the bitchiest bitch: recovering from surgery
The two weeks following surgery were the worst. Week #1 I was told to elevate my big shitty cast 23 hours a day, which basically meant I could only get up to go to the bathroom (pee, that is - still no poo) or bathe. Week #2 the rules were less stringent, but I was too weak to crutch around or do anything so it basically resembled week #1.
Bathing:
J would secure a trashbag over my leg with a rubber band at the knee. He had to put it on and take it off for me because I no longer had flexibility in that leg (guess what, when you can't move your ankle, your calf and hamstring freeze up too!). He had to do the same for my underwear and pants fyi. Anyway, I'd get in the tub with one leg up (I had to face backward, with my head at the faucet, so I had surface big enough to rest by cast). I'd support myself with one hand on the bottom of the tub, hold the lufa with the other, J would squirt it with Dr. Bronner's, and I'd suds up. A broken ankle certainly takes all the joy out of bathing. Meanwhile, my left glute was on its way to becoming the strongest glute you ever did encounter.
Drugs:
BIZARRE SHIT. As the side effects literature warns, I had vivid nightmares, not just at night, but the second I closed my eyes - which was often. I was afraid to sleep, I was too fucking tired to stay awake. Each day blended with each night. Sometimes my dreams scared me so much that I made J hold my hand as I dozed off, just to ground me in some kind of familiarity. He obliged with a smile because he's incredible. Also the Oxy made my body twitch like 12 times as I fell asleep - sometimes whole-body, sometimes localized - SOMETIMES in my sad outchy ankle which quite frankly killed. For the second week I was switched from Oxycodone to it's weaker - but still quite sassy - little sister, Hydrocodone. The dosage was lighter and I was pleased.
me, feeling/looking the worst I've ever felt/looked
Food:
Overall, food was not part of this whole thing - everything nauseated me. I could tolerate cucumbers, strawberries, some soups, toast, tea...and a few other things that I can't remember (I can't remember most things). Weight began to fall off of me (silver lining?).
Sleep:
I was on my back with my leg propped up every night. I fantasized about turning onto my side like a dude in prison fantasizes about getting laid - J and I hadn't spooned in what felt like decades. He was also scared that he'd move in the middle of the night and pull the covers over my cast in a painful way, so I slept on top of the covers under my own blanket. I set several alarms every night for meds, and kept gluten-free crackers on my nightstand so I wouldn't be medicating on an empty stomach. I woke up every morning with soggy crackers stuck in my molars - beginning another blurry day that would soon become night.