Sunday, August 1, 2010

3 weeks in a cast, 2 weeks after surgery

It's been a pretty difficult time for me these past few weeks not being able to walk. My self confidence has diminished and I'm having a hard time accepting the fact that I have to rely on others to help me out. I keep telling myself that the situation could have been worse, but nothing could prepare me for the feelings that overcame me. (The pain killers they provided me made me very emotional too, so that didn't help either.) I cried everyday, felt sorry for my boyfriend who would have to take care of me over the next few weeks, and was extremely saddened at the fact that I would have to ask some friends of mine to pick me up and drive me to work everyday. To make matter's worse, my boyfriend and I planned a trip a month from my injury to Peru to trek through Machu Picchu with a few good friends of mine. Realizing that broken ankles can take months to heal, that would definitely have to be put on hold.


July 14, 2010 - I landed wrong on my right ankle in a recreational basketball game. Thinking it was no more than a sprain, my friend drove me to St. Michael's hospital that night to get it checked out. My luck, I broke the fibula in one place. Bye bye driving.

At the hospital the resident doctor attempted to put the bones back in place to avoid surgery, but alas, it wasn't possible. So I was scheduled the next week to go into surgery. I was sent home the next day at 3:30am with a plaster cast (no weight bearing) and a set of crutches which were never fitted to me. So I made a guess on how they should fit and used them that way until the surgery the next week. My right wrist hurt for the next few days.

July 16, 2010 - Went back to the hospital to get blood work done and provided some background information to a registered nurse regarding my health to make sure that I was a suitable candidate for anesthesia. They also provided more information on things I needed to do to prepare myself for surgery. No eating after midnight the night before and only sips of apple juice or water up to two hours of surgery the next day. Also told me I had the option of staying overnight depending on how I felt.

July 20, 2010 - Surgery morning. I spoke to the Doctor briefly before the surgery regarding what would needed to be done. Told me possibly 7 screws and a plate and six weeks in a cast. I gave him a disappointed look and asked if there was anything else that could be done to lessen the time. He smiled and said, "We'll try to get you out after 4 weeks.." Maybe, just trying to entertain my thought. Moments later a nurse provided me with a nerve block in my leg that was to last 16-24 hours after surgery. He also offered me to do an epidural, which I passed.

Woke up after the surgery and found out that they put in a total of 9 screws and plate. (Guess go hard or go home!) My leg was throbbing so the nurse administered more morpheme. Since I had the option of staying overnight, I decided to stay in the hospital just to make sure I was in good hands.


July 21, 2010 - By the morning, I was in excruciating pain. The doctors were saying that it was because the nerve block was wearing off. Funny thing was that my calf that was hurting the most, not my ankle. They prescribed more oxycodine which I have been refusing to take even after I broke my ankle. But since the pain was so bad, I gave in. I was discharged from the hospital still in tears from the pain. I tried to go home and sleep, but despite taking the oxycodine every four hours, the pain was still keeping me awake. My boyfriend took me back to the emergency to get it checked out and put on a looser and lighter plaster cast. It felt a lot better. So I took a picture at this point to see what the cut look like.

July 27, 2010 - Swelling of my leg went down a lot and the cast was loosening. I felt like there was no support and the cast was scraping against the cut. I went back to the fracture clinic hoping that they would put a new cast on. Instead, they simply taped it up tighter since there was a gap in the front part of the cast. It felt better.

August 4, 2010 - I'm still elevating my leg as much as possible, because my toes start to tingle and puff up if I keep my leg down for too long. I think the toes look shriveled up when I elevate it for enough time. The toes on my right foot are slightly darker than the other foot. My boyfriend thinks I'm making all this up.


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