With lots of Percocet and Ibuprofen I tried to make it through the night but I couldn't lay still and kept Linda awake all the time. Around 4.30 I left my bed to spend some time in the living room and hopefully give Linda some sleep. She would need it more than me.
Since Linda had to work on Monday, and since she has to take care of most of our income now, Chad my landlord and friend drove me to Banff Hospital. I had an appointment with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Greg Buchko from Banff Sports Medicine at 11 AM.
I can be very lucky with the facilities in my area. Having both a hospital in my own town and a world renowned Sports Medicine Clinic in Banff, only 20 minutes away. 35% of their Emergency Department injuries is sports related, 90% off them are skier/snowboarder accidents. Somebody told me they treat 700 ankle fractures a year in Banff. That's 2 a day. Sounds a lot to me, maybe it's lower leg fractures but you get the point. These guys know what they are doing!
And they all love outdoor sports themselves too. That's why they live and work in Banff.
Dr Buchko told me my ankle was destroyed pretty severe. It shouldn't have been much worse or they even wouldn't be able to fix it completely themselves. I was going to need some hardware in my foot. They had to fix both my Tibia and my Fibula with a stainless steel plate and use some bone cement to fix some of the loose chips.
Dr Buchko told me it might take half a year on average before I walk "normal" again and a year until I regain full motion within my ankle joint. The thing I should worry most about is getting Post Traumatic Arthritus in my ankle joint 25-30 years from now.
They lay me on a bed and attached me to IV and started giving me antibiotics, or did they start that after Surgery. I can't remember. Around 1 PM they drove me into the OR room and lay me on the operating table. They discussed the anesthetic with me and we agreed on a spinal anesthesia with a light nap. After a little fiddling with the needle they managed to give me the injection in my spinal fluids. About 6 people were getting everything ready in the OR room and I was having a chat about some common friends with the hospital staff.
Next thing I remember is waking up 2 hours later under a warm blanket. They drove me to an acute room were Linda soon appeared. Yes!
They had to keep monitoring my vitals and keep me on IV for the rest of the day and night. Limping to toilet with an IV bag on a pole is no fun. Especially when part of your lower body is still numb from the anesthetics.
Linda stayed for a few hours, after that she went home. She was even more tired than me. I had had my little nap during surgery.
I didn't feel much in my foot at all until midnight. And then it started hurting bad. The nurse gave me a morphine injection but that did didn't help much so they soon afterwards had to give me another injection. That must have been the time that the freezing in my foot stopped working.
I managed to get through the night on Morphine, Percocet and Ibuprofen while the nurse came every few hours to take my vitals and give me intravenous Antibiotics. I tried to read a bit but I felt like a drunk, had to close one eye to focus on the letters and couldn't concentrate for long. Listening to my ipod worked better.
In the morning they took new x-rays and I asked to see both these and the original ones. On the old ones you see a lot of damage although I couldn't tell how severe it was. But clearly a lot more damage then just a fracture. On the post surgery x-rays my foot looked pretty scary with 2 big plates , 11 screws and lots of staples. I'll be setting of metal detectors on airports the rest of my life with that much stainless steel in my foot.
Around 11 AM Linda came to pick me up and I was discharged from Hospital. I'll have to be back for a followup appointment with Dr. Buchko next week Thursday. Then my foot will go in a removal cast so I can take it off when I shower or go to bed. I'm still on the Percocet but I'm taking 1 instead of 2 pills a time know. Hopefully I can stop taking it soon and finally grab some wine and beers. Supposedly pretty good pain medication too.
I'm not allowed to bear any weight on my left foot for 6 weeks. After that, I don't know. I'll probably plan my first physiotherapy appointment after my follow up with Dr. Buchko next week. I just hope I can start swimming fairly soon and go to the gym for at least some exercise with my arms. Luckily there are some very good physiotherapists in Canmore with that many Professional and Amateur sportsmen, including Olympic Champions and the Canadian Ski Team , in Town.
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