Kris's Kompletely Krappy Day Part 2

Okay, where was I? Oh, yes. We were going to continue the story of the ER.
First, here is a picture of my ankle, taken with my cell phone during the 4 hours I was at the ER waiting to be cared for:

Not too disgusting, right?

And here's another picture with the ice pack attached. It just looked so weird and I was a little wigged out from all the pain that taking pictures with my cell phone seemed like a good idea at the time.


So after the nursette came and gave me the ice (see above picture), we waited around some more for the x-ray techs to come and take pictures of my leg. While we were waiting for x-ray, a doctorette (he was really a physician's assistant, but I like doctorette better) came in and poked at my ankle a bit. He said he'd have to see the x-rays, but he thought it was just sprained.

So we waited some more. Greg played with the purple surgical gloves in the room, while I tried to evesdrop on the nurses that were standing in their station that just happened to be right outside my room. The snotty nurse came over and scolded us for having the door open because it "compromised patient confidentiality." Whatever. Like I cared what anyone else's problems were in there at the moment. I think she just didn't want us to hear that they were out there gossiping and not working.

Somewhere in here a person from reception came in and went over all the information we gave them when we first checked in. They sure ask a lot of personal questions. They even wanted to know if I had a living will or a do not resusitate order. "Good God!" I said. "I think it's just a sprained ankle!" Sheesh.

After another hour or so of waiting a chirpy young nurse came to take me to the x-ray room. She was really nice and we just about wiped out an ER doctor who wasn't paying attention when she stopped me in front of him. He gave us a really dirty look, and she and I giggled like schoolgirls. Okay, it was funny at the time. Maybe you had to be there.

Why do they make tables in x-ray rooms a fixed height? Does anyone else think that it would be a good idea to have it go up and down like a hairdresser's chair? Sheesh. All that technology and you still have to hop up on a table. That was entertaining, trying to get this fat woman up on that table with one leg. I was afraid I'd fall on the little x-ray tech guy and squash him flat. Instead I managed to bang my head on the x-ray machine getting up on the table and saw stars for a while.

Three pictures of my ankle later I had to fall off the table back in to my wheelchair and head back in to the cell, er, I mean room. More waiting. Eventually, my x-rays showed up and someone had kept the door open just enough that Greg could see the crowd looking at them. So the doctorette came back in and said "Well, it's broken." Oh, poop. "No," he says, "that's a good thing." Say WHAT? "Breaks heal faster and better than sprains." Oh goody. I broke the fibula (bone on the outside of my ankle) which is "not a weight bearing bone" according to the doctorette. Oh goody. I'm not sure how he sees any of my bones as non-weight bearing, but whatever.

Two other people came in a bit later (things were starting to move now) and wrapped my leg in a stocking and put a splint thing on my leg. It's hard plaster on the bottom and around my ankle, then wrapped in an elastic bandage. I guess they don't cast breaks like this until a few days later so the swelling can go down.

They sent me home with some pain pills and instructions to stay off it for 5-7 days.

While these two were wrapping my leg the snotty nurse came back in and said "I told you it was broken!" Greg and I weren't sure what exactly to say to this.
All this only took 4 1/2 hours. I can't wait to see the bills.

I have an appointment to go to an orthopedic place on Monday for more x-rays and a real cast. I think I'm looking forward to this.

So here it is, four days later. I can not believe how much work having a broken ankle is. Just going down the hall to the bathroom is an ordeal, and I'm not even going to tell you about going up and down the stairs. I can't stay up too long because my ankle starts throbbing and hurting even worse if I don't keep it elevated. So I've been spending a lot of time in my room reading or listening to books on tape.

Greg has been totally great. He filled my prescription and got me some crutches. He brings me meals and snacks and checks in with me to make sure I'm doing okay. He's been so sweet. I'm going to owe him big-time. For the first time in our 15 years together I made him go down the feminine hygine aisle and buy stuff for me(because what could make a broken ankle any worse? Starting your period the same day! Woo hoo. God has a wicked sense of humor).

My mom and grandma came over yesterday and brought me a big basket of goodies with sudoku books, a plushy soft blankie, a shower massager, and all kinds of other stuff to keep me entertained as well as lunch. Wasn't that sweet?

I have no idea how I'm going to take a shower. I haven't even tried yet, since going to the bathroom is such a production. I'm a two-shower-a-day kind of girl, so going without a shower for this long is awful. You won't be seeing any pictures of me for a while!

So if anyone has any brilliant showering on one foor ideas, let me know!

So there you have it. Kris's Kompletely Krappy Day. Stay tuned. I'm sure Monday's appointment and the shower will be worthy of a post or two.