Stupid Broken Ankle: Week 6

This week flew by.  I finally got to the point where I could be up long enough to cook food. Grant it, it was not easy, and took about 2x as long as normal due to trying to maneuver my knee scooter back and forth around the kitchen island.  I resembled Austin Powers turning his cart around inside the building. Frustrating.  But at least I had one free hand to carry something.

I was trusted to be on my own most of this week. Towards the end of this week my husband had the decking installed (no railing yet) so I could finally go OUTSIDE, and let the dog out. We have been without a deck for 3 - 4 weeks.

Speaking of letting the dog outside, I attempted to let him out the front door, we have a short lead line from the porch.  Opening a storm door one footed, on crutches, while going down a stair simultaneously is quite the feat.  I attempted this in addition to picking up the lead to clip on the dog.  At this point the dog seizes his opportunity and takes off out the door and across the street. He's completely ignoring me. Deaf. Stone cold deaf, or perhaps sound does not travel across streets. I hobble across the law, across the street and towards the back of the neighbors house where the dog continues to avoid me.  He apparently has forgotten who I even am.  He now not only can't hear me, he now can't even see me. I'm like a ghost.  It dawns on me I can't get him back home and will need a leash. So I hobble back home and get the leash.  (I now remember a story about the leash and the dog from week 2 that's rather humorous and I didn't tell it.  I'll have to tell that story at some point.) I get the leash and hobble back through that stupid storm door, I swear it tries to sweep my crutches out from under me, and down the stairs, across the yard, across the street.  Now the dog has wandered up the street and is going behind another house.  I hobble after him, calling him the whole time.  He just keeps going.  I'm at a dead sprint on my crutches, roughly 2 mph.  I nearly wipe out several times in the grass.  I am not happy, and yet, I'm sort of laughing at the situation.  He has managed to find a stretch of backyards w/o fences. We continue this oblivious chase through several yards before he stops to smell something under some tall pampas grass.  For fear of this continuing for the next 4 hours, I seize the opportunity and I hurl myself on top of him. Yes, I hurled. My crutches went every which way, but I had him, and I had the leash.  He was mine.  I tie the end of the leash around my waist leaving just enough leash to drop down to his collar.  I can't hold the leash with crutches, so this is my only option. I crawl around some persons back yard and gather my crutches with him tied to my waist. I'm sure it was pretty funny to watch. "Honey, there's some strange lady crawling in our back yard with a dog tied around her waist." I drag him all the way back to the house and take him inside and don't let him out again until the deck is built.

Right ankle, inside view.
That's a chunk of my tibia not attached to anything.

At the end of this week, day 41 to be precise, I had another set of x-ray's done.  I finally looked at my paperwork and it said I had a trimalleolar fracture with ankle dislocation.  Trimalleolar is fancy speak for I broke the right side, the left side, and the back of my tibia/fibula that make up my ankle. This time I had hubby get a photo of the side view.  This was the nasty looking view.  So much more healing needs to take place. I was told this is normal for someone "my age." So much for taking calcium, vitamin D, fish oil, and a multi-vitamin.  I thought for sure I would be the one outlier / miracle with complete healing at this stage. My hopes were dashed. Despite acting like a kid, I do not possess the healing abilities of a child. You would think the two would translate.

Now the good news.  I can start putting weight on my foot.  I'll be in my boot another 2 weeks while learning to walk again (cue inspiring music) with the aid of crutches.  In a matter of seconds following my first attempt at walking, I have learned it feels like my bones are going to pop through the skin in the bottom of my foot. I was told this feeling would eventually go away. Oh, Lord it better go away! I get to work on daily exercises at home to strengthen my muscles, and perform stretches for the calf, ankle, and foot to move again.  I can't move them much at all right now and my itty-bitty calf cramps when I try to use it. It's like all my joints and muscles are filled with cement. Click here to see my video displaying my fancy foot work side by side - good versus evil.

And most importantly, if you have followed these weekly blog posts, I finally figured out what is causing me to feel like I have the flu.  It's not a metal allergy (I should probably stop doing so much research about these things).  It's doing too much, being too active.  I had no idea that doing too much would give me achy muscles all over, chills, and make me feel like crap. Live and learn. So, I guess I'll relax a bit more and heal a bit more.  And to be honest, I'm kind of getting tired of the computer and watching TV.

