so over the past few days i've had friends come to visit.. love it!
on thursday laura, ben, and jeana stopped by for a bit and tori stayed over the whole day. we got to watch 'lost in translation' (although we started it shortly after i had to take some pain meds, so i didn't quite pay attention..LOL) and we played an awesome game with my parents (it's called 'storming the castle' and it's a strategy game based on the movie 'the princess bride' - i highly reccomend it!).
friday rolled around and laura came over to watch 'breakfast at tiffany's' with me (it was my 1st time seeing it!). the receptionist at the orthopedic surgeon's office called and tried to change the date of my appointment for my hard cast.. but i nipped that one in the bud. My release papers from the hospital stated i needed to wait 14 days after my surgery before making the appointment to have a hard cast put on. the date she wanted to change it to would have only been 9 days after the surgery. so i say to her, '(name), if you want to get my doctor on the phone to confirm that it is ok to only wait 9 days instead of the 14 days then that will be fine' and she asked me where i got the idea of 14 days. i then replied, 'IT WAS ON THE PAPER THAT YOUR BOSS SIGNED THAT WAS SENT HOME WITH ME FROM THE HOSPITAL.' (*rolls eyes*) really? isn't this her job? geeze.. maybe when i can walk again i can try to take it from her ;)
but today was my 1st big outing! laura came and picked me, the wheelchair, and crutches (lol) up and we got to go shopping! i bought some books at barnes & noble, presents for mom & dad (they've been SO patient and awesome since this has happened!), and some stuff from bath & body works. then ben, laura's boyfriend, met up with us for dinner at gordon biersch (spelling?).. it was delicious =) but being out and about was... interesting.
this was my first shopping trip in a wheelchair. wow, little kids like to stare. and i couldn't reach some register counters to sign my credit card slip. there were some doorways that were hard to get through with the wheelchair. in short? it sucked. but it was so nice to be out of the recliner and my parents house =)
of course, now i'm slightly paying for it as my ankle is throbbing a bit more than usual right now, but oh well. it was worth it!
Saturday, May 30, 2009
and the madness begins..
wow, may has been a busy month for me!
on may 8th i turned 26, and the day after that i graduated from college.
since graduation i've been relaxing, working, and enjoying having free time again! but now it seems that i am once again confined.. only this time not by a class schedule!
during the early morning hours of may 25th i broke my ankle. i won't go into all of the sordid details, so let's just say that i was hopping off a 1st floor balcony (4-ish feet off the ground) and landed completely wrong on my left ankle. as soon as i hit the ground i knew something was wrong, and i could feel my leg bone out of joint (but no bone through skin here, sorry! LOL). i called my parents, who came and took me to the ER.
2 xrays, 1 shot of morphine in the arse, and a splint later i was allowed to go home with the bad news: i had broken 2 bones in my ankle that would require surgery. the next day (well, technically later that day) was memorial day - which meant 1 added day of pain, as all the doctors offices were closed.
so that next day (may 26th) i went to meet with the orthopedic surgeon. he showed me the xrays and pointed out the broken bones (although they were quite obvious on film). surgery was scheduled for 5pm the next day and i was taken to the hospital for pre-registration.
now, the insurance nightmare. my husband, brian, works for a union. he has to work at least 300 hours in a given 3 month period (jan/feb/march) to be covered for the next 3 months (april/may/june). well, the union he is with also recently switched insurance carriers from first health to signa healthcare. side note - i know nothing about the innerworkings of insurance.. at all. well, for the past month or so i had been bugging brian about getting stuff straight with the insurance cotmpany as we had not recieved new cards from signa. did he? of course not. so we were *almost* without coverage for this whole event. but thank God, we were able to pay enough to reinstate our insurance (including the night of the ER visit, etc.). i'd rather pay a thousand bucks out of pocket to save eight or ten grand later.. you know?
anyways, my surgery was on may 27th. they moved the time up from 5pm to noon, so i could go home that same day. i got the phone call around 8 am that day (i had just woken up). after joking with the nurse that i was about to go to shoney's for breakfast (fast for surgery.. get it? yeah, i know. i'm a dork!) i agreed to be there at 10 am.
i hate hospitals. have i mentioned that? cause i really do. especially this hospital.. i remember sitting in the lobby of that very hospital crying my eyes out because my grandma was dying and they couldn't do anything to save her. call me morbid, but knowing that my grandma died under that roof makes me hate the building. does that make sense?
anyways, i'm taken in at 10 am.. checked in, change clothes (into the ugly hospital gown.. ugh), stuck with an IV (1st one ever.. not a fan!), and dosed up with valium. i was anxious for the surgery, not really nervous, but i just wanted to get it over with. eventually (after talking with the surgeon 1 more time and the anestheologist - spelling?) i was wheeled into the OR. the last thing i remember was looking up at the big lights over the table and saying 'those look like something out of star trek.. did you see it yet? it was a really good... ' and i was out.
i woke up 2 hours later from the anesthesia and was home (well, at my parents house) by 4-ish in the afternoon. mom and dad set me back up in the recliner and made me dinner.
