Stitches out

Visited Dr. Ablove's office today and they removed the bandages and stitches from last Friday's first dorsal compartment release. Swelling is minor and range of motion has improved.

I think they tricked me when they said 10 weeks until recovery

Back by popular demand.... blog entries.

So after 5 weeks... what has changed?

I am well into physical therapy (both water and..erm.. land). Due to buoyancy, body weight is decreased by 90% when in the water. So I can walk in the pool fairly unassisted. It amazes me how liberated I feel for 15 minutes while doing my exercises. I'd go every day if it didn't send me reeling in pain by the time I got home. I am putting weight on my leg when out of the pool as well & my range of motion and flexibility in my ankle has increased. I have been cleared to drive (not while taking drugs of course). So it turned out to be a good thing that I bought a car with an automatic transmission 2 weeks before the accident. The beetle is stick.. and I don't know when I'll be able to step on a clutch peddle.

I've started working from home.. and I am catching up on my email (right now I am reading the dramas of late December). For those of you that need to chat w/ me for work related issues... just stop by. I'm only a few miles from the data centre & Cricket loves company.

So after 5 weeks... what hasn't changed?

I'm still on crutches and have a love/hate relationship with my boot (and any left shoe for that matter). The swelling and soft tissue damage is still preventing me from wearing proper shoes on my feet.

My wrist is still screwed up. What was thought to be a sprain and would clear up after some time in a splint may have turned into a larger issue. You might be saying to yourself... wait Sarah hurt her wrist too? Yep it's true. I didn't even realize anything was wrong with it for several days because my ankle was the star of the show. There is a suspicion that there is some ligament or tendon damage. I have an appointment on Monday with a hand surgeon to get to the bottom of this mystery.

More to come...

What the hell have I been doing?

Over the past month I've been limping along (oo punny). I've shed the last of the pink casts and am now strapped into a knee high boot that would make Gene Simmons jealous. The brilliant and talented Dr. Lang and Robin have stressed that I must wear the boot when baring any weight. To my disappointment, this is the most uncomfortable... down right painful shoe/boot if ever worn (and believe me I'll suffer if the shoe is cute and on sale). The construction of the boot squeezes the swollen soft tissue in my ankle and digs into my achillies (which is less than pleasant). So, I've been spending waaay more time out of the boot than in it.

I hoped that maybe the physical therapist might have some suggestions... turns out he believes that I have complex regional pain syndrome.. also called reflex sympathetic dystrophy. Joe (the therapist... and also the brother of a boy I had a crush on in middle & high school) has me going through a series of desensitization exercises before we can proceed with any additional weight baring.

On a more positive note, I am going to try to head into work next week. My plan is to say hello to my coworkers, grab my laptop and go home. My tolerance to having my leg hang down while seated is minimal.... and I am not sure how I'll be able to elevate it @ my desk.

It's the holiday season. Ack!

What was I thinking? My sister single handedly brought my Christmas tree up from the basement last weekend. She did not however bring my ornaments up. She said we would decorate it later.

Of course.. I am impatient looking at my naked tree every day. So last night I tricked Charles into bringing me dinner (one of the best damned pizzas I've ever had) and dragging several boxes of ornaments and knick knacks up from the basement.

Today... I tried to hang ornaments whilst balancing on one leg and holding onto a crutch. I think I had a dozen ornaments on the tree before I reached for a high branch... lost my balance... stepped down with almost full body weight onto my bad ankle...and then fell to the floor.

Now I am on the sofa for probably the rest of the day and evening .... leg elevated .... whimpering in a ridiculously swollen cast.

Bah humbug!

The prophecy has come true.

I am finally back home in Madison and I am totally exhausted. I can't get over how my parents absolutely waited on me hand and foot.

I doze on the sofa most of the day but would welcome company.

Ahem. Dr. Carbomb was mistaken.

So the cast didn't come off on Tuesday as reported in the last post... after talking to the brilliant and all knowing Robin last night we have concluded that we don't need to rip this cast off quite yet... I suspect that I'll be able to make it until Friday (I've been warned that the Ortho clinic will have a skeleton crew... but there will be someone from casting... might it be Paul?)

The quirky thing about this cast is that while it is really loose in the heal, it is killer tight through the bridge of my foot (which is still rather swollen due to the breaks and the x-fix I suspect) and it just pounds all day/night long. The meds help a bit but not completely.

Have I mentioned lately that I am sick of this and ready to get back to normal? Ugh!

On to a series of good news....

#1 - Sparkles arrived today from our favorite fashonista - Hell Kat (Thank you darlin') I think I'll experiment with placement on this cast and really bling up the next one (since it will hopefully be my last before the boot)

#2 - Mom, my sister and I will be hanging out at my place this coming weekend to ready it for my prophesied return. Cleanup (there are vittles in my fridge from before the fall on 10/8 - that need to be chucked...ew!) kind of handicap enabling my place AND my sister wants to put up my Christmas tree...YAY!! I am thrilled! She said of any year this is the one to have it up since I will be perched on the sofa right next to it all season.

