Injury Day
January 15, 2011 will be a day I never forget. Neither will I ever forget January 19 - 21. I was playing church basketball with our elders quorum and I could probably just stop there and you'd probably know what was coming. I had played for about 2 hours and there was 2 mintes left in the last game of a round-robin tournament. I got a rebound and stepped back to run down court and pushed off, felt like someone kicked me in the left calf, hit the floor and, after looking to see who kicked me, realized I had torn my Achilles Tendon.....Jaymie drove me to the hospital and after a record-quick exam by a Doc. confirmed I had a ruptured Achilles Tendon. Surprisingly, didn't hurt all that much. Left the hospital with a splint was was introduced to my new companions who would be with me for the next two months: Leftie and Rightie Crunch (as my kids call it).
January 17 - met my Doc. - Doctor Kemp, confirmed I had a complete tear and scheduled surgery for Jan 19, 2011. Kemp works in the best foot/ankle shop in the valley, but he's only been at it for a whopping 6 months. Hope he's got some good training from that clinic and he sews me up nicely.
Surgery Day
Jan 19 - Surgery went well. Pain block was in and holding strong so I felt nothing through Jan 20th. I was thinking "Yeah, this won't be so bad...checkout this afternoon - - in and out no problem." Then I met me physical therapist who made me get out of bed and use my crutches on the stairs to prove I could do it. The problem, I think, was that made my blood circulation increase, I metabolized the meds from the pain block, and within 15 minutes went from feeling nothing to feeling everything. Since I had not had any pain at all up to that point, I didn't have any pain meds in me.
Starting to feel some pain, the nurse gave me some morphine, told me to wait 15 minutes. 15 minutes later, nothing was working, I'm in agony, and she gave me another shot of morphine and said to wait 15 mintues. Through my gritted teeth, I tried to explain that I should be given something else too, so that if in 15 minutes the morphine didn't work, I didn't have to wait another 15 minutes for the next thing to work. Nurse told me no. 15 minutes later, morphine didn't work, nurse gave me perkocet and said it will take about 20 minutes. 20 minutes later, nothing was working. Took Doc K 15 minutes to respond to her call, she ordered delodid from pharmacy, who took 15 minutes to send up an IV shot, nurse gave me delodid and said to wait 20 minutes. 20 minutes later, still feeling no relief. By this time, my body was starting to shut down. I was in the most pain of my life. I consider myself to be more tollerant of pain than the next guy - - (three days after surgery, I quit taking pain medicine if that tells you anything) but this was seriously kicking my butt. My muscles were involuntarily tightened and spazzing. My abbs were tight, my diaphram was tight, my pecks were shaking, my thighs were shaking and contracting, my jaw was completely clenched shut and I could barely breath....my lips were even involuntarily flexed so I had to pry them open with my fingers to breathe. There were two things I was accutely aware of: 1) that tendon that the Doc. had just reattached to my calf muscle was being pulled apart because my calf muscle (and every other muscle in my body) was flexed and 2) the nurse had absolutely no idea what she could do for me. This intense pain went on for two and a half hours before the Doc came. I wanted to strangle him with my IV tube. Right or wrong, I felt like this was his fault for not being responsive to the nurse's calls and for abandoning me as I suffered through 2.5 hours of intense pain. Nurse said she tried to get him to come an hour earlier, but he didn't. At the moment he walked in the door, I have never had so much hatred for anyone in my life. Now (2 months later) I'm a little more level headed about it. I still feel like more could have been done, but I think I just did not behave like a "normal" patient and they really were trying, albeit through an unresponsive Doc., to do what they could. After I explained, through clenched teeth and with my fingers prying my lips apart, what was going on with my body, they gave me a muscle relaxant which was also an anti-anxiety medicine, I was finally able to get relief. Was released on 2/21/11.
Castings
Went home in a temporary cast thing - half cast, half splint. Was told to come back in 3 days to check the incision site and for a perminent cast. After 10 days, stitches looked good....should scar up nicely.