so, just to let everybody know, i'm staying at my parents for the next 2 months. i live on the 2nd floor of a condo building, so going home is obviously out of the question. brian travels for work, so right now he is in texas.. and i can't work until i'm healed so 1 of us has to work.. which would be him. i miss him, and wish he could be here with me, but we need an income.... you know? and my parents live right down the road from my condo, so either my mom or my dad go over to check on my 2 cats. (i miss them so much!)
i have a soft cast/splint on right now. on june 15th i get that changed to a hard cast, which i have to keep on for 6 weeks. so there's a total of 8 weeks i can't put any weight on my left leg. i have crutches and dad rented a wheelchair (i'm still getting the hang of it!) for the week...so we'll see how that goes. i prefer not to move, but unfortunately i have to go to the bathroom a lot.
i was prescrbed percocet as pain medication. that makes me really thirsty, so i then drink a lot of water. that makes me have to pee about once an hour.. which sucks. but i'd rather deal with that than the pain itself, you know?
well.. it's late and i'm going to get a few more hours of sleep before i get up for good in the morning... i will write more tomorrow.
on may 8th i turned 26, and the day after that i graduated from college.
since graduation i've been relaxing, working, and enjoying having free time again! but now it seems that i am once again confined.. only this time not by a class schedule!
during the early morning hours of may 25th i broke my ankle. i won't go into all of the sordid details, so let's just say that i was hopping off a 1st floor balcony (4-ish feet off the ground) and landed completely wrong on my left ankle. as soon as i hit the ground i knew something was wrong, and i could feel my leg bone out of joint (but no bone through skin here, sorry! LOL). i called my parents, who came and took me to the ER.
2 xrays, 1 shot of morphine in the arse, and a splint later i was allowed to go home with the bad news: i had broken 2 bones in my ankle that would require surgery. the next day (well, technically later that day) was memorial day - which meant 1 added day of pain, as all the doctors offices were closed.
so that next day (may 26th) i went to meet with the orthopedic surgeon. he showed me the xrays and pointed out the broken bones (although they were quite obvious on film). surgery was scheduled for 5pm the next day and i was taken to the hospital for pre-registration.
now, the insurance nightmare. my husband, brian, works for a union. he has to work at least 300 hours in a given 3 month period (jan/feb/march) to be covered for the next 3 months (april/may/june). well, the union he is with also recently switched insurance carriers from first health to signa healthcare. side note - i know nothing about the innerworkings of insurance.. at all. well, for the past month or so i had been bugging brian about getting stuff straight with the insurance cotmpany as we had not recieved new cards from signa. did he? of course not. so we were *almost* without coverage for this whole event. but thank God, we were able to pay enough to reinstate our insurance (including the night of the ER visit, etc.). i'd rather pay a thousand bucks out of pocket to save eight or ten grand later.. you know?
anyways, my surgery was on may 27th. they moved the time up from 5pm to noon, so i could go home that same day. i got the phone call around 8 am that day (i had just woken up). after joking with the nurse that i was about to go to shoney's for breakfast (fast for surgery.. get it? yeah, i know. i'm a dork!) i agreed to be there at 10 am.
i hate hospitals. have i mentioned that? cause i really do. especially this hospital.. i remember sitting in the lobby of that very hospital crying my eyes out because my grandma was dying and they couldn't do anything to save her. call me morbid, but knowing that my grandma died under that roof makes me hate the building. does that make sense?
anyways, i'm taken in at 10 am.. checked in, change clothes (into the ugly hospital gown.. ugh), stuck with an IV (1st one ever.. not a fan!), and dosed up with valium. i was anxious for the surgery, not really nervous, but i just wanted to get it over with. eventually (after talking with the surgeon 1 more time and the anestheologist - spelling?) i was wheeled into the OR. the last thing i remember was looking up at the big lights over the table and saying 'those look like something out of star trek.. did you see it yet? it was a really good... ' and i was out.
i woke up 2 hours later from the anesthesia and was home (well, at my parents house) by 4-ish in the afternoon. mom and dad set me back up in the recliner and made me dinner.
so, just to let everybody know, i'm staying at my parents for the next 2 months. i live on the 2nd floor of a condo building, so going home is obviously out of the question. brian travels for work, so right now he is in texas.. and i can't work until i'm healed so 1 of us has to work.. which would be him. i miss him, and wish he could be here with me, but we need an income.... you know? and my parents live right down the road from my condo, so either my mom or my dad go over to check on my 2 cats. (i miss them so much!)
i have a soft cast/splint on right now. on june 15th i get that changed to a hard cast, which i have to keep on for 6 weeks. so there's a total of 8 weeks i can't put any weight on my left leg. i have crutches and dad rented a wheelchair (i'm still getting the hang of it!) for the week...so we'll see how that goes. i prefer not to move, but unfortunately i have to go to the bathroom a lot.
i was prescrbed percocet as pain medication. that makes me really thirsty, so i then drink a lot of water. that makes me have to pee about once an hour.. which sucks. but i'd rather deal with that than the pain itself, you know?
well.. it's late and i'm going to get a few more hours of sleep before i get up for good in the morning... i will write more tomorrow.
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