So please stop by when I am back in Madison and entertain me whilst we enjoy the tree.

The new cast....

... is pink and coming off tomorrow. The idea was to make sure my foot and ankle are at a 90 degree angle... somehow it became rather loose. Between gravity and everyday movement on my part... my ankle slips right out of the position that Dr. Lang and Robin want me to be in. So my dad drew the short straw and he will be driving me back to Madison again tomorrow.

Now for the good news! Swelling is down, my leg is no longer funny colors, incisions look great and I am on the road to having a boot sometime near December 15th ... and maybe a little weight bearing after that. Merry Christmas!

Cast #3

...and of course it is pink (only because black isn't an option). I was having many problems with the last cast and this one seems to be doing the trick.

Monday the 24th is my next appointment. I expect that I will will be wheeled out out of the UW with a fourth hot pink cast. I think we'll need to make a detour to Hobby Lobby on the way back to New Berlin so I can bedazzle this bad boy.

All and all... spirits are up (I think a lot of that has to do with the narcotics --- which were severely lacking today due to poor planning by Nurse Ratchet). I am however missing my friends in Madison. I am looking forward to moving back home...but I haven't a foggy clue when that will be.

Isn't she pretty in pink.

My Dad and I made the trek to Madison from New Berlin w/ lots of pillows around my leg for the bumpy ride to UW Hospital for my 2 week follow up appointment following surgery.

Thank god they took "the beast" off (a plaster/cotton batting/ace bandage splint) my leg. The incisions look great... but the hole in my heel (right pic) (with a matching one on the other side of my heal) still creeps me out. The hole next to the incision on the right side of my leg (left pic) is the compound fracture site. The thought that the bone did break and come out of my body still gives me the heebs.

There were some x-rays to be had and lots of chatting with Dr. Lang (best derby ortho doctor evah) and Robin his PA (seriously... this girl knows everything! I was very impressed with my time with her -- fountain of knowledge doesn't even come close to describing her) Britnee Smears praises of the two of them were accurate indeed. If you are ever in Madison, WI and have a serious need of an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Gerald (Jerry) Lang is your man.

So after all the chatting, I finally got my bright pink fiberglass cast put on. Now I thought this was going to be a pleasant experience. Sweet fancy Moses... I was wrong! We had to get my foot\ankle into a 90 degree angle. OMG where was Nicole with the IV meds? That hurt more that I thought it was going to. Unfortunately the only Kodak moments my dad captured was of unhappiness (left). It is what it is. I am looking forward to the day when the Vixens bling it up because this cast installment is only going to be around until November 24th. Va Va Va Vixens!

You are wondering what that pink thing is wrapped around my wrist and thumb. Believe it or not it is a splint for a syndesmosis wrist sprain. Unfortunately this will not get better until I am off crutches and can rest it for over a month. This happened when I had my fall... the funny thing is... I didn't even notice my wrist hurt until I was in the hospital for 3 days.

Deja Vu -- Pack vs Vikes

If any of you saw the 2nd quarter of the Packers/Vikings game today you might have seen a reenactment of my injury. During a Viking punt return, cornerback Charles Gordon almost had his foot twisted off his ankle. Yep me too. They refused to show the replay (I assume due to the gruesomeness) but thanks to Tivo..I saw it again and cringed remembering the pain of October 8th. I just did a quick YouTube search and found a few posts of the replay from different angles... I can't bring myself to watch them. I hate the Vikings...but not Charles Gordon.... at least not at the moment. ;)

Must be on the mend....

Because I am starting to get a little cranky ;) I want to go somewhere...do something. That somewhere/something was the Friends and Family bout that we had been working all summer/fall to get to. I was so horribly disappointed that I wasn't going to skate in it....even more disappointed when it was decided for me by my parents that I wasn't "up" for going. It is hard to make decisions for yourself when you are:

1. 80 miles from all your friends
2. without a car
3. medicated
4. have an enormous bulky plaster cast on my leg.

The upside is I am now the proud owner of a very sexy wheelchair. It just needs rhinestones or skulls on it. The Vixens will help me fix it.

Ow!

In the very lonely city of New Berlin, Nurse Ratchet (um I mean my Mom) has begun to to ration my pain medication. I don't think I am ready.... my ankle is still all hurty :(

Nicole where are you?

Feelng a bit guilty

So I knew a few weeks ago that I would have trouble making it to the polls today. So I printed off the request for an absentee ballot. I was able to trick um... I mean convince someone at the hospital to agree to accept my ballot when it arrived in the mail. Meanie Cooper signed and confirmed that I was in fact in the hospital and unable to make it to the poll today. I was released from the hospital and swept up and taken to my parents in New Berlin before the ballot arrived (to be fair... I wanted to get the hell out of dodge and voting was the last thing on my mind at that moment).