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pecuniumWhich is the sound my right foot now makes.
No surgery. Snap decision to give me a cast right away, instead of the splint he was planning because, if it fits, the cast is better for healing.
That was, in part, the benefit of my being an informed consumer of medical data. He made a point of asking me to tell him if he was speaking over my head, or if I felt he was talking down to me. We talked about this and that, and what my injury might do, and the risks of various treatments. He said he was fairly conservative; one of his mentors had told him there was almost nothing which surgery couldn't make worse, so he was reluctant to do it if it wasn't obviously needed. He had also asked if I had any other medical issues, and I told him I had Reiter's.
He acted just like every other non-rheumatologist physician I've encountered since my diagnosis... "Really", with that eager sense of having encountered something wonderful. The important part of that was both to establish that I was tolerably familiar with things, and to see what else I was taking. It turns out my meds for the Reiter's are going to slow the healing from the break. Oh well.
I have a spiral fracture of the right fibula. The good news is I don't seem to have any ligament damage, which is why I don't need surgery. He was going to splint it, and then a cast, looking at the way in swelled, and the lack of fracture blisters at more than 48 hours meant I wasn't likely to inflame any more, so a cast was a better option; if I understood it might need to come off if I did swell any more.
I said that for a better prognosis (more support for the ankle, less chance of it sustaining more damage, more comfort, etc. I was willing to court the risk.
So he wrapped my foot, listened to my story about the dream, and the idea that I wouldn't be able to elevate my foot above my heart in zero-g, and slapped some fiberglass around it and said he wanted to see me in two weeks. At that point we'll probably take an x-ray, replace the cast and I'll, with luck, be ready for a walking cast in another two weeks.
I won't, mind you, be able to walk on it. Not for at least six weeks, but the big advantage will be the ability to take it off and soak/shower. Right now I have to bag my foot, or do a sponge bath. I am thinking about getting one of these waterproof cast cover. I'm a bit torn, this is tightening my budget (I won't be working for at least two weeks, and disability isn't automatic. I suspect my employer hasn't been covering it, so the GI bill, and my disability compensation are it for income).
It's also frustrating that I don't really fit. My cast is an XS for length, and my leg, at the point of seal, is 11 inches. The XS is 7, which is too small (they say one inch less is needed for a good seal, but I don't think a latex sheath four inches smaller than my leg is going to be comfortable). The next size up, is 13 inches. Luckily that one is 29 inches long, which is far enough up my leg that I am large enough (15 inches) to get a good seal. Looking at the images, this is doable.
I'm thinking of, in a week or so, being able to soak in the hot tub, and get increased blood flow (one ices for a while, then one uses heat). It would speed my recovery, so the 40 bucks or so would be worth it.
Pain Management: I told him the Vicodin wasn't cutting it. He said, fine, we can try percoset. The nice thing about the percoset... it's a 5/325, not a 5/500, so I have more flexibility. It also seems to be working better, though the secondary effects are more notable, in the way they affect my thinking. Neither of them are drugs I can operate a vehicle, machinery, etc. while taking.
For those who care to look at The injury
And, for those who don't care to see the bruising and the swelling,
No surgery. Snap decision to give me a cast right away, instead of the splint he was planning because, if it fits, the cast is better for healing.
That was, in part, the benefit of my being an informed consumer of medical data. He made a point of asking me to tell him if he was speaking over my head, or if I felt he was talking down to me. We talked about this and that, and what my injury might do, and the risks of various treatments. He said he was fairly conservative; one of his mentors had told him there was almost nothing which surgery couldn't make worse, so he was reluctant to do it if it wasn't obviously needed. He had also asked if I had any other medical issues, and I told him I had Reiter's.
He acted just like every other non-rheumatologist physician I've encountered since my diagnosis... "Really", with that eager sense of having encountered something wonderful. The important part of that was both to establish that I was tolerably familiar with things, and to see what else I was taking. It turns out my meds for the Reiter's are going to slow the healing from the break. Oh well.
I have a spiral fracture of the right fibula. The good news is I don't seem to have any ligament damage, which is why I don't need surgery. He was going to splint it, and then a cast, looking at the way in swelled, and the lack of fracture blisters at more than 48 hours meant I wasn't likely to inflame any more, so a cast was a better option; if I understood it might need to come off if I did swell any more.
I said that for a better prognosis (more support for the ankle, less chance of it sustaining more damage, more comfort, etc. I was willing to court the risk.
So he wrapped my foot, listened to my story about the dream, and the idea that I wouldn't be able to elevate my foot above my heart in zero-g, and slapped some fiberglass around it and said he wanted to see me in two weeks. At that point we'll probably take an x-ray, replace the cast and I'll, with luck, be ready for a walking cast in another two weeks.
I won't, mind you, be able to walk on it. Not for at least six weeks, but the big advantage will be the ability to take it off and soak/shower. Right now I have to bag my foot, or do a sponge bath. I am thinking about getting one of these waterproof cast cover. I'm a bit torn, this is tightening my budget (I won't be working for at least two weeks, and disability isn't automatic. I suspect my employer hasn't been covering it, so the GI bill, and my disability compensation are it for income).
It's also frustrating that I don't really fit. My cast is an XS for length, and my leg, at the point of seal, is 11 inches. The XS is 7, which is too small (they say one inch less is needed for a good seal, but I don't think a latex sheath four inches smaller than my leg is going to be comfortable). The next size up, is 13 inches. Luckily that one is 29 inches long, which is far enough up my leg that I am large enough (15 inches) to get a good seal. Looking at the images, this is doable.
I'm thinking of, in a week or so, being able to soak in the hot tub, and get increased blood flow (one ices for a while, then one uses heat). It would speed my recovery, so the 40 bucks or so would be worth it.
Pain Management: I told him the Vicodin wasn't cutting it. He said, fine, we can try percoset. The nice thing about the percoset... it's a 5/325, not a 5/500, so I have more flexibility. It also seems to be working better, though the secondary effects are more notable, in the way they affect my thinking. Neither of them are drugs I can operate a vehicle, machinery, etc. while taking.
For those who care to look at The injury
And, for those who don't care to see the bruising and the swelling,
