Perspective

Perspective is a funny thing, sometimes you lose it and sometimes you find it, but it is always there. This weekend I regained some perspective, but before we go there lets step back 4 months.

48 hours after I broke my leg Mark from PMR came by my house to drop off my climbing gear that he graciously collected after assisting me off the mountain. In his visit he wanted to convey a message of patience to me. He told me a story of how he was nearly killed in a mountaineering accident on Mt McKinley (Denali) in Alaska. It took 24 hrs for rescue, months of surgery, and 5 years of rehab before he returned to life as we consider normal. As I sat there listening to him tell me to take my recovery one step at a time and stay positive I thought to myself, "this is a bit dramatic, I only broke my leg."

Six weeks into my recovery, lets call that the beginning of phase 2, I was ecstatic to begin modified walking with crutches (upon blog review, I was tired of my "situation"). None the less, I felt like I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, I was beginning to walk. It would only be a short time before I would be free of my cast and back to life as I knew it, or so I thought.

Halloween, Michael Scott post George Foreman Grill

A month or so later, I got the go ahead to ditch the boot and begin full on physical therapy. This is where perspective was lost. I had heard in the hospital that I would be laid up for a couple months and that it would take 6-8 weeks for my bones to heal. I emphasize that I "heard" this, I don't really know what the message was, but that is what I heard. Well as you can imagine, when I wasn't immediately up and running the day after I took the boot off I was a bit downtrodden.

Fast forward another six weeks; I just had a pin removed, my strength was returning, and I had a little more mobility in my ankle. However, I still couldn't walk Kona and it was still painful to stand for any prolonged period of time. I began to ask, what is the major malfunction here, I should have been 100% a while ago.

Phase 3 of my recovery started yesterday, I went for a bike ride; it was my first time on a bike in 4 months and it was the first team ride of the year. It was super important to me that I be there, I needed this to feel like I was making progress. I'm not sure how my surgeon would have felt about it since he wanted me to wear my boot for a couple weeks after taking the pin out for "extra protection". Well I couldn't go back to a boot, I tasted freedom and I like it.

Look close, I'm in there

My team gave me back my perspective; other than Drew nobody knew I was coming on the ride, they were surprised and excited to see me there. It had been quite a while since anyone had seen me and the resounding chorus was how remarkable it was that I was already back on my bike after such a serious trauma. After 25 miles I returned to my car and smiled as my comrades went for another lap around the island. I was exhausted but satisfied and furthermore I had realized I have come a long way over a short period of time.

Tonight, I walk Kona!

X-Rays and Photos

Everything takes just a little bit longer, or in some cases a lot bit longer. I had planned on posting these images last week sometime, but unfortunately I wasn't up for it yet. The good news is I am basically off my pain meds (Vicodin) with the occasional need for one or two in the evening to help with sleeping. I have gone back to work Mon-Thrs with the occasional missed day for a doctor's appointment and I have my next checkup the week after I go to Arizona for James' wedding. Ky and I have settled into a groove and for the most part Kona is doing what he can to not be a pain in the ass. It seems Kona understands that I am in a weakened state and he has decided not to exploit me for it. Now, what you really want, photos...

My broken leg, prior to any medical treatment. Trust me, the photo doesn't really do justice, my foot is basically hanging free bellow my leg bones. If it weren't for most of my ligaments remaining in place my foot would look more like a sock of quarters at that point.

The First x-ray showing the three breaks. Obviously my Fibula shouldn't overlap and my Tibia shouldn't be so far to the right and yes the bone bellow it is suppose to be part of it. The third less obvious part is the small rectangular bone bellow and to the right of the Tibia is called the Talus and should be rotated 90 degrees counter clockwise and part of the whole ankle, it's the inside of your ankle structure and is the obvious protrusion. Like I said the previous photo doesn't do justice to how out of wack everything is.

My new stainless steel plate along with 6 new screws that look like they came from home depot, but upon seeing the bill, they clearly did not. My Fibula is back to being a single bone and at full length. Rumor has it that my Doc had to enlist in help to get those bones back in place, apparently I have strong muscles in my leg, who'd figure that?

My repaired Tibia and Talus takes care of my Cankle (at least on the X-Ray). Note the three screws that again look like they came from Home Depot, but cost a whole lot more. I was very disappointed that they weren't titanium or that metal they used in Wolverine. One screw has fixed my Tibia to my Fibula to hold it in place as my ligament reattaches (this screw will be removed). The other two screws at the up and left angle will remain in place and currently hold my talus bone to the Tibia.

The splint that was on my leg for two weeks to allow for swelling to go down. This basically made it impossible for me to shower or take a bath, so Ky set me up with some over-sized towelettes that are used as a modern day sponge bath. However, she wouldn't put on the sexy nurse costume for the bath, so it wasn't quite what I was hoping for.

My new air-cast, still not allowed to walk on it (hence the crutches), but at least it is removable for showers and photos. Ky recently was given a shower chair for me (not pictured) so I can now take a shower on my own, something that is highly underrated.

The inside of my ankle 3 weeks after surgery, still very swollen, but healing nicely. The larger scab is from the abrasion on my ankle from when I fell (visible in the first photo). I am kind of surprised I still have a scab for that since it was really just a scrape, but I guess being in cast with other more important things to heal, that is gonna take a bit.

And the outside of my ankle, looks swollen, but otherwise good. If you enlarge the photo you can see the long incision on my leg where they inserted the plate and below where there seems to be a horizontal line we have the location where they inserted the very expensive stainless steel wood screw. If I chose to have it removed they will cut me back open there and screw it out, hopefully the Doc doesn't strip the head, cause I would hate for him to have to drill it out. But his name is Dr Pro, so I think he'll do just fine.