i really wanted a hot pink cast out of this deal. that's all. and everybody could sign it and i'd be the cool kid in town. my first cast ever.
they gave me an "aircast".
a demotion from the walking boot.
you see, it'd been nearly 2 weeks and i still couldn't walk without a 7 on the pain scale. meaning, i couldn't walk at all. my range of motion was still pathetic... and since i was sitting in an orthopedic surgeon's office, pediatric though she was, i figured i'd ask her opinion. {we were there for gwen, who sprained her wrist. she's more of a trooper than me and is completely recovered and fine now...} so the orthopedic dr. pushed around on my ankle.
"does that hurt?" no.
"here?" no.
"here?" no.
"how about here?"
i jumped.
she sighed.
"yep. that's a bone. you need to get it re-xrayd and possibly cast."
next stop, PCP {primary car physician}. she was kinda freaking out about how much it still hurts after two weeks {especially when she poked it. seriously, what's with all the poking}, and how my foot turns blue-ish purple when it's not elevated. and how it's kinda numb. she also explained the dark blue, purple bruise-looking thing on the side-bottom of my foot was from a busted blood vessel, and the bruise-looking thing was the pool of blood. which explains why it doesn't hurt there...
then she pulled the xray file from the ER.
bone fracture with fragments.
on the outside, backside of my right ankle.
right. there. on. the. ER. record.
! ! ! ! !
evidently the dr. who was working the ER the night i went in didn't notice it, but the radiologist who reviewed the xrays in the morning did.
did they call me? did they let me know my ankle was fractured?!?! "maybe don't try walking? moving it too much?" maybe i should come back in... get a splint or brace or something!?!?
a resounding no.
no is the answer.
so, my PCP gave me a temporary cast and set up an appt. with an orthopedic surgeon of the adult persuasion.
a quick note of gratitude to
lauren b. and becky w.
for waking up way too early
to drive me to town {lauren}
and watch my girlies {becky}.
i was all sorts of pumped! i was gonna get my first cast. and validation for all the pain and complaining and lack of living. WOOT WOOT! i seriously couldn't stop talking the whole drive to town...
castle hospital. the wait wasn't too bad... just enough for bella to give birth to renesmee and start turning into a vampire {i had to do something to pass the time...}
the dr., and the whole office for that matter, was mr. sports. i felt awkward. why was i at a sports medicine orthopedist? is orthopedist a word? i don't play sports anymore? i rolled my ankle hiking, not going in for a dunk... i didn't fit in with the ginormous pictures of adrenaline pumping, sweat streaming, open mouthed faces adorning the walls. my heart pumped fear through me... i had a feeling i wouldn't be leaving with my pink cast.
the xray-on-CD that kahuku had sent with me didn't work {shocker}, so i had to get re-xrayd.
yah, i have no clue what i'm looking at either.
evidently the right picture, where you see my tibia and fibula, holds the key to the room of hot pink casts.
here. this one makes more sense.
see the lateral malleolus at the bottom of the fibula?
that's what fractured.
i know, i know. you just looked back at the xray and you're saying
"i don't see anything?"
and i guess that's why i don't have a hot pink cast. i'm just missing a piece of the tip of my fibula... no biggie. especially in sports medicine... happens all the time. {can you taste the sarcasm. i'm bitter. i wanted my cast.}
so i left with an air cast. each crutch of the crutches jostling my sensitive {evidently overly sensitive} fibula. i wanted my temporary cast back. it was cooshy.
oh, and mr. sports medicine dr. said something along the lines of
"most people with these types of fractures are walking within a week... two tops."
nobody calls me pansy. so i walked all yesterday afternoon. well, shuffled really. and i cried most of the time cause it hurt something fierce.
all over a hot pink cast.
image found here
7 comments:
So i felt sick the entire time I was looking and reading. I really hope you get better soon and the pain subsides! I need to go lie down now. I can't imagine what you're feeling!
Shut down Kahuku Hospital!
What an ordeal you've been through with that foot!
I'm SO not surprised about Kahuku not calling you the next morning. I was having bad chest pain after having an ablation done on my heart so I went there and they were total idiots. They told me my EKG was normal.... turns out my heart was swollen and the blood was going back up where it was supposed to be coming down. And that's just 1 of my bad experiences with that place!
Be care to watch and have your ankle checked for blood clots- swelling and loss of feeling are not good signs.
I do have tsay that I'm bummed I don't get to sign the hot pink cast. BUT on the positive side, I bet a cast would have been so itchy and hot here. So at least you can remove your air cast thingy and let your foot breathe?!?!
And at the very least, they should have given you some good pain killers to help with the pain.
Hope the pain subsides SOON!
Sorry about the hot pink cast!! I seriously would have wanted one...especially to prove all the drama. Oh...the foot looks gross, thanks for the pic.
Not to rub it in or anything, but I had a hot pink cast on my arm in 4th grade. All sorts of people signed it because it was cool to sign casts. It made it look like I actually had some friends in the 4th grade. I should have saved that cast....or not.
I'm real sorry to hear about your lateral malleolus. What an exciting story to tell though! I have been waiting forever to hear the end! Or is this the end? I guess I will have to wait and see!
I feel like such a blog stalker right now...ah! I'm a friend of Stephanie and Echo's...we are in the book club together? It's okay if you dont remember me, but I felt compelled to post a little comment =)
I work at an ortho clinic and never had a cast in my life, so BEGGED one of the doctors to put a purple cast on me so I would be cool enough to have one for just one day (I even went so far as to tell the hubby that I fell at work and had to get a cast...he wasn't to thrilled when I told him it was a joke). Anyway...about an hour after getting home, I HATED the thing. It smelled something awful and itched like crazy. I hate casts now =)
But, regardless, dont let those doctors tell you that you should be feeling better in 2seconds or that what you are feeling isnt that painful. They have no compassion. They're just a bunch of meat heads =)
Even though you are in great amounts of pain, it doesn't affect your writing skills! I'm SO sorry and even more sorry you didn't get your hot pink cast...because I always wanted to break a bone just so I could get a cool cast and have my friends sign it. For real! Even now I think it would be really cool! But if it really happened I'm sure I'd think otherwise. Hope you are feeling better!
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