Monday, October 24, 2011

the ABC's of FML

Warning: any incoherence or grammatical errors can be directly linked to the pain killers that I just swallowed, so please excuse the nonsense. What's the excuse for the errors in all of the other posts you ask? Shut your face.
Ok, so it's a bit dramatic to say 'f**k my life' but these last few days have been associated with a few of those thoughts. If you weren't already aware of what's going on, check the last post. So after breaking my ankle I failed at being able to do much of anything productive because most of the time before the surgery if I sat for longer than 30 minutes I would start falling asleep. Pain killers are extremely effective at sedation for me. If only I had known this while dealing with insomnia in college. Anyway, my Mom decided that since I was unable to help my sister with her gallbladder surgery she needed to come down to give us all a hand. Thankfully! I tried very hard to stay positive between Monday after finding out I needed surgery until Friday when the actual surgery took place. I struggled with the reality of it when I had a consult with the orthopedic surgeon and he talked about the plates and screws he wanted to connect to my bones and how it was going to be an 8-12 week healing process. Tuesday I made it a point to cry for no reason in front of a nurse, the surgeon and my sister's boyfriend. Hooray for hormones! By Wednesday I had gotten acclimated to the drugs I was on and was also able to shower so things seemed to take a turn for the better. A shower can make all the difference in the world sometimes I swear. No one likes to be the stinky kid. 
I tried my best to make light of the situation and looked for just about any excuse to leave the house for even just a few minutes. After hucking it through Walgreen's on my crutches I decided that was all the adventure I needed in one day so I came home and ate dinner and then napped like a baby. Thursday I was coherent enough to read a bit for school and do some research for group projects. My Mom showed up on Friday to take me in to get sliced and diced...(the incisions are probably minuscule...) and I tried to make jokes with the nurse that was prepping me for surgery and my anesthesia. My joking didn't help to calm my nerves and my heart rate was too high for their liking so they gave me something to calm me down before even putting me to sleep. On top of that the anesthesiologist introduced the back of my knee to an ultrasound to locate the nerves connected to my ankle and foot. After figuring out where they were he injected those nerves with a nerve blocker that numbed my entire lower leg from knee to toes. It felt just like getting your mouth numbed for a cavity and was such a strange feeling to have in such a large area of your body. What I didn't know at the time was how bad it was going to suck to get feeling back in that large area again. I was pretty out of it when they woke me up from the surgery and I don't really remember getting in the car but once I got my bearings I was on a mission to get home. I wanted to elevate my foot and put something it my belly because I wasn't allowed to eat after midnight the previous night and at this point it was 5 pm. My Mom got me home to join my sister who was laid up on one couch and I took the other. We ate and relaxed and before long my boyfriend was there to help out for the weekend. He brought me gorgeous flowers with roses, lilies and daisies all fall colors. I was glad to be done with surgery and I didn't feel too bad. I got around the house ok when I needed to and my level of pain was kind of minimal with the pain meds. Friday night after Mom and Jill went to bed we watched episodes of the Walking Dead so I could catch up. Saturday I was still feeling ok enough to get up and shower but realized after being up and around that my nerve blocker was beginning to wear off. That's when the pins and needles started in my toes to the back of my calf. I began feeling worse throughout the day on Saturday though cupcakes for my birthday from GiGi's made it more bearable. Sunday I woke up in an intense amount of pain and was glad to have the boy taking care of me. He woke up with me and comforted me after getting me what I needed. I am a lucky girl. 
I joked that I was going to have bedsores by the end of the weekend and I swear I'm working on them. I'm so sick of being forced to lay down with my left ankle elevated. Every time I would so much as move my legs toward the end of the couch my mom, sister or boyfriend would be asking me what I needed. 
It's getting harder to focus on the screen without my eyes crossing....yeesh. I hope I start feeling ok enough to leave the house and go to class tomorrow. The back of my leg and my ankle feel like they are on fire when I'm up for longer than 30 seconds which was not thee case before surgery but soon I think that will go away. 
So let this be a lesson to you, breaking your ankle sucks balls, especially right before your 26th birthday. 
Have a wonderful week....

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