As those of you who’ve been following for the last few weeks know, I had surgery last Wednesday to plate the two bones (broken tibia, fractured fibula) in my right ankle. I went back day before yesterday to have my post-surgical wound-check with the P.A. (and for those of you who might have been praying, unfortunately David, my doctor’s P.A., is married after all).

Words can’t express how good it felt to have that splint (cast-like structure that wrapped around the sides of my legs and bottom of my foot in a U-shape) removed. I suffer from dry skin, eczema, and psoriasis, so my skin itches pretty much nonstop anyway—but wrapped up for a week . . . I was miserable. (And that white fuzz you see in these pictures is where the cotton-batting underlayer of the splint stuck to my skin, it’s not mold or hair!)

This surgeon, Dr. Olive (who, according to everyone we’ve talked to since I pulled his name off Google, turns out to be the best/most highly regarded orthopedic surgeon in Hot Springs), instead of writing NO on the limb not being cut on, “autographs” the limb he is working on, so that’s why his name is written down my leg (and I’m pretty sure he used a permanent-ink marker, because I’ve scrubbed and scrubbed at it the last two days, and it’s barely faded).

Dr. Olive also uses plastic surgery–style under-the-skin stitches, which means I should have very little scarring (which thrills me, since I’ve always been rather vain about my “skinny” ankles). Though this looks a little worse than it is because of the marks left from the splint/wrappings, you can compare this post-surgical view to the pre-surgical views here and here.

The two lines that look like bruises under the incision on this side of my ankle are actually bruising/scabbing from where the original splint that was put on me at the ER abraded the skin. It still feels pretty raw and burns at times—worse than the actual incisions upon occasion!

P.A. David was lucky in this shot that my left leg wasn’t bouncing up and down like a dog’s when the “sweet-spot” is hit in a belly rub or back scratch, because just the light, gentle rub-down with alcohol on the gauze pads was enough “scratching” to send me straight to Elysian Fields after a week of not being able to get to all the places that itched.

Though he was more in favor of putting me in another one of those cast/splints for two more weeks, until my next appointment, after I swore a blood-oath that I wouldn’t put any weight on it, he agreed to let me go with the walking boot and an ACE-bandage wrap (with sterile bandage pads protecting the incisions underneath). And he told me that since the scars look so good, he’s going to let me go ahead and get it wet (i.e., take a shower) in another week instead of after the next appointment. He also told me that the screw that they had to put through both bones to pull them back into position will have to be taken out no more than twelve weeks after surgery. Hopefully, if I keep doing as well as I’ve been doing, they’ll be able to take it out by the end of December/beginning of January, saving me a trip back here in February.

It’s nice to be on the healing and recovery side of surgery, but I’m still frustrated at continuing to have to wait until I can get around better. Don’t worry, I’m following my doctor’s/P.A.’s orders to the letter, but still, after almost fifteen years of complete independence, it’s hard to admit my limitations and ask for help.