I might try a half day at work Thursday and Friday during "week 7".  The problem is that I am still not allowed to drive due to the boot. Apparently if you are to get in an accident you will automatically be at fault due to the boot (or cast). Crazy right?  So if I figure out a way to get to/from work, I'll make an attempt to go. I'll have to spend the day in my office and avoid the lab - open toed shoes, or boots in my case, are not allowed in the labs.  Plus I can't stand, or carry, or do anything other than sit at my desk anyway.  But I can sort of walk with crutches!  Things are looking up!

Missed the story on how I broke my ankle?  You can read it here.

Stupid Broken Ankle: More Bills

I just saw two doctor bills came in from the Surgery on September 17th for about $10,000 (for an hour of surgery), bringing my total now up to nearly $30,000 for the surgery.

So far I've only had to foot the bill for the ambulance ride at just over $900.  It appears that the ambulance provider in my town is not "in network" so I get to pay for the entire ride myself.

My Broken Ankle: Week 5

Days 28-34 Look at that incredible shrinking leg! My right calf resembles an old lady's batwing and just hangs off the bones.  My knee looks huge in comparison.  It's fun getting to take my boot off for photo ops.

This week I had a major outing!  My parents came to town over the weekend and were a big help.  This was the second weekend they have come up to help out.  Dad assisted Hubby on re-building our deck and Mom helped inside, vacuumed the main floor and basement and most importantly, took me on a major outing.  This major outing was going to the indoor mall.  I rarely go to the indoor mall, but I needed to return some clothing I ordered for the girls that didn't fit.  We made a stop at 3 stores for the girls and then we swung into Bath & Body works to pick out new soaps and air fresheners.  They have everything pumpkin right now, and our house will smell like some version of pumpkin until next year.

I'd guess I was upright for over an hour on my knee scooter and my foot did not feel like it would explode. That is improvement.  However my knee felt like it might explode. They need a little more cushioning on those things for those of us who's legs have whittled away to pure bone.  Hence photo #1...

Day 33. Put my socks on and had to take a photo to show the difference in size of my left (good) ankle and my right (bad) ankle.  I then put a shoe on my right foot for the first time since the break.  I loosed up the lace about as much as I could to gingerly put my foot in.  It didn't hurt, but I was afraid it might.  I wasn't sure I would be able to get the shoe string tied.  I had just barely enough string to tie a little bow.

I jumped on my stationary bike (my triathlon bike mounted to a trainer) for 20 minutes at the lowest resistance with what I would guess was just 60 RPM.  The OS told me I was to use a stationary bike, not my bike on a trainer.  I don't know what the difference is exactly, but I tend to do my own thing anyway.

During my 20 minute spin my ankle was really stiff - not much flexing going on.  I had twinges of pain on the outside of my ankle bone (fibula) and the backside of my heel.  The heel seemed to loosen up as I pedaled. If I angled my foot just right the outer pain would stop, but it was hard to keep my foot at just the right angle.  Otherwise it didn't feel bad at all.  A little dissapointed I didn't work up a sweat or even breathe hard.  I'll add 5 minutes on tomorrow.  I'm not sure how much to push it.  I'll have to mount my bike computer and see what kind of cadence I'm keeping, then eventually try to up the cadence until I get to >80 rpm, this will come in time.

9 more days until I see the Dr.  I'll ask if he thinks my flu like symptoms are ongoing withdrawals or a possible metal allergy.

Day 34 - the end of week 5.  I chose not to take an allergy pill yesterday evening.  My aunt-in-law suggests that I am having continued withdrawal symptoms from the narcotics.  She convinced me to give up the allergy pill (aka mental cure). I woke up a bit achy in my neck, upper back, and shoulders this morning, the same feeling as when you are sick.  I took one naproxen and feel better this afternoon.

Today I also decided to get back to eating better.  I have sure appreciated all the delicious goodness people have brought over, but my stomach flab seems to be increasing and I don't like the look of it.  So, no more sugar for awhile...or at least not until I eat some. :-)

My Broken Ankle: I think I'm allergic to the metal plates and screws

I haven't taken narcotic pain meds since about the end of September.  It is now October 20th and I still feel sick.  Perhaps I am not having withdrawals from the narcotics.  Should withdrawals take longer than the amount of time you took them?

