My swelling has gone down!

Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012 - Week 3

I can finally see gaps between my toes! The Swelling is going down finally! My cast feels a bit looser and I am feeling better as each day passes. However, I do feel random spasms, weird sharp, prickly, stabbing, spicy, hot, cold, and throbbing type pain. When I'm on my crutches and moving around a lot, I also notice my leg and toes start to turn purple/blueish color.

I can see now why Dr. Lundy say to bring along with me my pain meds when I'm out. There is a lot of discomfort and pain. Not so much the pain I mean, it's just a lot of pressure I feel when it's not elevated. The blood rushes down and starts to cut off circulation to the ankle and my toes begin to heat up and swell. Since pain meds make me so nauseous, I have stopped taking them since 2 days out of surgery. I think I can take pain pretty well and it's not painful enough to take the meds.

I've also started to feel a bit itchy inside the cast. I've been reading online to learn more about my injury and learned that I should not stick anything inside my cast to scratch my itch or it can injure my leg inside or break the cast. I have to just try to ignore it.

I look forward to my next follow up appointment next Thursday!

First day out with my new cast

Friday, Oct. 12, 2012 - Week 2

My first day out with my new cast! I finally left my room and my bed! It was definitely more comfortable to sleep with a cast on because I felt my safe and it also felt my snug on. My ankle felt very protected! It is very hard and can get heavy when I'm moving around.

My ankle felt swollen still, my toes appeared to be swollen still as well. My loving friends decided to pick me up to have dinner at a friends house just to get me out of my house. I've been cooped in my room and working from home since. Being out of the office was nice too. I get to work in bed everyday and watch TV! So far I have not gotten bored or depressed as some said many people get to that point while in a cast. I do feel bad for asking people to help me do things though. Something I am adjusting to.

Once we got to our friends house, I had to crutch up a good flight of stairs. I was so tired already and felt like I was sweating up a storm.

My friends cooked up a crazy night of Ribs and Crab feast. Well, I had to restrain myself from eating any shellfish or red meat. My mom says it's poison to healing bones and things injured inside my body. It will slow down the healing if i eat these things so I listened and did not eat any of it! It was still a great night to spend with friends and to be out of my house.

I'm out and happy! Not vegetating in bed! I did notice my toes starting to swell more and the discomfort feeling around my ankle from not elevating it. 

I had a great night but felt discomfort and extremely tired from getting around.  

Thanks friends for taking me out! 

New Fiberglass Cast

Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012 - Week 2

I am feeling better by the day! I've been so oddly excited to get a new cast!

11:30am appointment and ready to get this new cast. I was starting to get hungry and the receptionist had food catered to their office. She was so thoughtful and gave me a pot sticker. It was yummy.

I get in to see Dr. Lundy and off comes my splint cast. My leg can finally breathe! I was afraid it would stink but not at all! It felt really good to feel the air on my leg. It felt so free and just so good. I was excited to see what my ankle looked like. To my surprise, in just two weeks in a cast my calf has shrunk in half! No more muscle! It was almost the size of my upper arm! My ankle still appears to be swollen and he said this was normal and will continue to be swollen for a while. Also a bit of blue bruising happening on top of my foot. The dressing on the surgical cut looks good with no blood on it this time. Everything is looking great he says! However, I accidentally got a bit of my heel part wet from showering. My heel was moist and wrinkly, and had to wipe off some dead skin and let my heel dry before putting on the cast.

First he put on this long cotton sock up to my knee and then he wraps it with cotton padding. Then he wraps the wet strips around my entire bottom right leg and starts molding it to my ankle and foot. Making sure my foot is angled correctly in place. He made sure it wasn't too tight and patted it down to form and tighten. Then he started rubbing the exterior and this heat begins to rise. After this nice warm heat, shortly it starts to harden. Another round of this and my cast was done! It was very cool to watch this process. I was then sent to get another round of xrays to check the other side of the ankle where I had dislocated my ankle with torn ligaments to see if it had moved. This was his only concern and wanted to make sure my ankle hasn't moved so the ligaments will mend back in place.

