Friday, February 3, 2012

The broken leg

On the 21st of  January I was heading to work and slipped on my stairs, as best I can tell I did a twist and buckle. My leg was underneath of me and I threw it out, I noticed that my foot was looking a little weird. Jason was standing in the house, when I told him I think I broke my leg. Then I decided maybe it is not broken just sprained so I gently tried to touch my foot down, which resulted in me feeling a bunch of crunching.

Jason took me to St. Luke and unfortunately our ortho doc is not taking any new patients because he is leaving, so I was transferred to Kalispell. I was a direct admit, went to CT Scan and then up to my room. I was having a hard time laying still in CT scan because I was hurting and so the tech taped my feet together. Dr. DuMontier came in and so did one of his assistants that night and told me the plan for surgery in the morning. The whole time I kept thinking did I really break my F-ing leg? You have got to be kidding me and to this day  I still feel this way.

When I was at St. Luke they had not been able to start an iv in me because I was dehydrated from having the flu the night before. So I was given two shots of demerol. At Kalispell they got an ER nurse to start an iv and I asked to be put on iv fluids knowing that I had been dehydrated and would be NPO. My pain was pretty well controlled and I was sleeping relatively comfortably when I twitched and woke myself up. That hurt like hell at that point it was 4:30 in the morning and I had to get some iv pain meds. The staff was awesome and I really appreciated them.

When I went to the OR the staff was very nice wishing me happy unbirthday when I made the statement that for a lot of people birthdays stop at 29 but I will be more than happy to turn 30. I was really nervous in the OR, I was also trying to see my CT Scan pictures or x-rays of my leg, but without my contacts could not see much. Surgery went well, I was told I have a rod in my tibia and screw in my ankle. I stayed on Sunday night and went home Monday afternoon. I have to be non weight bearing on my right leg for probably eight weeks. The first day I walked with a walker and came home with crutches. Man I am regretting being out of shape crutches are hard work.

Things at home have been ok. I have had a lot of pain and it is getting a little better. Jason and I have figured out how to do a bath/shower which definitely helps because I was feeling so gross. I slept on the couch for the first few days and have tried to sleep in my bed but I get one good sleep for a couple of hours and then I have a really hard time getting comfortable. I think I am headed back to couch because for some reason I sleep a little better on the couch.

People have been so supportive of me and friends from work have dropped food by which I really appreciate. My work has said when I am released I can do light duty at least part time. Of course I am stressed about money, but luckily my Grandparents helped me out.

On Tuesday I was slipping and stepped down on my right leg which made it hurt a lot but it is feeling better. The psuedo splint/cast I have is really heavy and pulls on my knee a lot which is where I have a lot of my pain. My knee is where the main incision is and it is still pretty swollen. I have two smaller ones on the lower inside of my knee.

Today was my first day out of the house, I had something I had to pick up from the post office. I was nervous but did ok, although walking in the post office was a lot further than I am used to. It was really nice to get some fresh air!

I am so incredibly grateful for Jason! He has been amazing through all of this. When I can walk and get things secured I definitely have to do something for him!

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