I did this little experiment, I started taking allergy meds (loratadine) to see if that would help me feel better.  I have only had maybe 2 or 3 days where I felt mostly normal in the last 2.5 weeks, the remainder of days I have felt like I had the flu with small time periods of feeling just ok.  I starting taking my allergy meds a few days ago and since starting them I feel so much better.

I'm now starting to question the rash I had on my body a few days after leaving the hospital.  I had a cast on and I first noticed the rash (not an itchy rash) at the top of my cast. Initially I thought perhaps my cast was irritating my leg.  It then spread up my leg and eventually showed up on my arms and both legs.  I attributed this to the pain pills I was taking.  I took some allergy meds and switched to a different pain pill.  Hmm...

I need to state that I have OTC loratadine (Claritin) because I have had a drippy nose since being pregnant with my kids.  I have no allergy to anything, my nose is just drippy.  A few years back a friend stated he takes a daily allergy meds for his drippy nose.  He too has no known allergy, but his doctor suggested trying an allergy pill and that took care of his drippy nose.  I decided to try this approach too and it worked for me.  I've been hit or miss with taking my pills. It seems to be drippier when I'm at work - and since I have been home for 4+ weeks now it hasn't been irritating enough to remember to take a pill for it.  That is until I started reading about flu like symptoms after implants, plates, rods, screws, etc being installed on people.

I couldn't find an article that stated allergy meds helped, but all stated it is from an allergic reaction to one of the metals in the device installed.  Being the scientist I am I did my own experiment.  I took an allergy pill one evening and the next day felt so much better.  I continued taking them and have continued to feel pretty dang good.  Yesterday was the only day I started to have some of the symptoms return, so I took my pill earlier in the day (instead of the evening) and by bed time I felt better again.

The next step in my plan is to stop taking the allergy pills and see if the symptoms return.  I really don't want to do this as feeling not sick is so much better, but I want to know if by body is reacting to the metal hardware or not so I need to do it.  I'll wait a couple more days.  I want to go a whole week on the allergy meds before stopping.  I'll post an update on how this goes for me next week.

There are tests that can be done for metal allergy called the MELISA test.  I may decide to have this done, or I may just continue with daily allergy medication if that seems to take care of it until I can have my hardware removed.

To read more about testing for metal allergies click here.

Scientific article discussing one particular metal allergy case. He was treated with antibiotics, and it was months before a metal allergy was suspected.

It never occurred to me before, but I don't wear earrings because they irritate my ears something fierce, they get red, sore, and can get scabs if I leave them in for very long.  Perhaps this is a metal allergy.  I don't have a reaction to necklaces, rings, or bracelets, just earrings.

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My Broken Ankle: Thank Goodness for Insurance, the bills are rolling in...

I got my first glimpse of the charges for my ankle. Take a look at these charges for my trip to the hospital. This is why everyone should have insurance.  I never use my insurance, I've been to see the Dr maybe once in the last 8 years, but when the unexpected happens (and it does) you don't want to pay this kind of money on the spot!

The 6 block ambulance ride was $905.

My surgery and overnight stay was $17,918.

ER charge $225.

Anesthesia: $720.

Radiology $104

Grand Total: $19,872

I'm still awaiting the Dr's charges for that day.  Those are billed separate.  I will also have the follow up appointments/visits w/ x-rays and splints, etc, and eventually Physical Therapy.

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My Broken Ankle: Continued Body Aches at week 4

I have had full body achiness since the surgery.  I attributed most of it to side effects of narcotics or anesthesia.   During the first week, whenever I got slightly behind on dosing I was achy.  When I stopped taking them all together by the end of week 2, I was achy, non-stop for several days in a row.  Like having the flu, along with nausea, chills and sweats.  Now I am achy for about 25%-100% of the day.  Still get chills and sweats.  I am 27 days post fx & surgery.

The achiness/tiredness is really depressing.  I attributed the symptoms to side effects from stopping narcotics, but I don't think they should be lasting this long.  I don't know if this is a typical healing process or something else.  I haven't seen anyone else discuss this when they broke an ankle.  Anyone else have these symptoms?

