Week 13

After the x-rays it was back to the waiting room. The doctor called me in not too long afterwards, Dr. Wasser and Kristin came along, and he delivered the bad news. Not only had I broken my fibula, but I was going to need surgery because the fibula had been pushed out of the ankle joint and without surgery it wouldn’t heal correctly. I had been holding onto hope that it wasn’t broken but strangely enough when the doctor delivered the news I felt fine. It was a bummer but I wasn’t devastated either. We went back to the waiting room and I started asking Dr. Wasser the logistics of having surgery here in Germany and the likelihood of staying in the program. Our discussion was cut short when a nursing student came out to inject me with an anticoagulant and then I was called back in so that my leg could be put in a cast. After changing out of my jeans and into hospital pants, three nurses began applying layers of plaster on my leg and for a second time a tear escaped my eye because my foot had to be pushed into a 90º angle for the cast to work. As I watched them apply the cast, I kept thinking that it was different from other casts I’ve had. They used plaster for the whole cast and didn’t put the usual fiberglass coat on top of it. Then they made a cut through the entire length of the cast from top to bottom so that there was a big slit in the front. It came all the way up my knee and it was pretty heavy and chunky. When I got back to the waiting room, we had some last words with the doctor, I got a pair of crutches, and then the five of us headed back to the hotel in two separate taxis. When I was finally in my room, I called my mom to tell her what had happened. She thankfully didn’t freak out and asked if I was in pain and what was going to happen now. I told her I was fine and that I fully intended on staying in the program. By the time I hung up with my mom, it was close to two in the morning and I went to bed.