1st Blog Post...

Pre-Injury Dana

Clumsy girl- That's me. My whole life my family has called me "Grace" or some version of that because I have just a hard time even walking straight. It's something I am relatively used to honestly. I fall a lot. I moved to Pennsylvania about 5 years ago and experienced snow for the first time. I have fallen in the snow just about every time it has snowed. Last year I slipped on the ice and gave my self a concussion. Seriously. That was ridiculous. I thought that was the extent of my clumsiness, but alas last Monday happened.

A little puffy...

Let me set the scene... I have a 4 month old puppy, and puppies, like children wake during the night to use the restroom. My husband and I had a system worked out where he walked Cooper during the day and I would do the night. No problem- I am a light sleeper and every time he whines I wake up. So Monday was no different, it was a regular 5am morning walk, we woke up, I grabbed the leash and we both wanted to get back to bed. I walked outside and took one step on the wet grass, and fell. Immediately, I knew my ankle was broken. I heard (and felt) the POP and was on the ground instantly. I let go of Cooper's leash and I had no idea where he went. Then the pain hit. I have no idea what I screamed but I yelled something, I really hope the neighbors didn't hear. But Cooper came running back, and I realized I was gonna have to crawl back to the front door because my husband was fast asleep upstairs. So I pushed my little puppy in front of my body(who was extremely confused), and army-crawled back to the porch and threw the front door. Once I got to the porch, I was yelling for my husband, Lowery to come help. He ran down the stairs and I can't imagine what he thought when this scene unfolded in front of him. This was when I began barking orders. Take the dog to the basement and call 911. My husband did just that. I had him grab my some clean clothes, and some deodorant (it was literally the first thing I thought of) and we waited. Did I mention I was just screaming and crying? Because I was. I, then texted my boss to tell him that I had broken my ankle and that the ambulance was on it's way. He is a chiropractor and accustomed to treating sports injuries so his opinion means a great deal to me. I texted him the picture up top.

So anyways I don't have the strength to tell you how obnoxious the ambulance ride was. The EMT's were at least 70 years old and the man weighed about 100lbs soaking wet and I just couldn't imagine how they were gonna get my big butt on the stretcher. Well they didn't I had to crawl over to it and my husband and I got myself onto it.

*******The ride to the hospital was the worse pain I have ever experienced. Easily. ***********

After pain meds in the ER...

Absurd 1st cast

But we made it. And one of the perks of riding in an ambulance is that you go to the "fast track". That means when they rolled me into a room, there were 3 nurses there and ready for me. They gave me warm blankets and got me ready for drugs! Yay! Pain meds! The doctor came in a took a look and said he was going to send me for an xray and that I couldn't eat or drink- which lead me to believe I was gonna have surgery- but I pushed that out of my head and waiting for the good, good drugs. Xrays confirmed what I already knew, that my ankle was broken in 2 places and that it would require surgery. He was going to talk to the Ortho Surgeon and would let me know what was next. After waiting a little, (I was definitely woozy) they told me that they couldn't do the surgery right away due to other surgeries that were taking place and that they would discharge me and I should go see the Orthopedic surgeon's office immediately. But first an ER aid had to put a cast on my ankle so I wouldn't injury myself in the mean time. This was the 2 most painful thing that's ever happened to me. He had to bend and manipulate my ankle to get it in this cast. It.was.awful. Also he put it above my knee. They expected me to walk out of there on crutches. I couldn't bend my knee at all. Awful. I went home via taxi-cab (My husband doesn't drive) and got settled on the couch. I believe the only reason I was able to get to my couch was because I was on so many pain meds. I had a terrible time getting back into the house after the ortho visit- but that's a little later.

So my wonderful boss came over on his lunch break and helped me get into his van to get to this appointment. They took off my awful hospital cast and looked at my ankle and finally showed me the xrays. I look at xrays pretty regularly at my job, but when it's your ankle and it looks crazy broken things get weird. I can't remember if I mentioned how much I was crying but it was a lot and at anything and everything. So anyways the PA was telling me about what was going to happen and the surgeon came in and told me the same thing. We had to wait a week for the swelling to go down, and then they were going to cut open my ankle put a metal plate in there to make it stable and put in some screws, and then later they will take out the screws (that's 2 surgeries) and in 8-12 weeks I should be able to walk again?!!!!! 8-12 Weeks Holy crap.

My first question- and I know this is going to sound silly- was can I snorkel in December? I go on vacation after Christmas and despite being extremely busy it's the thing that is keeping me going. "I'll be on vacation soon, get to see my niece and nephew and then snorkel" It's my manta, I've been thinking it for weeks. But the good doctors pretty much said no. Boo. But he does think I will be able to go on the cruise just not snorkel and I can live with that. So that brings me to where I am now... Sitting, waiting, sleeping and just being - waiting for my appointment tomorrow. I will hopefully get scheduled for surgery and get to healing.

Kayla cleaning me up!

It's already been such a long road and I haven't really done anything. My office is being amazing. They are coming by my house 2x per day to make sure I can go to the bathroom while my husband is at work, bringing me dinner every single night-which is a huge blessing! My friend Kayla is coming by and bringing me things I need and just keeping me sane.

Halloween With the Office

And my sweet husband... he is probably feeling this the most. He is having to take complete care of our overgrown puppy, me and also go to work and do every day normal things. I guess I started this blog to document this process. I have been watching You Tube videos going through similar things and I just want to tell what it's all like for me. I've been very depressed. Losing complete mobility is a harsh slap in the face. I am so independent. But not now, and not for a while. I am trying to accept help gracefully and I know it's gonna be a long journey.