My Broken Ankle: Week 4

All photos taken on Day 26

I'm not going to lie. Being stuck on the couch all day is really annoying.  Thank God for the internet and Netflix.  Did some more searching of other people who have broken ankles and came across one blog from a guy who broke his ankle and had no insurance.  His bill was over $20,000 when all was said and done.  I haven't seen a single bill yet.  I have insurance.  I actually think we've met the deductible for our insurance this year, so I'm crossing my fingers we don't pay a dime for this.

So, what is new this week?  Um, still swollen.  Still feels like my foot will explode when I stand for very long.  Foot still turns purple when not elevated.  My foot is still numb and the skin hurts when anything touches it, so my nerves are still jacked up.

Oh what is new, I almost forgot!  I have started taking my boot off for extended periods of time and sleeping w/o it on.  Don't tell my OS, I'm not really supposed to do this. But if I"m just on the couch all day what the heck is going to happen?  Unfortunately this "boot removal" reveals my bat wing of a calf.  It just hangs off the bone and is is now over 2" smaller than my left calf.  This can be said for the rest of my right leg.  Because my calf is so scrawny now, it actually hurts to prop it on something.  It's like I'm just laying my bone on things, there is no cushioning.  It's getting really uncomfortable.

I've started to do some wiggling of my toes and a small amount of flexing of the ankle.

I started to rub on some Arnica Cream before bed and after getting up. I don't know if it helps, but I like to think it does.  I can see some of my bruises turning bright yellow now, a sign of them dissolving, which Arnica is supposed to help with, along with pain and inflammation. You can read about it here. It's not the same brand that I have, but I'm sure they're all the same for the most part.

Sleeping is still uncomfortable.  I wrap my ankle in an ace bandage to support it while I sleep.  I honestly think all the swelling alone probably supports it, but better safe than sorry.  I prop my lower leg up on a pillow, side sleeping seems to make the ankle sore, the bony leg can't find a good position to be in, and I resort to tossing a turning a lot.  I'm really tired of laying on my back all the time.  Hubby snapped at me last night about 2 AM for tossing and turning so I got up and crutched it to the couch.  Using crutches when half asleep is not really a good thing.  I made it down 2 flights of stairs w/o dying, so that says something about good balance, I think.

I finally went to church on Sunday.  My leg was killing me be the end of service which ran a smidgen over an hour.  That night I went shopping with the hubby as we have finally ran out of all pre-made meals and gift cards to restaurants and needed to finally get back to making our own dinners.  I created a nice menu for the week complete with shopping list.  I got to ride around the store in the electric scooter and help pick out the groceries.  Divide and conquer.  Worked pretty well, but again, my foot was killing me when we were done.  I seriously hope this goes away soon.  I would be nice to be upright for more than an hour without feeling like my foot will explode.  Speaking of explode, that's what the hubby is going to do when he has to actually start making and preparing meals and deciphering recipes for the whole family each night.  I cannot say enough thank yous to everyone who brought food over to us.  I kind of like my healthy eating, and my normal meals are not easy quick meals, so we'll see how the hubby does these next 7 days.

This 4th week is drawing to an end in a couple days and then I can start going to the gym to jump on the stationary bikes.  Hubby will have to drive me, I'll crutch it to the elevator, crutch it to the bikes, and then spin for as long as I can.  Wonder how that first day is going to go?  I'll report back at the end of next week.

My Broken Ankle: Week 3

This is week 3.  The half way point to an end.  Sort of.  I have it in my head that by the end of this week I'll be walking again, but that isn't necessarily true.  I just want to think positive.

I stopped taking all narcotic medication this week.  Last week I was tapering off them and this week I completely stopped.  As soon as I stopped taking them I felt sick. Body aches, chills and sweats (but no apparent fever), stomach was slightly nauseated.  This lasted for 4 days. It was like having the flu. We chalked it up to withdrawals from the narcotics.  I would have never guessed this would happen.  It sucked.  It's bad enough I'm stuck on a couch all day and can't do jack for myself, but now I feel like crap on top of it.  I was so happy when I finally felt normal again.

Swelling and incision of inner ankle

Here is a side by side comparison of my ankle/feet I took after showering. So nice to be able to take the boot off!  I still have the man's cadaver foot attached to my right leg. The inside scar is really ugly and brown. Lots of bruising along my Achilles, heel, and middle of my leg.  Cadaver man's foot freaks me out still.  Washing it in the shower is the worst because I can't feel myself washing it (skin is still numb).  Notice the bump on the middle top portion of my foot?  I do not know what that is.  It was there when the plaster cast was taken off the end of week 2.  It's hard like bone, so I wonder if I did something to that bone when I crashed or if it was caused by pressure from the cast.  I hope it goes away.

