Recovery is scary, painful and very uncomfortable....riddled with lots of unknowns. I get that. Perhaps I'm looking for reassurance, along with the thousands of other patients my surgeon has dealt with, and that gets old. Perhaps it is a "personality thing" and my doc doesn't have that "bedside manner". Maybe he is not able to provide reassurance at this time because there are too many unknowns. Truth be told, if given the choice, I would much rather have a top-notch surgeon than a "good enough" surgeon with a great bedisde manner. So I should quit my belly-achin' right?
Here are images of the injuries. The top is a 3-D pic of my tibial (pilon) fracture. Yeah, it's pretty nasty (amazing how they can get such a great image though.). The bottom is a pic of my pelvic injury with repaired sacrum.
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| Right leg pilon tibial fracture before surgery |
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| Pelvic injury to superior and inferior pubic ramus (on bottom left). Repaired sacrum (screws inserted). X-ray taken while external fixator was in place (since removed) |
Speaking of leg, here are a couple of x-rays of my repaired ankle. It is pretty impressive what can be done:
The doc mentioned swimming as a potential part of my rehab, and I questioned whether or not I will even be able to float, given all of that internal metal. ;)
The thought is that it seems I am doing quite well, according to the nurse who comes to our home. She also encourages me not to worry, and mentions that my lack of patience is a good sign that my body is healing. Well......my fingers are crossed!
3 comments:
I think at least a little belly aching is more than allowed! You have to question drs. for your own piece of mind. I am sure it probably is annoying for them, but they have to expect it! It may be his millionth round of surgeries like this, but it's YOUR first. You are the unfortunate customer, but the point is, you are the one paying his salary. Part of his job is to answer your questions. I have learned my lesson about always questioning the dr. with kekito's dr. (who was a "top doc") who blatantly acted like I was nuts for suspecting autism, to my anesthesiologist doubting my resistance to lidocaine... You just have to push them them sometimes to listen and answer. I sure hope you keep getting better, and fast!!!!!
I agree with Sublime Dream! Keep asking questions! I just caught up with you, and am stunned about your fall. I am praying for you and your recovery. My brother had similar injuries when he was in a motorcycle accident. He broke several vertebrae in his back, his ribs (all of them), his wrist and his pelvis. He had an external fixator for his pelvis, but his stayed in longer since he didn't have a negative reaction to it. But he had to stay horizontal for a long time. That night that he was in intensive care after his accident, the nurse told me that he was lucky and all his bones would heal. Now, five years later, you would never know he had such severe injuries! I know you have a long road ahead of you, but I hope the story about my brother helps you to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel! And it's okay to not be patient. That will help you when it's time for physical therapy!
Thanks for your feedback ladies! Jill, you're right. It just burns me when I hear stories like that (my friend went through that w/ finally obtaining an autism diagnosis for her son after a lot of stress.)
Ginny, thank you for sharing your brother's story! It is so helpful (and hopeful) to hear about others' successful recoveries! Those are the things that get me through each day.
Sorry I haven't been doing much blog-reading lately. I'm just getting to the point where sitting with a computer can be comfortable for longer periods of time. (I had to be horizontal for a long time.)
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