Another fast round of xrays and I returned with a CD with pictures of my xrays. A quick check in again and my ankle appears in tact and another great follow up. The xrays look the same as the last one taken. I'm feeling even better every time I come back to see Dr. Lundy. He then prints me another printout of my xrays and scheduled me to come back in 2 weeks for another check up.

Dr. Lundy says I'll be in this cast for about 6 weeks and then a walking boot. I'm just counting down the days now!

Follow Up Appointment

Friday, Oct. 5, 2012 - Week 1.5

It's October and I made it through the week and went to my first follow up!

1pm was my scheduled appointment time. It was the day to change my dressing and to get an xray to see how the hardware looked on my ankle!

The staff at the front desk was very friendly and helpful. I was directed to my room and waited to see my surgeon. Dr. Lundy knocked on my door and welcomed happily me. I was excited and nervous to see him! He quickly showed me a tiny xray he took the day of surgery to show me what was put on my ankle. I was just so shocked to see how big it was! Then it was time to check my surgical cut and to change my dressing. He slowly removed my splint cast and unwrapped the inside bandage material. My ankle was so swollen it also swelled up my foot! I see my dressing and was amazed how long the surgical cut was. At least 4 inches!  There was some blood and he said it was normal and started to remove them one by one. The ones he removed at the end bled a bit and he said that it was normal. I immediately started to feel warm and had to take my sweather off. I felt a bit light headed and needed to drink some water. I guess seeing my ankle for the first time after surgery made me feel a bit woozy. He then replaced new ones and wrapped my back up with the cotton bandage then placed the half cast and splint back on. He then sent me to get some xrays just down the hallway and to return to his office with the CD pictures they will give me once done. The only thing he was worried about was the gap on the other side of my ankle. He wanted to check if it still had a huge gap since it was dislocated. He was worried that my torn ligaments would be too far apart where he would need to see if he needed to readjust my ankle into place. I'm now a nervous wreck again because all I heard him say really was PAIN!

Off to get xrays! It went so fast, no lines and just had to register myself in and waited for 5 minutes to get into the xray room. I went into this huge xray room and took a few pictures in different angles. As I laid on the table, I can see the metal appear on the screen after each picture taken. It was oddly exciting to see. I was finally done and was sent back to Dr. Lundy's office with a CD of my xrays.

I'm back in Dr. Lundy's office and gave the receptionist my CD. I'm then sent back to my room and he comes in with his laptop. Enlarged on his screen were my xrays! I stared with my eyes wide and mouth open! I couldn't believe what I saw! I said it looked like a comb, or a caterpillar! He said everything looks great! There seems to be no more gap and that the bones looked and close and tight together and back to normal! It was great news! No need to readjust my ankle! I was sooo happy to hear!

He sent me off with a printout of my xray to show off to my family and friends what is now in my ankle. A plate with 9 screw! I left and immediately texted this image to my friends. One hilarious response I got back was "Nice Nails!" haha. 

My next follow up I will be getting a new fiberglass cast!

Family came to visit me...

Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 - Week 1

I wake up to pain! Constant pain! I needed to take my pain meds. My toes appeared to be swollen and felt the throbbing inside my cast. I just wanted the pain to go away...

Soon after waking up, my family came by to visit me. I still didn't tell my grandparents that I had surgery, I didn't want them to worry too much because they're old. Only my aunts knew.

It felt so weird to have them surround my bed. My grandma looked so sad and all I can say is I'm fine and it doesn't hurt. Then my grandpa started to joke around and said he'd punch it to fix it faster. Haha, it got rid of the awkwardness. It was very nice to see everyone. =) They brought over a ton of food and my mom stayed to help clean the house and played with my dog Pebbles.

I remember once I got home yesterday, Pebbles smelled my splint cast and knew I was injured and not feeling well. She was very gentle, looked very sad, and was quiet around me. Dogs and their senses, I thought it was very sweet.

I loved that everyone was so positive around me and wished me to heal fast and well. My mom at first was just upset and complained how I can't and won't be able to do anything. I told her it didn't help that she kept saying all these negative things and all I need now is to hear the positives. It's already done and there's nothing I can do but to rest and heal. She finally stopped the negativity after a day!