My outside incision looks much better than the inner incision.

Next week I am supposed to be able to start riding a recumbent bike - no resistance.  I'm super excited to get to do some sort of physical activity. I've done a few push-ups and planks here and there over that last week, but only from my knees and I can't put weight on my foot.  I'm not sure if I'm supposed to remove my boot or leave it on.  My plan is to leave it on and if that doesn't work I'll take it off.  I also don't know how long to do it.  Hmm, perhaps these were questions I should have asked at my 2 week appointment. Drat!

My Broken Ankle: Week 2

English: An Xray of the left ankle showing a SalterHarris type III fracture of medial malleolus. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Bimalleolar fracture and right ankle dislocation on X-ray (anteroposterior). Both the end of the fibula (1) and the tibia (2) are broken and the malleolar fragments (arrow: medial malleolus, arrowhead: lateral malleolus) are displaced. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

To start the week off I notice I have some crazy atrophy going on by day 8.  Day 8!  In a weeks time my leg has visibly shrunk.  My biker legs are disappearing.  My muscle is turning to jelly.  It's flabby and saggy like an old lady's under arm.  I can only imagine how it will look after 5 more weeks of this.  I'm not very happy.

NOTE: The first two x-rays are not mine. The 3rd x-ray with plate and screws below is mine.

I've started to decrease the pain pills this week, and this allows me to focus on tasks a bit more and sleep a bit less.  The pain is subsiding.  I'm actually surprised how well I sleep through the night on my back with my leg propped in the air.  This week I'm no longer taking pain meds on a schedule, but more as I realize I'm in pain.  I start with just one pill and take a 2nd one only if the first didn't do the trick.  I find I seem to need more pills first thing in the morning and late in the evening.

I've starting researching broken ankles quite a bit this week bimalleolar fractures, trimalleolar fractures, and some cool videos seeing people break their ankles.  I'm surprised there isn't more information out there about broken ankles.  What I do find is never what I want.  I keep thinking I'll be fully walking at the end of 6 weeks, but it doesn't seem that will happen based on the many things I read.  It is rather depressing.  I just want to run and bike again like I did before this happened.  I read things that say there is a 50% chance of arthritis after an ankle fracture.  I've read things that say there is only a 10% chance.  This I've only found as a quote from a profession sports team doctor - and I think perhaps they mean 10% chance it will be so bad they can't fix it with tons of drugs so they can keep playing.

I finally got to see the OS at the end of this week.  I hadn't spoken with him since before I had surgery on day 0.  I've been dying to know why my fracture looked like exactly and what they did to repair it.  I only knew that I had 3 fractures prior to the surgery, but no other specifics.

I was disappointed to find out they didn't have the x-ray's of my fracture at the clinic/office.  But while I was there they removed my heavy plaster cast.  That was so nice.  Only to reveal the ugliest cadaver man's foot I had ever seen.  And it was on my leg!  This freaked me out.  It was numb and felt and looked like it wasn't mine.  I kid you not it is a man's cadaver foot, and this is what I have referred to it as ever since.

The PA removed my staples. There were 6 on my inside ankle and maybe 8 or 9 on my outside ankle.  I was sure this was going to be a painful process. It wasn't so bad.  I think the outside staples hurt a bit to remove, but the inside didn't have much feeling.  I think my skin was sort of numb on the inside though.

Next I was wheeled into x-rays.  I was so sure this was going to hurt.  After experiencing the extreme pain of x-rays the day I broke my ankle I knew what I was in store for.  Turns out x-rays were completely painless this go around.  Back to the room I went.

This is my actual x-ray. 

The PA came in and pulled up my x-rays.  They were pretty cool.  Turns out I have 9 screws and a plate installed. My husband only took a photo of one of the x-rays, but it looks pretty cool from the side.  I still would like to see how it looked before the hardware was installed.

