My date with the Knife.
Posted: Mon Jun 08, 2009 9:27 pm
...went well. I didn't die and there were no complications.
For those of you who don't know, I had ankle reconstruction surgery last Wednesday. It was a long time coming, as the injury that prompted my ankle problems occurred over 5 years ago.
Long story short, it occurred when I, perpetually absent-minded, realized I had forgotten my mouthguard at the beginning of football practice and had to run back to my locker to retrieve it. Unfortunately, on my way back I had to get past the fence that surrounds the practice field, which the assholes who run the place never saw fit to bother unlocking for us lowly junior-varsity players. Due to my being in an embarrassed hurry I decided not to take the time to take my shoulder pads off and squeeze underneath like I had done previously. Instead, I climbed over it, and ended up getting snagged on the chain-link at the top, and then landing on the other side with a shocking snapping sound as my ankle joint did a full roll on the 45º incline on that was adjacent to that side of the fence.
Several weeks later when I had an MRI done, it was found that I had an evulsion fracture, in which the force of the sprain on a ligament in my ankle had pried the ligament partially away from its moorings on a bone, taking a chip of bone with it and leaving my ankle off center.
The surgery Wednesday morning has countered this through the removal of the bone chip, cutting a small part of heel bone off and shifting my foot over to make it line up straight with my leg, and reattaching and tightening the stretched ligaments. Hopefully eliminating the ankle's propensity for rolling every slight chance it gets.
After the surgery, I was in quite a bit of pain that even the extra morphine they gave me didn't seem to deaden enough, and that night I didn't sleep at all. Luckily it reached manageable levels within a day. Either this type of surgery was an especially painful one, or I just can't handle pain like I used to. (When I originally broke the ankle, I, foolishly not knowing exactly how much damage had been done, continued to practice for awhile that night.)
Now I just have to deal with a low level of pain, the need to constantly have my ankle propped up lest blood rush to it, and the terrible itching that is already starting to fester underneath the cast. Speaking of, I should probably get off the computer and get my leg back to an upright position before I damage myself further yet again.
Anyone want to buy my leftover narcotics?
For those of you who don't know, I had ankle reconstruction surgery last Wednesday. It was a long time coming, as the injury that prompted my ankle problems occurred over 5 years ago.
Long story short, it occurred when I, perpetually absent-minded, realized I had forgotten my mouthguard at the beginning of football practice and had to run back to my locker to retrieve it. Unfortunately, on my way back I had to get past the fence that surrounds the practice field, which the assholes who run the place never saw fit to bother unlocking for us lowly junior-varsity players. Due to my being in an embarrassed hurry I decided not to take the time to take my shoulder pads off and squeeze underneath like I had done previously. Instead, I climbed over it, and ended up getting snagged on the chain-link at the top, and then landing on the other side with a shocking snapping sound as my ankle joint did a full roll on the 45º incline on that was adjacent to that side of the fence.
Several weeks later when I had an MRI done, it was found that I had an evulsion fracture, in which the force of the sprain on a ligament in my ankle had pried the ligament partially away from its moorings on a bone, taking a chip of bone with it and leaving my ankle off center.
The surgery Wednesday morning has countered this through the removal of the bone chip, cutting a small part of heel bone off and shifting my foot over to make it line up straight with my leg, and reattaching and tightening the stretched ligaments. Hopefully eliminating the ankle's propensity for rolling every slight chance it gets.
After the surgery, I was in quite a bit of pain that even the extra morphine they gave me didn't seem to deaden enough, and that night I didn't sleep at all. Luckily it reached manageable levels within a day. Either this type of surgery was an especially painful one, or I just can't handle pain like I used to. (When I originally broke the ankle, I, foolishly not knowing exactly how much damage had been done, continued to practice for awhile that night.)
Now I just have to deal with a low level of pain, the need to constantly have my ankle propped up lest blood rush to it, and the terrible itching that is already starting to fester underneath the cast. Speaking of, I should probably get off the computer and get my leg back to an upright position before I damage myself further yet again.
Anyone want to buy my leftover narcotics?