Broken Leg: Week Two

Hello people, family, friends, peers, lurkers and random visitors.  I hope all of you enjoyed your 3 day weekend, if you were so lucky.  We would have been but, of course, we were both off work already.

My wife returned to work this morning for a half day, getting me all set up in my chair with everything I might need before she left.  I have been encouraging her to go back, I need to be more self sufficient during the day hours.  I had been working on my mobility with a walker (broken thigh, remember?) this holiday weekend and can now get myself around the house and in and out of chairs the way I need to.  After this she will work full days tomorrow and Thursday, maybe with an extended lunch break that she will use to come home and check in on me.  Then only in the afternoon Friday so she can get me to my leg appointment in the morning.

I know she has been upset with me a few times since getting me home from the hospital.  Mostly because I had been a jackass, frustrated with my own limitations.  But she has been wonderful to me this whole time.  If I had any doubt that she loved me, well, she has seen me at my lowest and still has never turned away from anything.  For that and so much more,  I love her more than anything.  When things are more normal I want to do something very nice for her.

Friday morning is the first follow-up appointment, a full fortnight after the surgery.  I won't even be seeing the orthopaedist, I will be seeing his PA.  I have never had staples before, I don't know if they will be removed then, but I am a little worried they will hurt.  (They're metal friggin' staples in my leg!)  I should get a clearer idea of when I may get back to work though, among other things.  I still have not seen my original x-ray.  I don't think I want to see it yet, but I may request a printout of the before and the after x-rays, in a sealed envelope for 'someday'...

I know I haven't recounted the hospital stay yet, so I may just touch upon that next.  It was kind of an eye-opening visit for me, but I'll explain that later.   Good Day!

A Hunter Shoots A Bear

I found this fun to play with!  Do it!

Leg Meds!

Well, here is my surgically repaired right leg and meds I am taking.  I tried to make it look like an exclamation mark (!).  Eh, what can I say, I'm bored.  But the Badgers open their season tonight at UNLV!  I will be up for that despite the 10:00 pm start!

Recounting The ER

Well, I said I would recount my visit to the ER.  I was in exceptional pain at that time, so the following is the gist of what I can remember in that haze.  Facts may differ slightly, as may the timeline of some things.   This may be hard to read for those close to me.  It is upsetting for me to write.

The ambulance guys were nice, efficient and professional, and very understanding of the amount of pain I was in.  They gave me 100 mg of Fentanil, I think.  It seemed to me to be the most they could do.  When I got to the ER they told that to the nurse and also told them that it didn't even touch my pain.  The nurse shot me up with what she said was a double dose of Dilaudid, which did bring my screams down to a dull roar.  I do remember her saying, "Stop screaming!"  My breathing was still rapid and labored trying to deal with the pain.  This may have been the point that the young ER doctor, who still thought I had just twisted my knee, picked up my leg and straightened it out and back a couple times.  This made me scream bloody murder like I never thought I could.  It. Was. Brutal.  I yelled at him to stop, between my gutteral screams.  What followed was a shot of Morphine that did nothing for me.  I think around now they tried to get x-rays, but I could not be moved so the did their best and did manage to get their pics.  After that everyone was noticably nicer to me - the x-rays showed them how horrific my injury really was - and I got another shot of Dilaudid.  Finally the painkillers stopped my screaming, yet it was wearing off fast.  I begged them to knock me out over and over but I got nothing else until I was in the OR.  At one point I remember a rather large man talking forcefully to me about due to the violent nature of my injury if anyone did this to me or if anything else happened besides what I had told them.  I didn't see him again and, looking back, I believe it may have been some sort of cop.

That is mostly what I remember.  Definitely not everything that happened but in my state at the time I wish I could forget it all.

Edit: I should note that the accident happened at about 4:00 and I was wheeled into OR about 8:00, 4 hours later.  A long 4 hours in some ways.  As quick as they could, I am certain.

Stepping Out, So To Speak

I had a doctor appointment this morning for my upper back.  It just confirmed what I already know but there's not a whole lot to be done about it until this busted thigh bone thingy is more under control (meaning less pain and more mobility).  I don't want to have to go to PT like this and I can't have an MRI with the brace on my leg (not to mention the staples in my leg!).  So, I just have to deal with it until we are better able to treat it.  I did get another prescription that is supposed to help with the inflammation of my back and the nerve that is giving me pain in my arm and numbness in my hand, though.

So this morning was very busy (mostly for Kate, of course) getting me cleaned up, dressed, and transported across town.  Very tiring and trying for both of us.  Shortly after we got home I ended up dozing until just recently, it really wiped me out.  My next scheduled foray out into the world is next Friday, a follow-up appointment for my leg.

I know blogging has been different around here lately.  I am not able to spend much time on the computer so I am trying to let everyone know how we are doing here so they don't feel the need to call constantly.  I know it is all well intentioned, but truthfully I am sick of repeating myself, and that's just to the medical staff!  I told the nurse this morning that I had written out how it happened on my website and I should probably just print it out for the next dozen or so inquirers!

Anyway, this is what I am dealing with so this is what I am writing about.  I want to thank everyone for all their well-wishes and nice comments (even though they don't comment here).

The Fall

We had a nice visit with Lori (from my work) yesterday.  It sounds like the main rumor there is how drunk was he?   Well, lol, sorry to disappoint everybody but I hadn't had a drink at all.  Here's what happened:

I got home from work about 10 or 5 minutes to 4:00.  After dropping off all my junk inside I took a walk out to the back yard to check out the garden and pick up sticks if needed.  This is something that I do almost every day.  I'm still infatuated with being a homeowner so I go out sometimes just to admire what's mine and Kate's.  Strawberry runners are always trying to escape the garden, and the way our tree in back sheds sticks and branches has been well documented here.  All in all, maybe 5 minutes tops.

For some reason I was just doing a fast jog back to the house.  By the side door is a cement landing maybe 7 feet long with two wooden steps down to the back and two cement steps to the front.  I caught my foot going up the back steps and stumbled across the landing and down the other side, landing in a heap.  I laid there, unable to move my leg, for maybe 10 minutes until a neighbor got home and heard me yell.  Time; about 4:10.

She was very helpful.  I expected my wife home about 4:20 unless she had to stay a little late, which is a real possibility on Fridays.  My neighbor called the ambulance, helped clean up the blood off of me, grabbed my ID from inside and locked my doors.  The ambulance arrived followed shortly by my wife, about 4:20.

I don't remember how I fell exactly or anything, I wish I could block out the whole thing.  But there it is in a nutshell.  At a later date I will recount the emergency room.  I have had enough of these memories for now...

I do know that everyone at work has access to read my words here.  That was my choice, this blog isn't about work at all so if they're looking for dirt professionally or even personally it won't be found here.  I share what I choose, but I have no real secrets anyway.  So, if you are a co-worker who reads this, welcome!  If you have any questions or anything to say at all please leave a comment below or email me at scoakatsblog at gmail dot com!