The OS came in to see how I was doing and talk to me.  He told the PA to let me have a boot. The PA wanted to put me in a fiberglass cast.  I was so happy the OS said a boot would be fine.  I wanted to shower and wash my leg with out having to cover a cast up every time. I didn't want a stinky itchy leg.  Another guy came in shortly after and got my boot and put it on.  He also got me my offical doctors note stating I cannot return to work until after I have my 6 week follow up appointment.  I had another prescription written for pain meds (I never got it filled).  I wanted to stop taking them and switch to just Tylenol as needed, but just in case they thought I should have a back up plan.

By the way, Tylenol is the only recommended pain pill for broken bones.  Apparently ibuprofen, naproxen and other similar drugs (Advil, Motrin, Alieve) all hinder healing of the bones.  So don't take them unless your doctor orders you to.

My Broken Ankle: Week 1

I pretty much spent all of week 1 on the couch and on full dose pain meds.  Percocet 5/375 or something like that.  I took 2 pills around every 4 - 5 hours.  My husband kept me on track of when to take my meds and set his alarm so I would take them at night.

I kept my foot propped up on pillows all the time.  If I didn't it felt like my foot would explode and it would turn purple.  The skin on my foot was numb with a few spots on top that just felt like fire when you touched them.  I hated it.  I also had some pin and needle feelings.  In addition to all of this was the just the horrible constant pressure from the swelling.

Pancho Snuggles

I slept a lot. The dog and I became best of nap partners.  Occasionally one of the cats would snuggle too (on the rare occasion the dog wasn't already on top of me). When I wasn't sleeping I would read a few Facebook posts or respond to text messages which were now out of control with people asking how I was doing and if they could do anything to help.  People also started to come to visit or drop off flowers, plants, casseroles, food, candy, etc.  I enjoyed it when someone stopped by and I could chat with them.  My husband (and kids) enjoyed the food being dropped off as it was one less thing for him to have to do on top of everything else.  These are things that are greatly appreciated.

Winston Snuggles

My husband got me a knee scooter at some point during this week so I could get around the house easier than using crutches.  Unfortunately, our house is a 2 story, so I'm limited to using it downstairs only.  The great thing about the scooter is that I have one free hand!  I can actually do something with one free hand, when I'm awake that is.  I can carry a glass of water.  I can also spill a glass of water.

I managed to get out of the house a couple times.  It was awful and I almost wished I didn't, but it was something out of the house.  I say it was awful because my foot would be on the verge of exploding, it was very painful, and I was quite tired.

On day 3 I realized I had not had a BM.  I sent hubby to get me some milk of magnesia (cherry flavor) to alleviate the problem.  This soon became a daily ritual.  This is the downside to using narcotics.  I also took daily stool softeners.

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Day 0: How I Broke My Ankle w/ photos

It was September 17, 2014.  I was excited.  My husband, daughter and I all planned to race our bikes that evening.  It was the first cyclocross race of the season.  My 12 year old daughter's first race.  I convinced her to try an open practice a few weeks earlier with her big bulky heavy mountain bike.  She was worn out, but enjoyed it.  She decided she wanted to race cyclocross.  We found a cyclocross that fit her for a great price on CraigsList.org.  She was set.  She got to practice cx on the bike once before her debut race.  We arrived at the race after the races started so we didn't get to pre-ride the course.  I was so proud of her racing her first race.  She did great.  No wipe outs, and had a great time.  It was so fun to get to cheer her and the other kids on.

The next race was the Men's Catagory 4/5 and Women's Category 4 race.  These categories are for those new or relatively new to cyclocross with fewer races or seasons under their belt.  This would be the categories that my husband and I fit into.  We had only raced 2 or 3 races the previous year, and this was our first race of this year.

A few seconds into the race. I'm on the yellow bike.

The men started about 1 minute before the women, but we were all racing on the course together.  They started the ladies and I was off the line pretty fast on Ol' Yeller. I was a little too geared up.  The first section was a paved up hill and I was first into the chute. I took a quick glance behind me and thought I had a decent lead, but I don't think I saw the whole field of gals. Unfortunately my bike has skinny tires on it, and when I hit the soft pine needles off the pavement I sunk and slowed. This allowed 2 speedy gals to pass me and I was stuck behind them through the turns. Curse these skinny tires was all I could think of.  I wanted to over take them again once I hit the harder sections (assuming I could).  I pushed it around the last group of turns before hitting the grassy area.  I hoped to sling shot around them.  Keep in mind I had not pre-ridden the course and didn't know what the ground or course was like or had in store for me.  On the last tree I rounded (going up hill into the setting sun) I cut in close to the tree (pedaling) and my right foot must have hit a tree root.  My tires lifted and I was down on the ground laying on my right side. It was fast.  My right foot didn't unclip from the pedal.  No worries, really soft landing, I was fine. I did a quick twist to unclip my foot so I could jump back on my bike, but when I twisted my ankle it did not twist right. You know that feeling of grabbing Scrabble tiles out of the bag, or perhaps just mixing dominoes around? That's was the sensation in my ankle when I twisted my foot out of my pedal.  I knew immediately something was wrong and it wasn't good.

