quick. I puked up every bit of medicine I had taken. I met with the surgeon at 8am. He told me he wanted to go on and operate before my leg had a chance to start swelling. Next thing I know, I am puking again from the medicine while the doctor is trying to tell me what he is going to do when he cuts me open. He put me in a boot, that I would have a love/hate relationship with for the next three months. I made it out of his office without managing to puke anymore. Until the car starts moving, and my trusty bucket is back in business. I can't even keep water down. So not only am I starving, but I am also in pain because medicine won't stay in my system.
December 21, 2013-
Surgery day. Being at the hospital two hours before surgery is completely pointless. I literally laid there and did nothing. My operation lasted about an hour. He had to put in a plate and three screws, but planned on taking one of the screws out once the bones healed. My body handled the anesthesia really well. I was given a choice of either a nerve block for pain or an IV for pain. I opted with the nerve block, because I didn't want the IV to make me nauseous. And because I was so done with needles that day. The nurse already poked me 3 times trying to get my IV to stay in place. He told me I couldn't put weight on it for at least six weeks, and then we would reevaluate when that time came.
December 22, 2013-
I woke up feeling great. Then I got up to use the bathroom, and my nerve block wore off. I was suddenly in the worst pain I have ever experienced before in my life. I couldn't stop crying out in pain. My mom had to call the doctor. The nurse forgot to tell me to up my pain meds the morning after the surgery so that I wouldn't feel the nerve block wearing off. Well she happened to forget the tiny little detail that would have saved me hours of pain.
January 3, 2014-
Post-op appointment. I got lucky and had stitches that did not need to be pulled out. When they took my foot out of the boot, I just stared at it. It was so ugly and deformed and bruised. The doctor said it seemed to be healing well, and he would check it out again when we were at the six week mark.
January 20, 2014- Back to school. I think I cried more in this weekend that my mom took me back to school, more than I had anytime in my life. I hated crutches more than anything in the entire world. I was horrible with them, and scared of falling down in the hallway on the way to class. Somehow, I managed to get all my classes back to back in the same building, which made me feel somewhat better. My mom tells me she got me a present. It was a knee scooter, where you scoot around with your bad leg up on the seat. This time, there were tears of joy. It made getting around so much easier. If you ever break a leg, which I hope to God does not happen because I would not wish this pain on anyone, get a knee scooter. It will save your life.
January 21, 2014-
First day of the semester. If I have to answer the question about what happened to my foot again today, I will hurt someone. I was really tired after my first day, but I was not in a lot of pain. I started only taking Tylenol when I came back to school.
January 28, 2014-
Six week appointment with the surgeon- x-rays showed everything was healed, but he wanted to make sure it was really healed before he let me put weight on it. Told me to stay off of it for two more weeks, then I could start physical therapy. He wrote me a prescription for my PT, and we scheduled my screw removal surgery for the Monday of my spring break.
February 11, 2014 (a year ago today!)-
First day of physical therapy. It was pretty challenging and tiring, but it was not painful like people told me it would be.
March 7, 2014-
Pre-surgery doctor's appointment. I had to go in for x-rays to make sure the screw that the doctor wanted to take out was still in one piece, otherwise he was going to leave it in there. At this time, I was down to using one crutch and my walking boot.
March 10, 2014-
Surgery round 2. This one went a lot smoother than the first one. I was awake for it. It was kinda cool, you just lay there on a table for 45 minutes with a warm blanket over you and cool music playing. He told me I could finally ditch the boot, and the crutch, when I was ready. Little did he know, I only brought left shoes home from school because I thought I would be in the boot all week, oops. Luckily, my grandma saw this as an opportunity to take me shopping ;) This recovery was so much quicker than the last one. I wanted to go out with friends the night after my surgery, but my mom wouldn't let me. At the end of the week, I was able to drive my car back to school :)
March 28, 2014-
Two week post-op. I had one stitch removed, and the doctor said everything was looking good. He told me a few more weeks of physical therapy would be all I needed. I scheduled my final orthopedic appointment that would be my four month checkup.
April 23, 2014-
Final orthopedic appointment, and he told me I could be done with physical therapy!
April 28, 2014-
Graduated from physical therapy! My place made a really big deal about finishing PT so that was kinda cool :)
Scar at 6 weeks vs. Scar at 4 months
As you can see, (props to you if you made it this far), this is not an easy recovery process. It takes a lot of time and patience, and it is also a learning experience. I was amazed how many people did not pay attention enough on campus to hold a door open for me. Now every time I see a person on crutches, I always try to run to their rescue and help them out. Trying to get back into a workout mode after being off one for so long is hard. My advice is to take it slow, and don't do more than you can handle.
I can also always tell when it's going to rain. My ankle starts throbbing about thirty minutes before the rain. It's kinda cool and creepy at the same time.
I am hoping the doctor tomorrow will be able to help me out with the pain I am feeling, and hopefully I will have an answer for those of you who are looking for a solution too.
xo,
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