Screw Removal

Today is 11 weeks post-operation, and I had my screw removal surgery. I had 9 screws in my leg, but opted to get one of the screws (the larger one that goes through both the tibia and fibula) removed. Sorry, but this post is going to start with a rant...skip to "Rant over" to skip to information about my surgery.

RANT BEGINS...

Once again, the horrible hospital in my college town outdid themselves today. Last week, I was told I was going to have surgery in the afternoon today. Then I got a call saying they had to reschedule for another time because they didn't check my surgeon's schedule. But they had to wait to call me until Monday. So I got a call this week on Monday saying my surgery would still be today (Wednesday), but they would move it to 7:30am. Later that day they called again to remind me to be there 15 minutes early, at 7:15am. Then on Tuesday, like always, I got an automated voice message reminder for my appointment...but the voice message said to be there at the old schedule time in the afternoon. Later that day I got another call saying that I have to be there at 7:00am to get an antibiotic IV before surgery. This all happened the day before my surgery.

Fast forward to this morning. I woke up at 6:00, ate a banana and drank some water, then called the campus police to drive me to the hospital (which is two minutes from campus). They always drive me to my appointments, but they get mad if I call them too early before I need them. So, like always, I called them 15-20 minutes before I needed a ride (this was at about 6:30am) and the first time they didn't pick up the phone (and campus police is supposed to be a 24-hour service). So I waited 3 minutes and called again. This time they said they were a little busy and that they would try to pick me up in time. They eventually came and got me 5 minutes before my appointment. When he dropped me off he said to remember we have a town shuttle bus I can call...so much for making it feel like campus police is "accessible". Sorry I have a broken leg and can't drive myself to my surgery...I should have taken all this as a sign this day was just going to get worse.

When I got to the hospital I checked in at the front desk and was told to go upstairs a level to the nurses station to get my IV, just like they said on the phone on Tuesday. I went up there, talked to the women at the nurses desk, and was brought to a family conference room where I waited 10 minutes. A doctor later came in (I vaguely remember him from the day I broke my ankle, but he wasn't my surgeon) and told me I didn't need the IV after all and that I should be back downstairs waiting to get X-rays. So I went back downstairs and he told me to wait in the chairs for my x-ray. One of the women at the X-ray desk said hi to me twice, then finally asked me if I registered for x-rays. Usually when I have x-rays, they give me a sheet of paper with information, so I told her that I wasn't sure and the doctor just told me to wait in this waiting area. So I had to sit at her desk and get registered for X-rays. It took her about 5 minutes before she realized I was already registered, then she said "nevermind, you can sit down again." So again, I sat and waited. Later the women at the desk got a call that I was supposed to be getting my IV on the second floor at this time. So the same doctor that told me I didn't need an IV came back down to get me and brought me back upstairs for my IV...more on that later.

I then had my surgery, and asked for an X-ray of my leg post-operation (with the screw taken out). They said sure and I never got it. I then called the town transit because I didn't want to bother the campus police again since they made such a big ordeal about driving me to surgery. I waited 15 minutes for the bus, and when I got on, the driver didn't say hi back to me and it smelled like cow poop. I told him which residence hall I lived in, but he dropped me off on the edge of campus because he had someone else to pick up. At this point, I just got out of surgery, was again NWB on crutches, and in a town of 5,000 people, the driver has someone more important to pick up right at this moment that he doesn't have time to drive one more minute through campus to my residence hall. I'm usually not this crabby about things, but this entire morning was just extremely frustrating and unorganized. It added unneeded stress to my already stressful surgery, and I can't wait to be done with these hospital visits.

RANT OVER!

Today I got the long screw removed from my ankle. My surgery was scheduled for 7:30am, but I got to the hospital at 7:00 for an antibiotic IV so I wouldn't get an infection during the procedure. I'm extremely scared of needles, so I was really nervous for the IV. It took about 10-15 minutes, and they took my blood pressure, temperature, etc. at the same time. I then went to the operation room and put on one of those beautiful hospital gowns.

One of the surgeon's assistants was training in a new nurse, so she was showing her all the tools (this is where I started freaking out just a little, when I saw the screwdrivers). They put some green antibiotic stuff all over my leg and told me to lie on my side. Eventually the surgeon came in and they used a machine to take an x-ray to find where the screw was located. At this point, I got multiple shots of novocain in my leg (which hurt A LOT!) and they started the procedure. It took probably 15-20 minutes total from they sanitized my leg to the end of the procedure where they stitched me up. I couldn't feel any pain when they unscrewed the screw or made the incision. I could kind of feel moving in my bone when they were unscrewing it, but it didn't hurt at all. I could feel the stitches a little more though. They then wrapped me up and told me I probably shouldn't walk on it today, and to keep it covered when I shower. I can't take off this wrap until my next appointment on Tuesday when he removes the stitches, which is kind of a bummer. I was hoping I would be able to walk since I have an ESL banquet on Thursday night, and I will be in the Twin Cities all day Friday with my college orchestra. 

I was given my screw to keep after they sanitized it, but they never gave me a picture of my x-ray. Hopefully I'll be able to see it and get pictures of it next week. I left the hospital around 8:30am and went back to campus. I don't feel much pain right now. I haven't taken advil or any left over pain medications from my first surgery, but my surgeon said I might want to keep those handy today for when my leg un-numbs (de-numbifies?) later today. Right now I'm mostly feeling exhausted, partially from hardly sleeping last night, partially from the pain I experienced today, and partially because of all the things that happened this morning (see "RANT"). 

I'm glad it's over and done with though. Hopefully my road to recovery will continue going well. Here are some photos from today:

My screw. The nurses called it my "keepsake". 

My whole foot was blue after the operation! It's gotten a little better since then.

The nurse wrapped my leg up and put my ankle brace back on.

My hand after IV. I felt like a boxer or like I got into a fight...