Told the kids they could each pick out a color of my cast, 4 kids, 4 casts works out well. I was willing to go the distance and get the "pink sparkly princess" cast for Avery. First cast was blue.
Kids and Hottie Wife added some art work.
10 days later, 2/3/11, 2nd cast went with black. Stitches were left in until third cast. Was told that I wouldn't need the 4th cast after all because my tendon didn't shred so much when it ripped, so they didn't have to cut so much off. That allowed my toes to not be pointed so far down, so not so much stretching needed to take place. This casting was pretty uncomfortable because they put me in a nearly neutral position - - toes and foot almost flat on ground if standing. Lots of stretching on that healing and very tender tendon.
Hottie Wife added more artwork with this one. Found some tribal tats designs and added a shark-mouth because I love military aircraft. This pic is the nurse taking it off 12 days later, but here's the shark mouth.
10 days later, 2/15/11, got my third and final cast and took out my stitches. Later learned they charged about $235 for removing stitches...took a pair of tweezers and sissors. I could have done that myself for $235. Thank goodness for insurance but no wonder America's health care system is so screwed up. Don't get me wrong, I love the patient-side of it, but honestly, $235 for a 10 minute procedure? That's about $1400 per hour - that's seriously an abuse of power and morally unconscionable! I'm definitly in the wrong profession, being a CPA.
Whew, with only 3 casts, didn't have to get that "pink sparkly princess" cast after all. Sorry Baby (Avery). Went with red this time and had grand plans for a flame/heart theme for valentines day, but the Doc. gave me a boot to cover my cast and told me I could rest it down on the ground if I were standing. And, honestly, the novelty, if there ever were any, was completely gone. So, no cool design on this one, and I don't think I even got a picture, except for this one when they took it off. Kept it for 2 weeks this time.
Walking Boot
Got my cast off on Mar 1, 2011. So much more comfortable. I've lost all muscle tone in my leg, both my thigh and calf. Lost 2 inches off my thigh and 1 inch off my calf.
Got a cam boot to use with my crutches and can put 50 lbs weight on it.
Went home, soaked my shriveled up leg and foot in the tub and rubbed off all that dead, nasty skin. Ohhh, felt so good to not be in a cast and to let my leg and foot breathe.
Decided that Cam boot sucked. Problem was that it was a shortie and came up to the spot where my tendon was reattached, right where it's most tender and weakest. Also, stuck out for a full inch beyond my big toe. Ever walked in flippers? Know how much strain that puts on your Achilles? Combine that with a boot that puts all that pressure on the most tender spot. Seriously, what are they thinking? Inlaws had given me a high cam boot several weeks earlier that came up to the knee that Mary had used when she had heel issues. Liked that one much more and have been using it.
I've had to appologize to Paxton, again. It won't be the first or the last. With Paxton's shoulder surgery I have had to be more of schedule nazi than ususal. I had a plan for getting Bryce's pinewood derby card done and Paxton was taking way longer than I had expected. Granted he was doing it mostly with one arm but it is hard for the kids to go to bed while he is grinding away in the garage late at night. Anyway, I knew he was proud of the car and was excited to show Bryce the end product. I was being mentally grouch (and really trying not to say anything to my credit) but I had a million other things that had to be done besides the car. When it was done Bryce loved it and was sure it was going to take first place. Durring the racing he got a little nervouse but had a blast. Then when it was all over and the winners were called, he wasn't one of them and I could watch his little, sweet heart break. He tried to turn away from the other boys so they wouldn't see him cry. Then the announced that there was one more award voted on by the boys themselves for Best in Show. And the winner was Bryce Quigley. I'm so glad I had my camera. The look of incredulity on his face was priceless. I could see every mom in the room breath a sigh of relief. They all know and love Bryce. As you can tell from the last picture, he was a little more than excited. That night in his prayers he said that he was thankful for the first time in his life that he won something all by himself. That is when I looked at Paxton and appologized. Happy day.
