Surgery Two Ankle Photos

We just watched Tulsa lose to UTEP at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was depressing. Tulsa had a nice run at the end of the game to bring it close. But they blew it! How could they do this? I'm injured, looking forward to March Madness, and now my favorite team has no chance of making it to the dance!

I have pictures of my leg from today.

Here is where they made the incision for the second surgery. If you look carefully, there are several holes on the left side of my ankle and foot. That is where he did some drilling.

Here's an update on the so-called Friendship Scar. And you can see the bullet hole wound left by the external fixator rod that was in my heel bone. This is one of my favorite pictures. If you look up close, you'll see the odd colored oozing coming out of the middle of the incision site. Normal? Who knows. Awesome? Yes, correct.

Update: The odd colored oozing coming of of the middle of the incision site is, in fact, skin necrosis. This is bad. It essentially means that the skin has died. I'm so glad I hit that tree.

The last three pictures, I think, explain why I might have been in quite a bit of pain since the surgery. Don't freak out, that's not a pile of skin just below my foot. It's extremely bloody gauze from the splint.

There are three or four holes in the left side of my foot and ankle. It's where the surgeon drilled in some of the screws to secure some of the tibia pieces to the plate. As I was swelling, all the good things in my foot drained out of those holes into the splint.

I have yet to take a look at the post-op report. Brooke won't let me. She's afraid it will increas my pain. She's probably right.

Fighting a Fever Due to Super Swelling

Since the second surgery on Monday, I'm pretty sure everything below my right knee has swollen to at least 6 times its normal size. Take a look at a comparison of my amazing toes.

Now I know to most of you, this isn't normal. I mean, those toes are as long as most people's fingers. In fact, if I ever lost my pinky finger, here are five excellent candidates for its replacement. But let's get over the fact that these are fingers. This is what each of my toes should look like on a normal day.

The toes on my right foot are now little baby sausages. They're discolored due to the betadine that they were covered in after surgery to fight infection. This is basically the only part of my right ankle that we can see. And it's severely swollen.

In the last few days since I've returned from the hospital, I've been fighting a low-grade fever. The highest it's reached so far has been 101.8 F. The doctor's office told us today to check back in to the hospital if it gets to 102 F! The last thing I want to do right now is go back for another stay at the hospital.

One of the main concerns about swelling and running a fever is that there could be an infection somewhere in my ankle or lower leg. I'm on antibiotics, but they may or may not be doing the trick. Therefore, I've been drowning myself in Tylenol to combat this stupid fever. Presently, I'm sitting at a nice and cool 99.1 F.

Another concern with severe swelling is leakage. We found this bad boy hiding under the ace bandage earlier today. This is on the left side of my ankle. This really makes me think the next round of pictures of my leg are going to be amazing! I'm guessing this is drainage from the incision made to the top of my ankle.

I read somewhere online today that 70% of patients that suffer high-energy tibia plafond fractures end up with satisfactory results. That's great news! I'd take those odds any day.