Ankle…Same Song, Different Verse

Today I had surgery again on my ankle.  This time it was to remove the hardware put in to support the broken outside leg bone just above the bend in the ankle.  You can read about my fall and resulting injury I had last June here.  My ankle has healed but I have had pain/discomfort for months off and on and it does not bend forward very much so walking can be slow and uncomfortable.  My Dr. is hoping that taking out the plate and 8 screws plus a little scar tissue will help all of the above..so am I.  I had the surgery in an outpatient clinic and didn’t have to be there until 10:30 am and it being an hour away from where I live it was nice not to have to get up before dawn to get there.  Usually I have had surgeries very early in the morning.  I was home by 4:00 pm and on the couch with my foot elevated and iced right away so the surgery time was just right.

I did get to bring the sanitized plate and screws home with me…the grandchildren will be fascinated as they have felt it through my skin and have had lots of questions about it over the months.  The plate is about 5 inches long and about 3/8” wide with the 8 holes where the screws were.  What I find interesting is that the screws are 3 different lengths.  The longest being about 3/4” and the smallest about 1/2” long.  Hmmm…I wonder if I can use them as embellishments on a quilt, any ideas?

The colored area on my toes and above the elastic wrap is the Betadine antiseptic they used to sanitize my leg and ankle.  Eventually it will get washed off when I can take a shower, but not for 4 days though. It is pretty ugly though.

I am to use crutches with just a little pressure on my toes while wearing my black boot for a week then some more pressure on the whole foot with the boot on the next week...building up to putting my whole weight on it.  I will use the crutches for 2 weeks and maybe be able to get rid of the boot after I see the Dr. at that time.  This is the same boot I had to wear for 2+  weeks after I had my cast off last summer.  I can take it off when I am sitting or laying down though…am grateful for that as it is quite heavy and very stiff and gets very annoying in a big hurry.  It is for my protection when I am up as my holey leg bone is quite fragile now until some bone grows in the holes.  The Dr. doesn’t want me to accidentally put my foot down or bobble on the crutches and put it down and break the bone so I will follow my Dr. instructions as sometimes I am a bit of a klutz.

The humorous part of the morning was when I had to sign my initials on the ankle/leg to be operated on.  (The nurse and the Dr. had to initial that leg too…you can see the purple Dr. initials above the elastic bandage on that first photo.)  This to avoid any goof on the part of the surgery team…I sure wouldn’t want an incision on my good leg.  Anyway back to my initialing.  My nurse burst out laughing when she saw my initials….LEG.  She said that was the funniest one she had seen in a long time.  I thought it was very appropriate too since it was a leg I was signing.

Don’t feel too bad for me just laying on the couch…..I have my little nest of media around me, plus snacks, drink and pain meds.  Take a look at this photo and you will see the boot, crutches, computer, case that holds my external hard drive of photo storage, house phone, cell phone, Ipod with music and audio books, pain medication, antibiotics, insulated cup of water, newspapers, and lip balm all with in reach.

I also have borrowed the wheel chair again from my friend that I plan to use these first few days anyway.  Our house is quite long and the bedroom is at the far end opposite the family room and with my shoulder not quite back to 100% I need to not injure it or strain it too much.  You can see I am watching a movie right now on the TV too.  I am wondering if I am in media overload.  At least I shouldn’t get bored should I?

I used the three days after I got home from my trip to Paducah to get ready for this surgery so have not had time to post too much about it yet…hope to do that the next few days to catch you up.  I did get my house pretty clean and the lawn mowed and a little flower garden work done though.  We have food in the freezer that I have been packaging and freezing for the last month so we will be well fed with little work.  I could have had this surgery a month ago but didn’t want to take a chance that I would not be healed enough to enjoy my trip to Paducah…I know what I had and how to deal with the swelling, pain and stiffness but didn’t know how I would heal so opted to have the surgery as soon as I could after I was home.  I want to be healed for summer gardening and family events so hope it all works out.

Time for another pain pill then off to bed I go….”talk” to you all later.

Lynn