I was told I made an attempt to get up (I don't remember this) and just laid back down.  It wasn't good.  I knew it wasn't. Damn! Thoughts of all the upcoming races I had already signed up for (ka-ching) flashed through my head.  Maybe it was just a bad sprain.  In 2 weeks it might be good enough to race USARA Nationals in Maryland. I was so looking forward to that race with my team Nut-n-Honey. Then I had the 72 mile Market to Market team relay race the weekend after nationals where I would be running 3 different legs.  Both races are team races; if I wasn't ok to race I'd be letting my team down.  Then in 6 weeks I had the inaugural Good Life Halfsy half marathon, and I was really looking forward to that race too.  These races all flashed through my head in a split second.  And my heart sunk.

I didn't get up. I knew it was bad enough I didn't even want to move it for fear of searing pain.  Seconds later a racer behind me stopped to check on me.  She stopped her race and stayed with me. How sweet is that? She informed me she was a nurse.  A few spectators formed around me to protect me from fellow racers on the course - as I was still laying on the course.  An orthopedic surgeon who came to watch the races rushed over to assist. He might have walked, I don't know, but I like to think he rushed over in a dead sprint. Seriously, what are the odds a nurse practitioner would be racing behind me, and an Orthopedic Surgeon (OS) would be spectating?

It dawns on me that me laying on the course was a bit of a hazard with all the cyclists shooting around the tree. I had the bright idea for the tape to be moved to alter the course around me.  Amazing I still had my wits about me because I was freaking out on the inside.  Ok, I was freaking out on the outside too.  So they moved the tape, making a wider turn for the racers and protecting me.

The OS took one look at it and told me it was either dislocated or broken. My hopes sunk. He realigned it for me. It may have felt better after he did that, I'm really not sure.  I do know it felt like there were pieces of tile in my ankle every time I moved, and it hurt.  I wouldn't look at it.  Looking at it just makes it real.  Not looking at it let me believe it wasn't serious.  He could be wrong.  It was such an easy fall.  A soft landing.  I was sure I wouldn't even have a bruise anywhere on my body, I couldn't understand how my ankle could be so bad.

My daughter's legs, paramedic, me, and fellow racer.

The spectators (consisting of some friends and family) stopped my husband on his 2nd lap around.  I'm not even sure I made 1/2 a lap before I wiped out.  The goal is usually 4 or 5 laps of the course in around 30 minutes and I only got to enjoy about 2 minutes of racing.

The OS ran to his office, or biked, he told me later he biked to the event, which happened to be 1 block away and brought back a splint.  In the mean time the paramedics arrived and started to assess me.  Jen (the nurse) offered to put the IV in for them, but they said she wasn't allowed.  The OS returned. My bike shoe was ever so gently removed - I asked them not to cut it. They splinted me up, the paramedics put an I.V. in, which i am amazed, it was the best IV line/needle stuck in my arm I've ever had. Usually they feel really uncomfortable the whole time the needle is in my arm, but I couldn't feel this one at all.  Perhaps the ankle pain overwhelmed it?  They gave me some pain killer.  I'm not sure what it was, but it helped me relax.  I was loaded up and off the the hospital, which was probably 6 blocks away.  Short trip. The paramedics and everyone who helped were fantastic.  Can't say enough good things. (if you want to know how much this ride cost you can find out by clicking here)

I was wheeled straight into a room in the ER.  A nurse and ER Dr came in and I explained everything to them.  Soon my husband and daughters arrived.  I was then quickly whisked away for x-rays.  This was when the real pain began.  The gals removed the splint and lifted my leg out by my calf.  I felt those pieces of tile in my ankle shift around, my foot dropped and the pain was excruciating.  Tears started rolling.  They told me I need to lay my leg down flat, but the pain was so bad I couldn't force myself to do it.  It took all I had not to scream.  I gathered my composure as best I could and told the nurse I would put my leg flat but when I did she needed to run behind the wall as fast as she could and snap the x-ray.  And that's what we did.  A few different times.  I'm tense just thinking about those x-rays again.

