After all is said and done...?

Well, hello to all you blog followers out there. I want to preemptively say that while typing this blog today I am under the influence of some pretty powerful pain medication so, if nothing makes sense, there you go. I feel obligated to fill you all in on the latest on my ankle. I had surgery wednesday afternoon. It was scheduled to begin at 2:45 p.m. We showed up around 12:45 so they could get me all checked in and the pre-op stuff taken care of as well. They took care of all of that despite it taking three different shots to get into a vein. I guess I might have been dehydrated because they told me not to eat or drink anything after 6:00 a.m. hmmm. No big deal. At 3:00 they took me from the surgery waiting area to another room to finish by hooking me up to a heart monitor and putting a nerve block from my knee down. The nurse then put in the first doses of anesthesia. The next thing I remember is halfway waking up in a room with Michelle and a slightly loony nurse. It was around 8:30 p.m. The surgery was supposed to take around an hour... No, you're not the only one that sees the difference. The next part of the story is what Michelle told me, and come to find out, what the doctor had told me before I went into the Operating Room. After receiving the results from my CT scan, it was determined that things were much worse than they had anticipated. Fortunately they were able to know this because of the CT scan. Thank goodness!
It turns out that I had not only broken the two bones, but that I had done a lot of damage to the cartilage in my joints. This complicates things immensely because cartilage doesn't heal like bone does. The surgery ended up taking a couple hours rather than one, and it also got started later than was scheduled. I think they had to run to Home Depot to grab some more screws. j/k I ended up with nine screws and a plate. They also had to take a small piece of bone from further up my shin to use for some patch work on my ankle.

Since the surgery had to be done differently, this also affected the amount and type of recovery I would need. I go in to have the stitches removed and a permanent cast put on two weeks from the day of the surgery. Three months after that is when I will be able to put any load bearing weight on my ankle and have a walking cast. Three more months will pass before I will lose the walking cast. So, for those of you who missed the discrepancy with the surgery time, that is six and a half months. The Dr also told us that because of the damage to the cartilage, I will have arthritis.

Hopefully I didn't forget anything important. If I did, it might be that Michelle hasn't told me yet, or it's because of the oxycodone and hydrocodone they have me taking. WooHoo!!

I'm pretty sure I'll look back on this post and say to myself "what the heck was wrong with me." If you feel that way about what I write, just know you're not alone in thinking it.

Michelle has handled things pretty well. She seems to be acting a little strange lately, but I don't know if it's me or not. If anyone has some insight let me know. She's basically waited on me hand and foot since last saturday. I can't even bring a glass of water to the living room. I have to drink it from the counter I poured it at. I am so grateful for her and what she is doing for me.