Just over 9 months after the screws went into my ankle, they came out.
I was supposed to be at the hospital for 9:40 with surgery slated for 11:10. We stopped off before I went in and voted in the Federal Election as I didn't want to risk being doped up after surgery and not being able to vote.
The worst part of the day was honestly the morning wait. I had been told that with my surgery time penciled in for 11:10, the porter would pick me up around 10:40. Yeah, try 12:40. The extra two hours of anticipatory nerves were not a thing I was looking for! A nurse friend of mine reassured me over text that they weren't going to cancel my surgery (my biggest fear! I wanted this over with!) and so I read some magazines and impatiently waited it out.
So I finally got wheeled up to the operating room and learned that my anesthetist plays hockey with the surgeon who did my ACL reconstruction. Small world, right? They wheel me into the (freezing!) operating theatre proper and within a few short minutes I was out. I came to at about 14:05 in recovery, which gives a pretty good idea of how short a surgery it was. Similar to my ACL surgery, I came to quite alert. Unlike my ACL, I didn't feel the need to cry for no reason, making this by far the easiest time I had coming out of anesthetic of my three surgeries this year. This is also evidenced by me being bumped back down to day surgery almost right away.
My nurse friend Nancy came to hang out with me and then take me home when they finally cut me loose. It was great to have her there as she got me two extra pieces of toast! Unlike my ACL, they also let me have two drinks. Either the Mis is less stingy with this stuff, or the Grey Nuns was just really, really convinced I was going to puke. Either way, toast was delicious.
As I was about to get discharged we had a length back and forth between me and the nurses about my limitations post-surgery. I had asked Dr. Toreson before surgery how this would affect my bench press training (I'm competing in a month) and he had told me no restrictions, let pain be my guide. The only thing he said to be sure to avoid was body contact (which is off limits right now anyways due to my ACL). Well, the nurses were like "oh god you're going to break your bone!!" and the literature they gave me said not to lift more than 10 pounds. They tried paging my surgeon for clarification but he had left for the day, so they made me promise that I would call him (which I did yesterday - bench training is a-ok).
I was surprised with how well I could walk. I had read some people's accounts of their hardware removal where they were on crutches or back in the boot; I walked out under my own power just like Dr. Toreson had said I would. Made it back home, got myself installed on the couch, and stayed there for most of the rest of the night.
I took yesterday off work but didn't really feel too worse for wear, so I mostly just watched TV. My partner was home from work early and I wanted out of the house, so I tagged along to the gym. I didn't work out really, but did a few sets of strict pull ups, kipping pull ups and dips. Hooray for upper body! Today I'm back at work and off pain meds. Other than feeling a little more tired than normal and the obvious reality of a bunch of staples in my leg, I'm feeling pretty good. Optimistic that the hardware removal will help with some of the residual swelling in my ankle and allow me a bit more range of motion. Squat time is coming!