Pain meds were making me so drowsy. I had to keep taking it because the pain was just constant. I did notice it getting better as time went by. I was in and out of sleep throughout the night. I was actually well enough to start work the next day.

I am so happy my work is so flexible with me staying home to work while I heal. I am suppose to keep my foot elevated as much as I can to keep the swelling down.

Friday will be my first followup with my surgeon!

Leaving the hospital!

Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012 - Week 1

I'm excited to be able to go home today!

I was in and out of sleep throughout the night because of the IV hydrating me just a bit too much and the nurse coming in a few times to check on my vital signs.

8am came and my morning nurse came to greet me. My night nurse has been so sweet and attentive. I felt very taken care of and comfortable. I was not one bit nervous staying the night. I thought I'd be scared to stay there alone but the night went by really fast with the TV on. I did my deep breadth breathing exercises and snacked on some moon cake my mom gave me from the night before.

8:30am and it was time to order breakfast. The nurse notified me that my physical therapist and surgeon would stop by to check on me and teach me how to use crutches correctly before releasing me.

9:30am, my Physical Therapist appeared and I was just starting my breakfast and can only take in oatmeal. I felt very drowsy with another dose of the pain meds. She wheeled me in on the wheel chair to the physical therapy room and she taught me how to go up and down stairs safely. Then my surgeon came and I was happy to see him! He said I looked well and signed me off to go home. YAY!

I started feeling drowsy as I was practicing going up and down those few steps. After a few rounds she wheeled me back to my room and said I was ready to go. It was pretty quiet on my floor and my nurse said I was one of the last 2 to be released for the day.

Once I got back to my room I felt tired and winded. Not having food for a day really just drained in addition to the pain meds. So the nurse suggested I take a nap before heading home.

12pm came and that 30 minute nap really helped me. I saw my brother and was sooo excited to be released! Packed up the rest of my food and got wheeled out to the exit and on my way home!

As soon as I got home, the pain meds were slowly wearing off and suddenly I felt the constant pain on my ankle. It was time to take my pain meds and rest. Since removing the IV, I can still feel a bit of the pain through the meds! Finally it kicked in and the pain was gone in time for me to sleep for most of the night.

More tomorrow....

Surgery Day!

Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 - Week 1

I'm scheduled to go in by 1:30pm the latest to get ready for surgery to start at 3pm. I wasn't suppose to have any food or drink for at least 8 hours before surgery. I was STARVING! I was a nervous wreck! I got to my room and was told to change into my gown and place all my items into my room bag to be put into the safe locker.

It was 1:45pm and the nurse comes in. It begins! She was a very nice nurse who comforted me with her own personal story about breaking her ankle at age 50 by stepping onto a street crack falling and breaking both the fibula and tibia. She had to be sent to into surgery that same day and had to get plates and screws. She appeared to be walking just fine at age 55 now. She prepared me for surgery with the last round of questions and the IV ready on my left hand. And she finally leaves me at 2:15pm.

It was 2:30pm and another knock came to my door. It's time to head in to meet the anesthesiologist. Being wheeled through the hallway and everyone was very nice and said hi. This very sweet older man comes in to ask if I was allergic to any medications and explained what he will be doing and asked if I had any questions. Once that was done the OR nurse came in to introduce herself and explained that she will be helping in the surgery room and placed the blue cap on my head. She then left me to wait for my surgeon to arrive to greet me. I was getting more anxious.

3pm came, and I'm starting to get even more nervous! Finally, my surgeon arrives to speak to me. Glad he's a silly one and knew how to calm a person down. he joked and said which ankle are we doing surgery on? and marked the correct leg with the R above my right cast. Last words of explaining the procedure and comforting words and then off he went to get ready. The OR nurse wheels me down the hallway and my surgery room was in sight! It looked like a scene from Gray's Anatomy! We made a quick stop jsut before entering the room to pick up a nice warm heated blanket pad placed on me to keep me warm in the cold room. It helped keep me warm and calm. I get in and see a person cleaning tools! It was surreal. It felt a bit cold and chilly in there too. It looked like a huge square room full of things. It felt and looked like a fridge/kitchen tiles all around the walls. I was wheeled towards my table and see the anesthesiologist with his face on and ready. I slowly maneuvered onto the table and laid down to make myself comfortable. Once I got comfortable placing my ankle on the pillow and before I new it the IV needles were in my hand and anesthesia was already getting pumped into my veins. He said "It's in you already." I said "WOW I didn't even notice you put that in already." I asked him, "Do people ever fart during surgery and do you ever laugh?" I saw him laugh through his mask and that was the last I saw him haha!

