Five Hour ORIF Surgery

Finally, I got the call. My doctor told me that barring any sort of catastrophe, I was scheduled for surgery on October 7th.

Now, it had been three weeks since I broke my ankle, and I was starting to feel crazy in my knee-high cast. I asked my doctor if the surgery would impact the healing that had already taken place.

"Any calcium build up that's occurred, we'll have to shave away in order to install the hardware", was the answer I got.

Don't get me wrong. I was ecstatic that the surgery was finally happening. But those three weeks of laying around in a heavy cast felt like time I would never get back. They meant nothing, a purgatory of sorts- neither contributing or detracting from my healing process. It felt like a bit of a blow.


On October 7th, my boyfriend drove me to the hospital at 5AM. The OR surgery waiting room was already filling up with people. Around 7AM, they called my name, and my boyfriend helped me make my way to the OR Surgery.

Once inside they had me change out of my clothes into a hospital gown. They gave my clothes to my boyfriend, and he had to leave.

Then they cut my ankle out of my cast, and let me tell you, it's really scary having a weird saw drilling that close to your leg, no matter how "safe" they supposedly are. The doctor came and looked at my leg, and told me that my surgery would probably happen around 11:30 .

After the cast was removed, a PT came by, and had me show him how I was using my crutches. This felt horrible, mostly because my ankle felt so strange being out in the open like that without any support.

The PT left, and I was allowed to put my leg back into the lower part of the cast for support. I was shivering, partly because I was scared, and partly because it was freezing, so a sweet nurse got me a blanket and helped me elevate my leg so that it felt comfortable.
I drifted off into a light slumber, and woke up around 10AM.

The next doctor I met was my anesthesiologist, and she was basically the best.

She was so caring, nurturing and explained everything to me in such a great way that it really made me feel a little more comfortable. She saw right away how scared I was (despite my making little jokes and giggling nervously), and kept reassuring me that I would be ok.
They were putting me under, and administering a nerve block into my leg, which would keep me from feeling anything. I know many people are against getting anesthesia, but personally, I was ALL ABOUT NOT FEELING OR SEEING MYSELF CUT OPEN.

And then, they wheeled me into the surgery room.

And then…

Well, I don't remember anything else. I don't actually remember being in the surgery room, or even how I got there, to be honest.

I woke up around 5PM, in the recovery part of the OR. It was fairly empty- perhaps the other patients I was admitted with had shorter surgeries?
It felt really strange waking up there, and I never got to talk to my surgeon or anyone who had actually been present for my surgery. I had no idea how it went, but I presumed well, since no one had anything to say to me.

My boyfriend and best friend came into see me and bring me my clothes. My boyfriend had to run to make it to work, but he later told me that my surgery took about 5 hours (in my head I thought it would only take 1-2 hours?), during which he though he saw one of my doctors take a lunch break? Haha, can you imagine. All the doctors working on my ankle, and then clocking out for 30 minutes to eat lunch?

Anyways, my best friend was tasked with bringing me home. I was so groggy from the pain meds and anesthesia that it was quite an undertaking. On the car ride home, I started feeling super nauseous, and when we got to my house I made it about halfway up the stair before I threw up. Luckily I had nabbed a puke bag from the hospital, so at least I had that going for me.
Throwing up made me feel better, and I made it up all the way to my door before I realized I had locked myself out. Luckily one of my other friends had a key to my place, and after a few phone calls, we were inside.

Laying down in my bed felt so good. I couldn't feel any pain yet (yay nerve blocker), and the painkillers gave everything a soft edge. My best friend and I watched some silly movies (that I drifted in and out of consciousness for), and then fell asleep.