I was wheeled back to the ER room holding my leg by my knee so my foot could hang.  This alleviated some of the pain.  As we passed the desk I informed the ER Dr. I was ready for more pain meds!  He was already viewing the x-rays.  I had no idea that everything was instant like that. Technology is wonderful.  He came in the room about a minute or two after me and informed me my ankle was broke in 3 places.  Not 1. Not 2, but 3 (plus a few shards). I couldn't even remember what the ankle consisted of. I was thinking little bones that moved around made up the ankle and it might not be so bad.  Little bones = fast healing, right?  So I asked which bones they were.  It was the tibia and fibula.  What?  Those are leg bones!  Aren't they?  Apparently they also make up the outsides and top of your ankle.  Unless they are both broken, in which case your ankle is completely dislocated and floating around in your lower leg with pieces of tile banging around.  At least that's what it felt like and looked like.

At this point he notices my splint is no longer on my leg and asks why.  I inform him the gals in x-ray removed it.  He apologized and told me they should not have removed it and he would get me some more pain meds.

Now, I'm on pain meds, so some of this story may not be fully accurate, but it's the best I can remember.  The OS arrives at the hospital and volunteers to perform my surgery that evening and install the hardware required to put my ankle back together. A nurse starts me on antibiotics.  I'm informed of my options to be either knocked out completely with a breathing tube or be given a spinal block.  I opt for the spinal block.  I get wheeled into the operating room maybe 2 hours after I break my ankle to completely fix it. This is a rare opportunity I find out later.  At the time I assumed this was standard practice.

I should also state said OS is a fellow biker.  Perhaps he took pity on me as a fellow biker?

Needless to say I had two spinals.  The first one didn't take.  It wasn't bad.  I'm not even sure I felt either one.  After the 2nd one took affect, they put what I assumed was an oxygen mask over my nose and mouth and told me they would give me something to relax me.  That was the last thing I remember.  I woke up 2 1/2 hours later in what looked like a completely empty hospital.  It was dark and creepy.  There was only 1 nurse and I was sort of in a hallway hooked up to a blood pressure machine and my IV.  I was still numb from the chest down.  A bonus of the spinal was that I wouldn't have any pain for several hours after surgery.  About a half hour after I woke up she took me to my room where my husband and daughters were waiting.  They stayed for a short while and went home as it was just after midnight and they had work and school in the morning.

I went to sleep but was woken every 5-10 minutes by either the blood pressure monitor, the air bed adding or releasing air, or some other machine making noise.  It wasn't very restful sleep.  Roughly 3 AM my nurse takes my vitals and asks if I need any pain meds yet.  I was just starting to feel my ankle at that point and could finally move my legs some.  I told her no thinking I had another hour, maybe 2 before I would need pain meds.  It wasn't but 15 minutes later I was in real pain.  I called the nurse back in and she gave me oral meds.  Oral.  Double crap. It would take an hour to fully work!  So I waited.  Wide awake for an hour waiting for the meds to work.  An hour later she checks on me, I inform her I didn't feel any better, but I also didn't feel any worse.  I didn't need the pain knocked out, just knocked down so I could sleep.  I rated it a 7 - 8 on the pain scale and just wanted it dropped to a 4 or 5 so I could sleep.  She gave me something else.  This repeated hour after hour after hour.  Until around noon.  During this wide awake time I made phone calls notifying work that I wouldn't be in for the rest of the week for sure, maybe longer I didn't know.

How my leg looks post surgery

I was released just after 3 pm when a Percacet and Tramadol combination finally worked for my pain.  I was sent home told not to put any weight on my leg.  I got a lesson in using crutches and got to use them going up and down stairs.  I am also notified that I will see the orthopedist in 2 weeks and my appointment has already been made.

I had no idea what was put in my leg or what the bones looked like.  I was left wondering until my 2 week appointment.  And this is what my leg looked like just before leaving the hospital.

Everyone at the hospital was great. They were all super friendly and seemed genuinely concerned with my needs and well being.

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