The Day After My ER Visit

The day after my reduction procedure, I had to go back to the hospital to meet with my Orthopedic doctor.

My boyfriend had to work, so my friend D. drove me to the hospital and waited with me. Now, at this point my ankle was feeling pretty sore, so I was taking a Vicodin every couple of hours.

Additionally, I started taking Arnica and had started researching a vitamin regimen that promoted healthy bone healing, and I think that helped with the pain and swelling as well.

This follow-up visit consisted of A LOT of waiting. We got there at 11, and left around 5, so yeah. It was a full day of waiting.

When I wasn't waiting, the doctors were taking x-rays and telling me how bad of a fracture I had.
It basically ended with them telling me that I definitely needed ORIF surgery, and that I would have at least one plate in my ankle.

Fun!

I guess I haven't mentioned this yet, but I was scheduled to fly to Ohio the following day with my boyfriend for his cousin's wedding, so my big question to EVERYONE was if I was ok to fly.
I had googled "flying with cast", and had run across a myriad of horror stories that usually ended with amputation, so I figured I should just ask the doctor instead.

The doctor's cleared me to fly, and told me that I should just watch out and make sure that my cast didn't feel to tight at any point.

Now, the one thing that DIDN'T happen, is that I didn't get scheduled for surgery. The doctor's wanted my swelling to go way down, and asked to see me again the following week, after my return from Ohio.

And with that, they let me go, and my friend brought me back home.
Did I mention I live up two flights of stairs? I've gotten REALLY good at going up and down stairs on my butt.

Once I was back home, I called the airline I was flying on (Southwest), and told them of my dilemma. They told me that they would have someone waiting for me who would take me via wheelchair to my gate, and that I could sit in the very front row of the plane, which had extra leg-room.

That reassured me a little bit, but I was still a little stressed out about traveling with the world's biggest cast on my leg.

Speaking of that cast, it was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. My toes felt REALLY cold all the time, and sometimes they would tingle and feel somewhat numb. Googling this didn't help, because according to the internet every symptom you have means that you're about to lose your foot.

DO NOT GOOGLE.

I think it's pretty common for your foot to feel weird- the nerve tissue in your foot is so connected, that breaking your ankle affects all parts of it, including your toes. Luckily, I had a friend who had experienced a trimalleolar fracture, and after texting him, he confirmed that he went through the same symptoms and it was totally normal.



To be continued.