A nurse was touching my toes and asking if I could feel it and then she asked me to wiggle my toes.
I was in RECOVERY!!!
My throat was sore – I asked for ice chips. Instead I was given pain meds into my IV port.
Suddenly I was in an old-time movie – not just was everything flickering, but it also seemed to be rolling/flipping as well…..what a trip…..
I was told to snooze – but I wanted to wake up and get rid of this weird feeling…..
After a bit of time, my doctor came over smiling. He was happy; he was able to do EVERYHTING arthroscopically! He did not have to open the ankle up. This news made me happy as well. He did tell me though that there was much more damage in the joint than he originally had thought. There was a lot of inflammatory tissue which he removed. The OCD lesion itself was much larger than originally indicated. There was a huge “hunk” of cartilage barely hanging on by a thread that I think he said he took out as well. He did microfracture (scraped things up to make the bone bleed in order to generate some “new” cartilage growth). He conceded that I had good reason to be in pain given what was actually IN the ankle joint. He said he had taken lots of pictures during the surgery and that he had given a copy to my daughter and when I came to the office he would explain them all. I asked when that would be and he said in two weeks. I was given the go ahead to put very little pressure on the toes if I wanted. I told him I didn’t think I wanted – and he said pain? I nodded and he said OK….
Slowly, the nurse got me sitting a bit more upright and gave me ice chips. I still had my IV, as well as a blood pressure cuff on my arm. I also had a pressure cuff on my (good) leg to stimulate blood flow.
My surgeried ankle was wrapped in a big ac bandage and I had several ice packs on it as it was elevated on a pillow or two. Doc came and spoke with me once more and checked on me. The nurse asked if I had crutches at home – because if I didn’t, I was going to have to spend the night since the crutch people were gone for the day. I told her I did have crutches at home, so it would just be a matter of getting me from the bed to the car. She said wheelchair would work.And then I got to go back to the same day suite!
Soon my daughter came to sit with me – but it was a different daughter than the one I left when I went to surgery. (The older one started getting a migraine after I went in to surgery and so called her sister to come and take her place so she could come home and do what she needed to do to relieve the migraine.) The nurse brought me juice and graham crackers.
My mouth was too dry and my throat too sore to enjoy the crackers, but I enjoyed the juice. They brought me more and I enjoyed that as well.
I was asked if I wanted to go home and my answer was a resounding YES!!!!! But I wanted to hit the potty before my hour ride home. They found a wheel chair for me and he aide rolled me to the lav and told me when I was done to pull the call button. I stood on my good leg and wiggled to turn around and sat to go.
And I sat.
And I waited.
And nothing happened.
I felt absolutely full (and must have been with an entire bag of ringers’ lactate, two glasses of ice chips and six containers of juice) but nothing happened.
I closed my eyes and pictured WATER, I sang a song of water to myself and since I couldn’t reach the sink to run water, I swished what little saliva I had in my mouth – all just trying to get my body to cooperate and “go”.
FINALLY, after what seemed like an eternity of sitting on the throne – I was able to trickle a teeny-tiny bit out. Didn’t mater – I had peed – I could go home!!!!!
I finished up, pulled the call button and got taken back to my cubicle. The nurse gave me my scripts for meds and called for a wheelchair and sent my daughter to get the car while I got dressed.
Thank God I’m a dancer, because standing on one leg to get dressed was not an issue for me. A little tricky – but not an issue. Plus it helped that my daughter stayed just to make sure I was OK.
A short wheelchair ride down to the entrance and our hospital adventure was over as we drove home.
A brief new adventure followed as we tried to find our way out of Trenton. Not an easy task as I just prayed we got out of town before dark (and we did).
My sore throat gave way to full fledged laryngitis as I tried to call my husband and let him know we were on our way home.
The ride home was uneventful. My daughter stopped for me at Panera and bought me a container of broccoli/cheddar soup. I didn’t think I could eat much else with my throat. We got home and I parked my behind on the couch and have barely moved since
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