A Foot Operation Gives Me Empathy for Those More Familiar with Hospitals
Yesterday I had a visit with the orthopedist who is looking after my broken foot. I had hoped that the X-ray would show a good pattern of bone growth, that seven days would give that metatarsal a chance to close up and heal. But when we looked at the new picture, it looks just as busted as when I broke it.
The doc was quick to decide. “We’ll have to get you in for surgery in the next few days.” OK, well I guess that’s what we’re gonna do. Faced with ignorance about how fractured foot bones heal, but aware of how much I need to use this left foot, I put my bendable black brace back on and accepted that I’d be going under the knife.
Yesterday in preparation for the surgery I had a chest X-ray. Again, not something I’m terribly familiar with…but I noticed that in Baystate Franklin, every department seems to be its own fiefdom. You check in with all of them, as I did later when I went to get hooked up to an EKG machine. The friendly cardiac tech said she liked the way that graph looked, she’d sign her name to that one. Oh, I like that.
Today no food, not even milk in my coffee. At 2 pm I’ll check in and at four pm, while I am out like a light, they’ll cut the foot open and I guess, screw in a pin.
I am glad it’s my foot they’re going after and not my face or my chest. I have total empathy with the many friends and relatives who have spent more time in the hospital than me, that’s the upside here.
March 31, 2012 @ 1:23 am
Max…
“Under the knife” is not the problem these days; AFTER the knife is! The fancy stuff they inject into the body to give you a good sleep is darned good stuff. No sick tummy; no pounding head. Groggy, yeah, but it’ll wear off. Just don’t YOU drive home! The surgeons have really sharp, sharp needles and knives these days, too. So the slice will be tiny, and well stitched. Yet, with all that good new stuff going for you, you still must wait for your body to heal at the usual slow careful pace. So, no rushing to play football; no horseback riding; no bike riding. Just sit, write, edit, read…and then sleep. Do a lot of that…no one buy you knows how really NOT sleepy you are…so use the “knife” as an excuse to wink out frequently. In that way your sliced spot can heal faster. Stay off the foot as much as possible; let the stitches do their work; and go for sympathy! No one but you knows just how easy this situation really is. And read a lot! Reading is good for healing the body!
And, if it itches…DO NOT SCRATCH! Tough it out!
Bob Hale
March 31, 2012 @ 2:16 pm
Thanks Bob, I am already feeling a great degree of peace with this regimen of bedside living. My mancave is set up as the perfect refuge with all of my devices connected and my Netflix beaming in movies on my big wall-mounted Sony HDTV. I’m ready for this…