Ankle screws

Dale had surgery yesterday to remove the screws from his ankle. It would have been an office procedure with just local anesthesia (I was even invited to watch), but unfortunately the screws had broken, and the procedure had to be done in the operating room. The broken screws were not too bad; it didn't hurt (Dale didn't even know it had happened) and his doctor was unconcerned. This kind of screw only tends to last 6-9 months and in Dale's case it had been 7 months. However, it's still a disappointment. Nobody wants to go to the OR if they don't have to. 

Fortunately it all went very smoothly. The operation was on time, which was amazing to me, I was prepared for them to be anywhere from 2 to 6 hours late. (Last time they were 6 hours late.) The surgery itself was as it should be: four small incisions, two where they used a screwdriver to remove the piece of the bolt and two where they used something like an "easy-out" tool because it was the broken end of the bolt. We have learned that Dale needs extra time to recover from general anesthesia; he is dizzy and pukey when he wakes up, and no amount of fancy antinausea drugs seems to counter this; he just needs time. Now he's home and reasonably comfortable. He had to wear a boot at first, but only for a day while he had a bulky bandage on. Now he can switch to a more ordinary bandage and a regular shoe. He doesn't need crutches, and his pain is minimal. He took a post-surgery day off work to rest and then expects to be back to business. He is overjoyed not to be screwed any longer.

Even though everything was basically ideal, it's still a tiring day, being in the hospital. You can't have a loved one under general anesthesia and not be at least a little bit concerned about the outcome. Even just being surrounded by other people having surgery is kind of exhausting; so much illness and trauma and disability, waiting to be repaired. But thankfully we're fine. They gave us the screws to take home.