Post-Op Report Highlights

I convinced Brooke to let me read the post-op report. It wasn't too bad.

In the first surgery, I received one local anesthetic shot on the back of my right knee. This time around, I had two: one to block the saphenous nerve and another to block the sciatic nerve. And of course, I had general anesthesia.

Dr. Buchanan started his report with, "Anthony Meehan is a pleasant 28-year-old male who suffered a massively comminuted fracture," of his right ankle. Massively comminuted is another way to say extremely mashed.

Look at the previous post. You see those two gross, black marks on the Friendship Scar? They're actually not good. It's wound necrosis. It's bad to have this. It means the skin is dying in those spots. During surgery, they removed most of the dead and dying skin. It's also good thing we got the splint off and cleaned it today.

My follow-up appointment is March 24th. We'll get a good look at it and see if it's getting better or if it's going to freak me out even further.

I think I said this earlier, but I asked about some criteria to return back to work. He said I had to be off of the pain medications, and he also got serious for a moment. I hadn't seen him get serious before. He told me how close I got to losing my ankle and foot.

No doctor or nurse has said this to me until today. It forced me to sit down for a moment. I let it sink in. Yep, I am definitely going snowboarding next year.

The Closer encouraged me to focus on recovering. In fact, he gave me an order for physical therapy. He wants me moving my ankle as soon as possible. We did some of that today without the splint. It was brutal.

So to sum up the day, skin necrosis and narrowly avoided leg amputation. Great day!

Post-Op Appointment Completed

We just returned from our appointment at The Closer's office.

Wow.

We learned a lot today. Not surprisingly, the ankle hurts. I'm at a 100% capacity in pain medications. I'm falling asleep between almost each word I type.

Therefore, you'll have to wait to see the detailed updates, which will include the awesome post-op report, pictures of the gross ankle, and X-Rays of the metal ankle of doom.

We did some counting. Two plates and nineteen screws! Oh, and don't run off thinking the plates are tiny. They're the opposite of tiny. Unfortunately, I have no mental capacity at the moment to think of a witty simile to help explain how big they are.

Oh, and I've already started a list to count the number of comments that go something like this, "when have you ever had a mental capacity?"

When I put the X-Rays up, you guys will need to double check my math. Like I said, 100%.

I also learned something that honestly scared me. According to Dr. Buchanan, I'm lucky I didn't lose the leg. Most people that had ankle injuries this severe received amputations.

Wow.

I'm going to take a nap. I'm in a ridiculous state right now -- time to go unconscious.