I was taking my dog (Brownie) out so she could relieve herself.
As I was walking down, a combination of wet grass and fallen leaves caused my right foot to slip. Then my left foot got caught in an indentation in the ground. I was facing away from the building when this happened. My ankle then twisted around, and I heard a loud snap and down I went, on my back, facing the building. First thought through my head: "Oh fuck it's broken." At this point I was in pain, but not in pain, because it hurt but I was more shocked than hurt at the time. Also, at this time, Brownie wandered off about 10 feet away to take a second crap. This struck me as funny, even though I was hurting. Then she came back and sat by me. And since I have nothing better to do as I am stuck on the couch, here's an illustration done with Paint. Yeah, I'm that bored.
Finally, a woman came out and I called her over. She took Brownie's leash and calmed her down. Then she got me to crawl on my hands and knees back to the building, up the elevator to the 3rd floor and into my apartment. I think she thought it wasn't broken, just sprained or something. But that hurt like hell. Why couldn't she have just taken Brownie in and called 911? I dunno. Why didn't I suggest that at the time? Well, I wasn't thinking all that clearly.
After the ambulance ride, and getting to the hospital, and waiting for a bed, and getting X-rays and all that, the doctor told me that I had a break on each side of my ankle (the ankle is comprised of multiple bones) as well as bad dislocation. They couldn't set it at the local hospital, it was too complex and would need surgery since the bone had shifted. And the Peterborough hospital was the one I was referred to. And I would have to wait until MONDAY to go to the fracture clinic there, and maybe have surgery the same day. Keep in mind, I broke the ankle Thursday around noon. I had to wait the entire weekend and then some, just to be seen in Peterborough. They splinted it so it wouldn't move around and gave me a prescription for T3's for the pain, which really, really did not help.
Either the next day or 2 days later we went back to Emerg, because it was so painful and heavy I could barely lift my leg to get off the couch and onto the wheelchair, to get to the bathroom. So guess what they did. They extended the splint/temp. cast thing to above my knee. Cuz it wasn't heavy enough in the first place. However, they replaced the Tylenol 3s with Dilaudid (hydromorphone), which helped. Over that weekend, it would take me 1 hour all together to get to and from as well as use the bathroom each time I had to go, because the pain was excruciating, and getting up was like an event requiring Olympic type strength. I called the docs every name in the book over the weekend.
So on Monday, we went to the Fracture Clinic. The doctor there, re-splinted it, with a much lighter, easier to manage material. My leg no longer felt like it weighed a freaking ton. (Bathroom was still hard but much easier, comparatively.) Doc then told me, surgery would be scheduled for Wednesday OR Friday(6-8 days after breaking my ankle in such a horrible way that the local doc can't fix it). Well, my family and I were like WTF?!?!? It's been 4 days and you want us to wait more?!?!? Then Doc said 'Well, your case is not urgent." [My thoughts: Maybe if I shove my foot up your ass, it would be more urgent. Pain makes me have violent urges lol] But seriously, not urgent? The doc said 'Blame the system, it's not my choice, it's what I'm told to do.' I HATE the health care system.
So after 2 more days of horrible pain and discomfort, I was set for surgery on Wednesday(Oct 20). We arrived 2 hours before surgery time as told. Then we were told I needed blood work done first, which should have been done Monday. Well, apparently my doc has memory problems, because he neglected to mention this. So the surgery was delayed by a couple hours, since I had to go get blood drawn, and my body does not like to give up it's blood, so they had to stab me multiple times. I nearly passed out, because I had not eaten/drank anything for 9ish hours at that point, as per doc's instruction, and I always hate drawing blood.
So, time passes, etc, etc... and then as I'm about to head into surgery, the anesthesiologist(SP?) comes to talk to me. My actual doc/surgeon never did before or after the surgery. The anesthesia dude then told me a bit about the procedure, and that I'd be getting local anesthetic, as well as a nerve block, and also gave me the option of just local, or knocking me out. I chose to be knocked out.
When I woke up after the surgery, my teeth were chattering. And my ankle hurt really, really badly. The lovely nurses gave me a couple Percocets and some water. Then she showed me my leg, which was wrapped up in the cast and all, and my toes were yellow. I was still a little out of it from the anesthetic and all, so I said "Is it supposed to be yellow?" She laughed and said it was from the iodine. Now, for the funnier, stupider question: "When will it stop being yellow?" She laughed again, and said after it was washed off. Apparently, I'm quite amusing, and stupid, when under the influence of many pain relievers.While in the recovery room when my family was allowed to see me, my mom and sister told me that my behaviour was almost childlike, and it was obvious I was on some serious meds, because I was laughing and joking, etc. I also got a prescription for Percocets which work much better than T3s or hydromorphone.
So anyways, I have another appointment on Monday to check on it, remove stitches and what not, and put me in a different cast. I'm not particularly fond of my doctor, because he doesn't seem to care to talk to his patients. But I'm stuck with him, so I just hope all goes well.
Wow, this was a really long post. I'll update after my next appointment maybe.
