December 20, 2006
Broken ::
personal — tagged broken leg, cycling, family, friends, healing and injury
4:38 pm
Nearly two weeks have passed since I broke my leg while I was out biking. It may sound crazy to you, I know, the idea that I was out on my bike in 40 degree weather, at 8 AM before work. It may sound even crazier to you that I hit black ice and landed directly on my hip, cracking my hip bone and part of my femur. But that’s what I did. And if I told you that I had surgery the same day, and that for the past two weeks I’ve been recovering from a procedure in which an orthopedic surgeon placed an 18-inch rod along my femur in order to set the break, you might become so incredulous that I could sense it from where I sit. But that’s what’s happened.
The accident and the surgery sounds crazy, I know, which is part of the reason I woke up from surgery crying. It’s also the reason I’ve felt so emotionally overwhelmed over the thirteen days. The other reasons for the emotion include the help that friends and family have offered while I get better. I’m actually staying at a friend’s house right now, because she has only one stair and a walk-in shower. I can’t think of a time when I’ve felt more cared for, or more dependent on people. It’s a strange place to be in, a position I’m not altogether comfortable with, but I also realize I need these people around right now, so I’ll just have to accept it.
If you’re concerned about my current physical state, you shouldn’t be. I just had my first post-operation doctor’s appointment today, and they seemed happy with the way the break has stabilized, and they have told me I should start bearing weight on the leg. They told me this in spite of a rather scary-looking X-ray that depicted a splinter of bone that came off the site of the fracture. I shouldn’t worry too much about that, they say, it’s a normal part of the healing process. And the pain is something I should work through at this point. I find much of this hard to believe, especially when I think about waking up at 3 AM, stiff and having to pee, feeling like nothing has changed since the time I woke up from surgery. I’ll just have to take the doctors at their word that I am in fact healing, and move forward.
I’ll try to post X-rays at some point that show the break as well as my new hardware. That will at least support my assertion on the operation. As far as everything else is concerned, you will just have to take my word for it, I suppose.
