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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Surgery!

Wow, that was fast! I've already had my long awaited surgery! Had it today...er technically yesterday now. I slept all evening, and now I am awake...of course. Couldn't manage to sleep the whole night, but hopefully I get tired again soon. I've been so good at sleeping since Jan 15, that I don't know if I will ever be able to make it a day without a nap again.

Anyhow, now the real work begins. I've stood, and taken a step or two, but I think the crutches will be a staple for a little while yet. But standing, by myself, on TWO legs felt incredible. I was so excited to have surgery, I barely slept last night, and it has not disappointed! I can feel that the pins were in fact hindering my motion, and I feel so good now that they're gone. I also feel vindicated that I have not been exaggerating the feeling of my joint just "stopping" at a certain point, and no matter how much physio I did. I feel glad that the dill-weed doctor was wrong, and I am on my way to a normal life again!

Though the road to get here was llloooooonnnggg (and I've barely begun to heal), I've learned a lot about my tolerance! I thought for sure this lack of exercise and getting around was going to depress me, but I've managed to stay on top, despite the frustrations (though I am taking anti-depressants for the nerve pain...). There have been bad days, though, definitely. And I am sure there are a few more to come. I know, big deal, I only broke my ankle, not like I've overcome anything amazing, but pain and frustration are relative, I say, and this has not been easy with all the extra nerve problems I've had.

I'm thankful that my ankle was the only injury that happened, and I will never take walking for granted again.

Ok, now to the fun stuff. They asked me to come in HOURS earlier than I needed to, and I ended up watching terrible morning show tv for 3 hours in the waiting room, not even admitted yet. Then, the gown I get doesn't quite do the trick, especially since I am on crutches, and cannot hold the gown together (which tied at the FRONT!!!) like everyone else was able to, and thus everyone else waiting saw a terrible show of a crippled girl flashing. I was NOT impressed, but you just get over the shame of it all by not looking anyone in the eye, and pretending it didn't happen. Thank goodness I was allowed to keep my underwear on! Ok, seriously, we can't wear our own t-shirt for surgery on an ANKLE?

Anyhow, all went well surgery wise, though I am quote sore again. But nothing that a few days rest won't cure. I am all wrapped up in a thick wad of gauze and padding, and I have another 2 weeks to wait to get the stitches out. That means 2 weeks of showering in a garbage bag again, which I was hoping I would never have to do again, but, I guess I now know what I am doing.


They gave me some morphine pills for the pain before I left, and a little snack, but I was pretty hungry. Now, anesthesia can make you nauseous, but I have never felt that. Morphine on the other hand did make me feel quite nauseous while I was in the hospital, and didn't eat for 2 days because of it. But I also took morphine pills when I got home, and I was fine. We stopped at McD's for a snack...you can see the road I am heading down....which I ate slowly, and didn't near finish before the nausea set in. I warned the hubby he may have to pull over. But I managed to keep my lunch inside me. So we stopped for him to do a few errands. I started to feel sick again, and as soon as he started to drive home, I was again fighting to keep my lunch.

We were not more than 30 seconds from home when I started heaving out of the window, and coating the side of the car. He managed to pull over to a drainage ditch, and I yaked for the next few minutes onto the road. As he pulled over, the coffee he bought promptly dumped down my leg, and I could do nothing to get the burning drink off me, since I was hanging my head out the window, barfing. So, nice ending to an exciting day, huh? I haven't puked since I was in grade 12 (10/11 years ago) and had the flu, and was just bragging about that fact a few days ago. Serves me right. It wasn't horrible though. It was like a chocolate cheeseburger.

So we get home, and Adam washes the car off for me, and washes the coffee from the floor mats, and we decide to head to the beach. He wheels me, as I can't walk just yet, and we come across a little jem of a creature - the echidna. SO CUTE! Luckily, I had brought my camera; unluckily the batteries were dead. So, I took out the battery, and rubbed it between my hands to get a shot or two, and repeated the process (good trick to know if you need to get a few more shots from your camera - heat up the battery with your hands). I managed one flash shot, and the rest are blurry, since it was getting dark, so not a good photo in the bunch, but what a treat! Those little guys are adorable, and I've never seen one in the wild before. I've seen all the other elusive creatures in the wild, like koalas, wallabies and kangaroos (not so elusive), crocodiles, and even platypuses. This little guy didn't seem to have a care in the world, and we could get really close to it. So cute.

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