Next thing I know, I wake up and slowly my sight comes back to me. It was finally over! I noticed a nurse to  the right of me monitoring my vital signs. Then I see my mom! Then I noticed my gown has been changed. Then i hear my surgeon to the left of me telling me surgery went really well! I remember it being blurry and felt no pain. The surgeon came by to tell me again that I did well and everything went well and said goodbye and that he'll be back tomorrow to check on me. I will be staying the night just to monitor me in case because I just got over a staph infection from a spider bite I got 3 weeks prior and fighting off a few infected mosquito bites. Sensitive skin sucks.

I was then wheeled to my room our of Recovery and saw a friend! Everything went by so fast and was still a blur. I noticed it was already 6pm as scheduled to be in my room. Everything went according to time as expected. I noticed I was hooked up to a machine with the IV still attached to my hand. I had morphine available to me with button and the water to hydrate me. I also had a breathing tube in my nose. I was getting a good stream of oxygen and it felt really nice. I thought I'd be hungry but I really had no appetite with all the anesthesia and pain meds in me.

Shortly, 2 more of my close friends, my brother and his girlfriend came to visit! I felt so loved and comforted. Then all of a sudden I started to feel a bit of discomfort. The nurse mentioned once I feel something, use the button as needed. I waited just a bit and I felt more pressure coming and so my friend who works for that hospital suggested if I do feel something to just push the button to relieve the pain. So I pressed the button 3 times! Almost immediately I felt better. One of them said that the anesthesia made my face a bit puffy. She took a picture to show me and the first thing I noticed was how messy my hair was haha! I looked like a chipmunk! 

I got some chicken broth and crackers to snack on just to get some food in me. Since I was not able to eat, it was suggested by the nurse that I had a liquid diet which included some jello. This was a usual diet after getting out of surgery, most patients lose their appetite. It was pretty much all I can stomach. It was getting late and so my friends slowly left one at a time. I also told my mom to go home and rest because I was fine. She wanted to stay the night and asked if I needed her to but there was no bed or comfortable seat for her. I wanted her to get some rest and told her to go home because she had to work the next day. I assured her I was completely fine and felt comfortable and to not worry. I felt no pain at all surprisingly. 

11:45pm came and the night nurse came to relieve the previous nurse and introduced herself. She was such a nice lady and gave me clear instructions on how she will be helping me throughout the night. She wrote onto the board to display the Plan for the day to have a good pain control. That if I needed anything, I can call her from the push of a button from the call machine by my bedside. It was a success! Though I didn't get to sleep much because it wasn't my bed, I had no pain throughout the entire night. In and out of sleep because I had to use the restroom a lot. I felt nauseous and switched from using the morphine button to a better pain med that was injected into my IV instead which worked better.

Every few hours throughout the night, I'd be reminded to do my breathing exercise to prevent getting Pneumonia and having my temperature and blood pressure checked. I was doing great the nurse said. Finally I was over the nervousness and tried to get some rest.

The night went by so fast, glad to have surgery over with. I felt no pain and was very happy about that. The meds were working! I actually some some sleep in!

The day I meet my Surgeon!

Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012 - Week 1

Today, I'm just a nervous wreck! I go in to see the surgeon for the first time. I get to the patient room and am very anxious. I was sent to the cast room. There I saw a bunch of items for casts and a box of fake bones! Then I got more even more nervous!

 

The surgeon comes in and is very nice and very informative with explaining everything he saw on the xray(of the ankle after the ER doctor who popped my dislocated ankle back into place) what had happened to me. Clearly I have a break in my fibula, another angle of another xray of my heel shows it is fractured, and a huge gap on the other side of my ankle shows that I have torn ligaments.

