Photos from first post-op appointment

So I went in to the appointment with a camera, and everyone thought I was a little odd. But I'd already asked my paramedic to take a photo of the wound, so asking to and then taking photos here was easy by comparison. Mom got into it and was able to take some photos that I definitely wouldn't have been able to. Without further ado:



This is my very fat swollen right foot. Looks horrid, but much better than last time I saw it, when it was uselessly hanging off to the right. The wispy cotton bits are exactly that - wispy cotton bits, left over from the splinting.



This is the inside of my ankle, where the bone broke through. Turns out that I actually left a portion of my tibia behind on the mountain. Youch.



This is the outside of my ankle. Under these attractive stitches is now a plate a whole bunch of screws holding most of my ankle together.

The wonderful blisters are called fracture blisters and are apparently formed when the skin is asked to stretch more than it really can. In and of themselves, they're not a big deal, but they apparently get infected pretty easily so I'm told that we'll be keeping a close eye on them. Also means I'll be staying on antibiotics for a while.



My lower leg was pretty banged up all the way to the knee. Nothing too serious, but plenty of scabs. If it only it was just this, and not the ankles!



We ended up putting a fiberglass cast (did you know you got color choices now? even paw prints and polka dots! last time I had a cast, admittedly quite a long time ago, this was not an option!) on my left leg and a plaster splint again on right leg. The splint is essentially a three sided cast that is tightly wrapped in heavy-duty ace bandages. The splint can then expand and contract slightly as the joint swells and contracts. In this photo, the plaster splint is drying and Valerie is about to get started with my left cast.

Val is my surgeon's assistant and she is a total bad ass. When she's not doing this, she's a high angle rescue medic. If that doesn't mean anything to you, well, just take my word for it. She's bad ass. She was very amused that we were taking photos. Everybody understood a little better once we explained that my dad isn't here and wants to know what's going on.



And now we're leaving with me patched up. I'm on my way get CT scans of both knees, and to get my very own wheel chair. So much fun and excitement. It was a very long day by the time we were all through.