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Ankle Ankle surgery 12/21/2023

Yep.... I had fleecy pj bottoms and silky bamboo knit pj bottoms, even wore them to medical and PT appointments because I am Too Old to care! :heehee:
 
@mendogal, I work from home and have gotten alarmingly comfortable with going out in “loungewear.” :heehee: Not pajamas, necessarily, but maybe one small step up. Wearing jeans is dressing up for me. Lol!
 
For BoneSmart staff, I noticed my 12/21 surgery was added to my signature. Thank you for adding it! The technical name is an Open Reduction Internal Fixation (ORIF). Everything happened so fast, I had to look that up myself. I didn’t know the name of the procedure so I couldn’t research it beforehand. And it was the surgeon’s fifth procedure of the day; he’s not big on chit chat under normal circumstances, and really wasn’t chatty with me the day of surgery. Plus, I had already been given a nerve block and something to relax me by the time we met up in surgery. Anyway, all that to say I learned an Open Reduction is realigning the bones through a surgical incision (the day of my accident, I had a closed reduction to get the ankle and foot back in place); Internal Fixation is fastening the bones back together with hardware such as plates and pins.

My pain seems to have ebbed slightly today, but I am utterly exhausted. Also, my nerves appear to be waking up and I am getting all sorts of strange zaps and zings. Sometimes I feel a crawling sensation in my ankle. Sometimes I get goosebumpy and tingly. Last night, I had terrible burning sensations in my ankle and calf. Fortunately, my ice wraps helped with that.

I have a shower chair arriving today, but I took a thorough sponge bath today and that helped me to feel better. I scrubbed my hair and blow dried it smooth. I still look like the walking dead from all this Percocet, but I feel better. I am worried about how I will use that shower chair and am debating returning it. We have one tiny bathroom on the floor I am on. The only thing I can think to do is to set the chair in the shower sideways, so my side is turned to the nozzle. Slide the shower door to one side, hop into the bathroom backwards on my walker, sit on the shower chair, then lift my legs over the side of the bathtub. Yeah, that might work. I have gotten really creative with making things work hopping on one foot!
 
I fixed your signature @MissFanny , please double check and let us know if it's still incorrect. I think it's your left leg?
 
You are very welcome. :)
 
Small bathrooms are a real challenge! Depending on what's where, you *possibly* could go in forward, sit on the toilet (I put a folded bath towel on mine for sitting after showers), move the walker to your other side and stand/pivot to sit on the shower chair.
However you manage, be safe... and enjoy that Ahhhhhh of first hot shower!
 
@mendogal, your suggestion may work better. Although the bath is small, that’s still a whole lot of hopping backward to get to my destination. I may do a practice run clothed first.

My friend who had this same accident before me got her sutures out today. Ai karamba, it’s a huge incision. I was shocked when she sent photos. I wasn’t planning for a big gnarly scar like that. :oyvey:I’m glad I know so I am not shocked next week when I get mine out.
 
We had a knee smartie almost get stuck in her bathtub and clothed practice runs are definitely a Good Thing! :loll:
 
Yesterday was probably my lowest day (I hope that was the bottom) in this. The Percocet is sucking the very life out of me, but the pain is still too high to cut down. My body is beginning to ache from lying flat on my back, feet up nearly round the clock. I am visibly losing weight without intending to. Any other time, weight loss would be a happy development for me, but right now this is probably one of the things sapping me of my energy. My hope for today is that things start to get better, including my outlook. And that I can start to cut back on Percocet on Friday. I know this is only temporary (and I tell myself that over and over), but it’s hard when you are in the throes of your pain and despair.

Very much looking forward to having this experience behind me. And as much as I love this forum and as grateful as I am for the support and encouragement, I hope to only ever come back here as an encourager and cheerleader—not a patient.
 
@MissFanny So sorry you are still fighting all this pain. Can you call your family doctor or the ankle specialist you worked with and ask about a new medication? Sounds like you need a step down from the Percocet.

It is very early days in your recovery. Hang in there! I hope you can get some answers very soon!
 
@Jaycey that’s a good thought. Maybe I will reach out tomorrow and see if I can switch to Tramadol and acetaminophen like I did with my hip surgeries.

I delayed taking my pain medicine by 30 minutes this morning. Going to see if I can extend the time between doses a bit.
 
:flwrysmile:

I am scared to jinx myself but I think I may have reached the turning point. It’s been 6.5 hours since my last dose of painkillers and I’m not in excruciating pain. Going to hold off to 7 hours and then take one Percocet (instead of 2) and one acetaminophen. Fingers crossed it works! I am beyond ready to reduce my opiate dosage. Currently elevating and icing per usual.

We are getting our furnace replaced today. I didn’t realize how noisy and cold that would be. We wanted to get it done before 12/31 though because we’ll get a tax break on it. I told them they can find me in my office in my rented hospital bed, and to wake me up if needed. Lol. That’s not embarrassing at all. But dang it, we want that tax credit. Hubby will be home by 1 pm, but hopefully they are done before then.

I am wearing a pair of my Amazon wide-legged pants. Unfortunately, they are so big, I can pull them up to my chest! The downside to online shopping is getting the sizing right. Oh well, they are good enough to get me through this.

Still haven’t tried the shower chair. It wss another sink bath for me today. If I don’t get the gumption to try it by this weekend, I’ll return it. A shower would be nice, but sink baths have been fine.
 
If you really want to give the furnace crew something to remember you can hitch up your too big pants with suspenders :heehee:

Good luck with the pain med taper. I bet you'll be a-ok.
 
I stayed awake all day—no naps—yesterday and successfully cut down my pain meds. I slept 8 hours and I am famished this morning. :yes!: This is moving quickly, but I’m going to try just acetaminophen (and ice and elevation) during the day and two painkillers at bedtime. I think it’s going to be a struggle to get my surgeon to refill that prescription so I want to save them for when I need them most.

I talked to my friend who had this same accident/injury 11 days before me. She says she is in worse pain after her surgical follow up and starting some light PT exercises, so I know I am far from out of the woods. But I do feel like some of the really terrible stuff is in my rearview mirror.
 
I’m glad things seem to be improving for you. There does seem to be a lot of juggling with foot surgery and it took me ages to work out how to get in and out bath and shower. If you do use the chair I recommend putting a non slip mat or towel on it. I found it quite slippery once I’d washed myself.

I had hardly any pain after my surgery, apart from the nerve twinges, until I began to weight bear after 6 weeks. It seemed counter intuitive until I got used to it.
 
I just tried to shower with a shower chair I got off Amazon. Our bathroom and tub is way too small. It was an unmitigated disaster. I hadn’t even gotten in the shower yet and the bathroom was flooded. I hopped to the tub on wet tiles and said, “Ah, he11 no.” We are letting the chair dry, putting it back in its packaging, and returning it to Amazon. I never even sat on it. Sink baths in my foreseeable future.
 
@Lindylee that is interesting! My friend said she had little pain in the beginning. Mine was excruciating. Sometimes even elevating and the max dose of pain killers didn’t help. When I would switch from lying with my leg elevated to sitting and gravity and blood were pulling downward, the pain took my breath away. I still have a little of that but nothing like before.

I know I still have a long road ahead of me, but I’m glad to have this pain behind me.
 
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