Major updates since my last post… I’m walking
I believe it was somewhere after getting doses of fentanyl and before anesthesia, I met the surgeon who put my leg back together. I had mixed feelings about going into my six week post op appointment. The news of finding out if I could start to put weight on my foot played out in different scenarios. I was greeted with a “Nice to see you again,” even though I couldn’t recall ever meeting this doctor. He was generally quiet and didn’t say much but I was able to get information out of the visit. The most important being that I was healing and could start to walk.
I was handed a sheet of paper with the most basic timeline of how to start putting weight on leg. It did nothing for me. I went to work and continued to not put weight on it. Once I got home, I tried to stand and take baby steps. But without even trying I was putting most of my weight on my right side. Thank god I had a physical therapy appointment first thing the next day.
It was incredible how gradual and efficient the exercises were to help me get comfortable with walking. After doing some walking exercise in front of the mirror, we headed back into the room. Given that it was my first day walking, it was expected that my walk would be a little off. I just couldn’t help but express how ‘weird/wrong’ my walk felt. My physical therapist went on to explain, your walk is hard-wired and something that is natural to you as a person. I have to reconnect with my walk and work on building that connection again.
At this point (a week later), I have been told I could work out at the gym and do cardio to help with my ankle. This put me over the moon excited. While the progress is great, there’s a lot more pain management needed now. I’m back to elevating my foot and icing it at the end of the day because of swelling and pain. It’s a constant battle of give and take on this journey. Being at about 80% towards a full recovery, it’s the long stretch now.
And to top it off, amidst this fiasco and the gracious medical bills (with an s) I received, it really got me thinking about how dangerous it is to not have good health care. With the coronavirus exploding across the nation and the 2020 presidential democratic race currently ongoing, it’s a topic to be discussed. And realistically it’s truly a crisis in this country. People are losing everything they have and are being sued by hospitals because they can’t pay? There’s something not right.
Even with health insurance, one is at an astronomical risk for debt. Had I not had health insurance, I would be close to amounting my student loans in medical bills for two days at the hospital. I’m extremely grateful that I only owe a fraction to the hospital but it’s still a shit ton of money that I don’t have.
No one wants to be in dire need of medical attention and worrying about an outrageous medical bill that will follow. It truly does make me sick and I hope we can make the right steps as one country to fix this.
Jane Theory 