The Ridiculously Long Road to Recovery

Let me start by saying that had I written this post yesterday, it would have been a MUCH different post.  You'll find out why in a bit.

6 weeks.  It has been 6 weeks since I stepped off a step of 6 inches, slipped on a patch of ice, and changed my life.  In some ways it has been the absolute longest 6 weeks of my life.  In others...it seems like wow...didn't that just happen yesterday?  One thing is for certain, I haven't had a full night of sleep in 6 weeks.  Yikes.

I saw the awesome orthopedic surgeon a little over 3 weeks ago, and they removed the splint and staples.  I kid you not, I was more nervous for this Dr. appointment than I was before surgery.  I had talked to my aunt, who had broken both wrists a few years ago, and she told me that removing the staples was really painful.  So I took a percocet, and went to the Dr. 

I had nothing to be worried about.

Nothing.

This might have been the best Dr. appointment of my life. 

I actually had...can you believe it...fun.  I laughed.  I hobbled out in a much better mood than I went in.

The nurse took out my staples, and assured me that she hadn't made anyone else cry that day.  So I felt pretty good about her abilities.  The main thing that got to me was that my foot, my leg, that I have been looking at my entire life, and know fairly well, now looked like an alien being attached to my my knee.  Weird...I tell you.  It looked weird!!  See:

 It looks really weird.  And swollen.  And discolored. 

So anyway...the Dr. came in and the first thing he noticed were my crutches.  The BP had decorated them with Superman duct tape the night before...because Superman is awesome.  And apparently my Dr's 2 year old son totally agrees with me. 

Nevermind C's 3 year old son who took one look at them and said "Batman's better."

But then it was on to the real stuff...like making sure I could blow this Popsicle stand and head to Florida.  That was fine. 

And on yeah...he showed me my X-Ray's.  And my new Wolverine-esque ankle.  Ok...normally I am VERY squeamish.  VERY.  But for some reason...these X-Ray's haven't bothered me.  But if you're more squeamish than me...you might want to skip the pictures. 

 So what you're looking at here are 9 screws, and one really long metal plate that is over 6 inches long.  The good thing is that a mere two weeks after surgery, and you can barely see where the breaks were in the bones.  The bad news is that I still had a severely sprained ankle.  But I could start putting some pressure on it, and more and more as time goes by.  The better news was that the boot can come off to shower!!! And I can take it out to stretch and ice a few times a day. 

So while the Dr. was showing me the current X-Ray...I asked if I could take a picture of it.  And he said that would be fine.  Then asked if I had the before X-Rays...which I didn't.  So they pulled those up on the computer.

 See...I did a REALLY good job of breaking my ankle. 

 And then they pulled one up that they took DURING surgery.  Yeah...that's the Dr. working on one of the screws right there. 

Ok...the gross part of the show is over :)

He also told me that I had a really old injury where I had sprained my ankle and chipped a piece of bone off my ankle.  I had no clue that I did that.  But knowing my klutzy self...it doesn't surprise me. 

Ok...so that was then...

...this is now.  I get to wear this fabulous piece of footware for at least a couple of more weeks.  But we're being optimistic, and I get to take a left shoe to my next Dr. appointment. 

I flew to Florida a few days after my Dr. appointment, and I've now been here 3 weeks.  Let me say this...I have flown a lot in my life.  A LOT!  But never damaged before.  And that's totally the way to go.  They got a wheel chair for me, and I got to skip to the head of the security line.  I got on the plane first.  This is ideal. 

Not that that would be a reason to ever break another bone ever again...because it isn't. 

Recovering in Florida has been nice...for the most part.  My parents are here to take care of my every need.  Though sometimes it kinda feels like I'm a little kid again.  Or like a teenager...asking to borrow the car to go get a milk shake.  But it's been relaxing...which is what I need.  Because I have been able to do everything I could from here.  And here it's 80 degrees most days. 

And I got a pedicure (look closely in the picture above) and...yes...I chose blue polish because I wanted my toes to be blue on purpose.  Not because they were bruised or without circulation this time.  The pedicure was amazing...because the massage was quite possibly the most amazing thing I have ever felt in my entire life.  Yowza!!

But on a serious note.  It has been 6 weeks.  And I did a lot of damage to my ankle.  I am (relatively) young.  And I am following (ok...at least TRYING) Dr's orders.  I have to remind myself of this on a daily basis.  And the thing that often slips my mind is I have a lot of foreign objects in my body now.  And this isn't like the Junior Mint episode of Seinfeld...where all is hunky dory afterward.  No no...my body doesn't like that I'm turning into Wolverine.  It's fighting that daily.  Some days are better than others.  But every day...I get a gentle...or not so gentle reminder of where every single screw and piece of metal is. 

If the weather is bad...or going to be bad...it's a much worse day.

I have already had one old lady bone in my right foot for years.  It tells me when it's going to rain or snow...or when the wind is going to blow too hard.

That pales in comparison to my left ankle. 

The last few days have been really bad.  Awful actually.  2 nights ago, I barely slept 4 hours, and I was awake every hour because my ankle woke me up, and I just simply couldn't get comfortable.  And it hurt a lot yesterday.  I pretty much didn't want to do anything but curl up in the fetal position.  The dad, wisely, recommended that I break into my stash of pain killers so I could at least get a decent night of sleep.  I haven't taken pain killers since before I came to Florida, and I was feeling really good about that.  I've taken Advil a couple of times to knock the edge off...but nothing more than that.  So I was hesitant...but I also figured it was a good idea.

And holy cow, I forgot what good pain killers were like.  I forgot that they also have a property that relaxes you a little...makes you a little goofy.  And oh yeah...doesn't really make all of the pain go away...it just makes you forget about it a little more.  So that really means that I slept about as well last night as I have in the past 6 weeks.

So...6 weeks.  I want to be doing more than I am.  I can take a few steps...cautiously.  I can get in and out of the shower, and stand there just fine.  I may have walked across the room...without a boot...without my ankle wrapped in any way...and I may have gotten yelled at for doing so by the dad.   6 weeks is not a long time.  And I can certainly tell that I have made leaps and bounds in recovering.  But I still have a long way to go.  Because some may say that taking a few steps right now is great.  But I sometimes look at that and say..."but I'm a marathon runner!! I have ran 40 miles in 1 weekend before...I should be able to do so much more! I ran 20 miles 8 weeks after I had surgery last time!!"  So I'm stubborn, and impatient...

I was told by a very good friend, not long after I did this, that God has been trying to teach me a lesson my entire life.  And I just wasn't getting it.  So sometimes God takes some extreme steps to get your attention.

Dear God, I get it.  You're making me take a step back, and really listen.  Next time, I'll try to remember this and not get so pigheaded that you need to break a bone again.

Kthx.

So while I am occasionally going out of my mind because I can't do much of anything...I am also trying to enjoy it.  Because I know that as soon as I can be up and going again, I will be.  And I have hopes that I will come out of this whole experience a better, stronger person.  Because there really is no better experience to help see things clearly, and really put things in perspective.  And I am trying to listen.