Tuesday, November 16, 2010

ENOUGH ALREADY!!!


Don't mind my super nerdy technical anatomy photo above. I'm just illustrating the source of my FRUSTRATION which is also the source of my current grouchiness (which is more than my usual grouchiness by quite a bit). Apparently when I crashed on my road bike last July (and by that I mean the July of 2009), I sustained a 6-7 centimeter longitudinal tear in my peroneus brevis tendon in my ankle. I also sustained a tear of the calcaneofibular ligament (see figure below). As it turns out, the walking, running, weight lifting, softball, wearing heels, elliptical, basketball, hiking, biking, driving, volleyball, and shopping I've been doing since then have NOT exactly helped the situation.


Seems to me that most sprains go away, so I assumed that this one would ... I guess I was also assuming it was a sprain. My bad. When I crashed on my bike, I wasn't even going that fast, but my shoe didn't come unclipped from my bike pedal, so my ankle did get wrenched a bit as the bike came out from underneath me. I still road almost 30 miles that day and played softball that night. It was swollen and hurt, but I have a handy-dandy ankle brace that I've pulled out multiple times over the years. Rest it a bit, wear a brace to exercise, ice it ... that's the cure - right? I guess not. As you recall, I've already been off my feet for a great length of time this year, and we were hoping it would completely heal during that time, but as soon as I started exercising again, it started swelling and hurting again. So after I rolled it last month playing basketball, Dave put his foot down (a bit of a rare occurence), and off to the foot doctor I went.

He did some x-rays and eventually an MRI, and found the two tears, which are not getting better, which will not heal themselves, and which require surgery to repair. WHAT IN THE WORLD?!!!! I've seriously had ENOUGH with the surgeries, enough down time, enough medicine, enough of my room, ENOUGH!!! Don't even get me started on crutches and casts and walking boots. UGH! I'm so grouchy. Okay, moving on. I am grateful that I can get this fixed so it will stop hurting and stop swelling and also so I can walk when I'm older and of course so my leg stays attached to my foot via my ankle. That is of the utmost importance to me.


So here's where the funny part comes in. This picture above is from high school. I don't recall why we got these pictures taken. Seems weird now ... seems like it felt weird then. Maybe somebody had a free sitting fee or something. That's me in the middle with the long dark hair ... just in case you were wondering. This is a group of friends I hung out with in high school and after that. They are some of the most amazing people I've ever known. We were all really close and spent a lot of time together. I keep in touch with some of them now, and occasionally we get together and catch up with our families.

So, the guy sitting next to me is Scott Rogers, or more fittingly, Dr. Scott Rogers, DPM, and he'll be doing the surgery on my ankle. Can you say WEIRD?!! I just can't get over the fact that I'll be unconscious, and HE will have a scalpel. Think about the people you hung out with in high school ... now think about them doing surgery on YOU! It's a weird feeling. And since when am I old enough to have my peers be doctors anyway? When did that happen exactly? Anyway, I'm glad its someone I can trust, and someone I know cares, but still .... you heard me, weird.

So the big day is Thursday. Off it for a week, cast for three weeks (crutches ... yuck), and then a walking boot for three more. Wonder if it will go with any of my cute winter boots with the 4 inch heels on the other foot? Blech. That's it people ... I'm done venting now. Time to think about more things I'm grateful for.

10 comments:

Big Daddy said...

Very Wierd indeed. However make sure you write some snarkey thing on your ankle in sharpie about not operating on the wrong one.

Tiffany said...

You lost me here.....
"I sustained a 6-7 centimeter longitudinal tear in my peroneus brevis tendon in my ankle."
I did come back here.....
{picture of you in highschool}
immediately insert laugh here.....


Good Luck on Thursday :)

Aaron said...

Wow....I wouldn't trust anyone I knew in high school to cut me open....but then again, I am becoming a nurse, and I don't know anyone that knew me in high school that would let me nurse them......wait, that doesn't sound right...

Aaron said...

Good luck! (I forgot that part)

Rheanna said...

I hope everything goes well in your surgery! At least you get to wear a "boot" in the winter time :o) Love the picture from HS and I agree...very random!

Bethany said...

Oh Melissa! I am SO sorry! I'm sure that everything will go well....just let me know what night you want dinner. And if there is anything else I can do to help, PLEASE let me know!
P.S. Loved the high school pic! So cute!

Melanie said...

I can't believe you put that picture up. That just made the whole situation tomorrow seem that much scarier. Of course, I did let Scott operate on Jason's ankle and it still feels weird. . . Just make sure you dictate what color you want the cast or you know he will do something goofy.

Kati said...

Hope that all goes well! That picture is awesome.

Katelin said...

I think you are the only person I know who could/would wait so long with tears in their foot--that's got to HURT!!! (I think that's a compliment to how tough you are, by the way...) That seriously stinks--hope everything goes well. Love the picture--(is that your real hair color?), and I do think that'd be quite weird to see an old high school friend for surgery. You're totally NOT old enough for that!

Greg said...

I'm sure the surgery went well - I mean Scott is really good with that stuff. I am loving that picture. I have absolutely no recollection of that being taken. It wasn't a dance, right? Whatever it was, I'm sure Jennifer organized it. Thanks for sharing it - we need to get this group together for a recreation of the same photo. I'm sure we haven't changed a bit.