Actual update – October 23rd

I got my cast wet going on the Hornblower Cruise in Niagara Falls on Monday Oct. 19^th. Although the cast dried without a problem, the entire inside felt sticky and lumpy. Bits of dried dead skin had clustered under my foot and it felt disgusting (both physically and psychologically). I called my surgeon’s office and made an appointment at the fracture clinic for last Friday (Oct. 23^rd) to have the cast replaced.

I was excited to get the cast replaced. With the previous casts (patella tendon bearing), my weight had been transferred from my knee to the cast, allowing me to easily bear weight/walk assisted with crutches. With the latest cast, a regular lower leg cast, this does not happen. Every time I took a step, my shin pressed against the length of the fiberglass. All the muscles in my leg hurt and protested whenever I moved.

The orthopedic technician saw me first to remove the cast. We all stared in awe at my leg hair. I joked about this later at home. I am pretty sure that is the first (and probably the last time) those words have ever been uttered. The technician went to look at my x rays. I can only assume he was expecting to see a broken leg or ankle. I could see the confusion cross his face as he saw the images, his glance stopping at the bone cement. He asked what was actually going on in my leg. He was impressed at losing 6 cm of tibia. Not sure if I should be proud of that, but it does sound impressive. One of the other technicians popped in to say hello with a playful “Oh no, here’s trouble”.

The surgeon came over next. He looked at my x rays a bit, then my leg. He asked me how I was feeling, then what happened with the cast. I explained about the Hornblower cruise. Upon hearing that, my surgeon said “There is not point getting you a new cast if you are going to do things you shouldn’t and try to have a life”. So long story short, no cast for me!!! Now, there is a down side to this. Without a cast, I am not allowed to walk on my leg. At all. I can put it down on the ground when I am standing still but nothing more. But on the plus side, I could go home and shave! And boy golly did I need to shave. I have pictures of my leg I will post later. It was pretty gross. And it took me more than one razor to get through. But it was totally worth it in the end, especially psychologically. I know that I couldn’t help if I was unable to shave until after the fixator surgery, and I know that the surgeon and hospital staff would be very understanding. But seriously, that leg was disgusting, especially with the dead skin on the bottom of my foot. It looked like a naked mole rat, I kid you not. I wouldn’t want to touch it, and I doubt the surgeon would, despite how professional he is, in a 3 hour surgery. So it was nice to shave and use my loofah so I could feel normal and a tiny bit beautiful and sexy again like any young woman wants to feel. After that I almost jumped off the stretcher without realizing it was high up in the air – the orthopedic technician had adjusted the height to make it easier for him to cut my cast off. This caught the attention of both my surgeon and the technician, who both yelled out “Whoa, be careful” and then probably wondered “Why on earth did well not give her a new cast? She will be back within a week after tripping and breaking the bone cement”. They can think I am an accident prone idiot if I they want, I don’t care – I got to shave and that trumps everything XD

I stopped at Ikea with mum on the way home and I bought another pillow for when I get the fixator. The orthopedic technician very kindly gave me some of the stalking they use over your leg when you get a cast because I was wearing a skirt – no way I would have gone to Ikea with my wookie leg exposed for all to see.

Between then and this morning I was happily thinking about pre-op next week and getting the next surgery over with on Nov. 19^th. That, and continuing my cross stitch blanket project.