Sunday, October 12, 2008

A Victim of Inertia

I'm not liking life very much right now.

Since I got home Friday I've been relegated to one of two places: my bed or the recliner in the living room, which is where I am right now. I have to wear an AirCast boot, which is actually a really good thing because the support actually reduces the level of pain I have. I'm on crutches, which really sucks because I can't walk or put much weight on my left foot without extreme discomfort. And that limits what I can do - I can get in and out of the shower, but the job of doing this is really slow. Getting dressed is a chore, almost to the point where I would rather be naked. But that not only would scare people, it would make me somewhat chilled, and I can't do that. The worst thing is that because of the inability to walk without crutches, my mobility for the moment is limited. However, I suspect that as I get conditioned with the crutches I'll be able to get around more. And I suspect my backpack will become a necessary part of my wardrobe for the foreseeable future. It's not that I don't carry it with me, but my carrying strategies will have to change, and all of the clinical tools I have in it will have to go away for the time being.

On the other hand, at least until I have surgery I can still drive. Not comfortably, but I can do it. And after the surgery is done and I've had a little bit of time to recover I imagine I'll be able to drive again. Since I drive an automatic, it's not a big deal. I believe getting around will at least be possible, although I imagine, as I said, that it will be a bit of an encumbrance, at least initially.

At least I can catch up on my reading. Martha and I hit the Manchester Public Library yesterday and I stocked up on some books. My reading list will be going up to be viewed publicly soon, as soon as I figure out how to do that. And I plan to do whatever I can to kick my IQ up a few notches, if that's possible. At least I can try; at the very least it shouldn't go down any further.....

As far as the surgery itself is concerned, the Physician Assistant that I saw Friday described what will happen during the procedure. Basically, the surgeon will make an incision to the back of my ankle in the area of the injury, and he will suture both above and below the tear then attach the sutures to each other, thereby closing the wound. I'll go back to see them a week after the surgery to check the progress of the healing and determine whether or not I can actually start to apply some motion to my ankle. I suspect that it will be uncomfortable to do that, and to that end I have prescriptions for pain medication and anti-emetics if I need them. I've been able to go lightly on the pain meds for now, using Tylenol as needed and taking Percocet only if I need it to sleep. I tried sleeping without it last night and I was moderately successful, but I couldn't get my leg into a decent position because I have to wear the boot pretty much all of the time. If I try to sleep without it I'm certain it would be a mistake because I'll end up pointing my toes downward, which is not a good thing according to the Orthopedist. He wants me to keep my foot at 90 degrees at all times, which is honestly not too difficult because I can't bend my ankle without wanting to puke.

All of that said, it's going to drive me crazy to not be able to work. I went through this to a smaller degree when I injured my back almost two years ago to the day. I was only out for 6-7 weeks, and that drove me insane. We'll have to see whether or not I hobble outside, tear my clothes off, and howl at the moon on a cold winter's night because of induced insanity.

I will post about it if this happens to me.

6 comments:

Jen said...

Crap, that sucks Walt. If there's anything I can do for you, let me know! My number and email are on W2W. Maybe when you're a little more mobile we can have you guys over for dinner or something so you can have a change of scenery.

Unknown said...

Thanks, Jen! I will keep it in mind as you're probably right about the change of scenery thingy....

When I notified the Stash about my status, his one word response was your first: crap!

Anonymous said...

About your reading list: try www.shelfari.com. I think there's a way you can embed it into your blog. It's a nifty little site.

'Twas good chatting c you last night--we're going to miss you in Boston! *hugs*

EE said...

Eek, I'm sorry to hear about all this buddy. Here's to a quick and as painfree as possible recovery *raises ginger ale*.

Also, sorry about the blogroll mishap, I accidently deleted the entire EMS part of it before I had finished copying...therefore had lost your blog address.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the good wishes, e. I do appreciate them. And I hope you realize I was teasing - I wasn't trying to give you a hard time in any way.

You're getting close - how's the little e doing?

EE said...

:)

The little e is good...staying put well. She weighs ~3.5 pounds right now! 56 more days...