The result is he suggests I need surgery to put in a plate and screws to reattach my fibula which clearly shows it has detached. I start to get really nervous and ask questions. He said it was a no brainer to get the surgery which is called an Ankle ORIF (Open Reduction Internal Fixation) Surgery. If I chose to stay in a cast and not get surgery, he would have to somehow snap my ankle back into place and just cast it which did not sound good at all. So he gave me some time to think about what he just told me and for me to come up with any questions I needed to ask. So I decided with my brother in the room that this was the best decision to go forward and agree with the surgeon to get the surgery done and whatever questions I asked he answered in a very comforting way. He said I am young and will heal better and have even a faster recovery because I am very healthy. It would need to be done within the week he says. So he scheduled the surgery for Friday!

I was given instructions and a pamphlet for the surgery day and had to call in to the hospital to register. He also sent me off to get a blood test to check for any other health issues in case so they are aware of anything in case for surgery day. Thankfully the surgeon and staff were very comforting and nice which made me leave their office not as scared as when I got there.

ER - Broken ankle, fractured heel, dislocated, and torn ligaments. =(

Monday, Sept. 24, 2012 - Week 1

Hi, because I wasn't able to find anything to help me understand what to expect, I wanted to start a blog to record my progress to help those of you who are experiencing the same thing and curious about what to expect next. I really hope this helps!

I had my usual Monday night Co-ed Softball game to play and it was the first time we changed around positions! I was so excited! I played first base and got an out! We got the inning over fast. When it came to my turn to hit, I made a great hit over the middle of 2nd base and got on base safely! Next hit gets in and I'm running to second....I see the ball coming to my head so I decided to go in for a slide. The guy runs in to tag me out, runs over my foot, and steps on my ankle! I felt this crazy snap and saw stars... Next that came was a nasty horrible constant pain. I was down on my hands and knees and couldn't move. It was excruciating pain! Shortly after being carried back to the bench, I started to lose my hearing and sight. I guess I was going into shock. Funny thing is it felt very similar to when I last injured my ankle from Rock Climbing class back in college with a fractured heel and torn ligaments on the same ankle!

So my teammate drove me to the hospital and went straight to the Emergency Room for some xrays. As I was preparing, a very nice nurse came to help and let me take my own shoe off because I knew how painful it would be and best to have me do it if I'd like. I was really nervous to find out if it was indeed broken. So I went in, got the xray, came out and the Doctor said, "It looks like you have dislocated your ankle, broke the fibula, and looks like a fractured heel too. First we'll give you some morphine before we pop it back in place and another round of xrays after that. It may look like you may need surgery. We'll have an orthopaedic take a look at your xrays to decide that later." I'm like oh yea, my ankle is angling to the side! That guy what I thought kicked actually stepped on me pretty hard! At this point, I'm turning white in the face and scared. The nurse comes to give me the morphine and just waiting for it to kick in before they pop my ankle back in. Glad that I had someone there with me. I was getting even more nervous. When I get scared, I like to joke around and so we talked about Unicorns throwing up Rainbows. It was an inside joke with my old coworkers to use as a mascot for our team.

Before popping my dislocated ankle back in

Here we go, morphine kicked in and it was time. The doctor came back, had another nurse get the splint/cast ready and to help. They gave me a warning at least and POP! I squeezed my teammate to death and screamed. It felt like a huge knuckle crack! It wasn't as bad as I thought but maybe it was because the Morphine helped. Then the morphine kicked in just a bit more a little too late haha of course after the popping. However, after casting the ankle I felt less pain. They brought me back in to get xrays and the doctor showed them and explained to me how my ankles looked better and were aligned which was a relief. Except he was concerned about the large gap between the ankle still. Then the scary words, "it may look like you may need surgery." At that point I was getting dizzy and started to sweat. I haven't had any food in my stomach so I started to feel very nauseous from the morphine.

After popping my dislocated ankle back in

It was a very traumatizing day! They sent me off to pick up vicodin and to schedule an appointment to see the surgeon as soon as possible to find out if I needed surgery. Gotta smile through the pain, well actually couldn't really feel the pain after morphine at the emergency room haha.

Surprisingly, the pain was barable and wasn't too bad as long as it was elevated and not moving.

To be continued.... with the day I see my surgeon. I need a break from typing!