And my world crashes to a halt

Never in my life have I been in a hospital as a patient, until last night. My new project coordinator/boss invited me to attend a weekly netball game she attends on Tuesday nights. Apparently, netball is a cross between basketball and ultimate frisbee and is played on a basketball court. A group of ex-pat women get together and play once a week here in Vientiane. Kerryn, my boss, assured me it's not competitive and really more of a social thing and a chance to get a little exercise. I readily agreed to join.

Now I don't blame netball in any, way, shape or form, but I'm pretty damn sure you will never catch me playing that idiotic game again, ever. Long story short, I was running to defend my opponent and my foot stopped but my body kept going. I took a hard fall and looked up to see my foot rolled under me at a 90 degree angle, a very abnormal, inhuman, and sickening angle. I assumed my leg was broken as I had felt some kind of snap, pop, as I hit the ground. I swore and cried, cursing my damn bad luck.

Luckily, the women I was with were fantastic. They called the local French clinic emergency line and got the French doctor and PT to meet us at the clinic just around the corner. A couple of them managed to scoop me into Julie's (one of the women, who before then I had never met) SUV and pull together my passport (for the inevitable trip into Thailand) and health insurance. The French doctor and PT took one look at my foot and suggested making haste to Udon Thani and the hospital there (2 hour drive). The PT asked if my foot had been normal before this accident (which goes to show just how awfully abnormal it looked). I was then mercifully given a shot of morphine.I can't describe the feeling of seeing one of your bodyparts headed in the wrong direction. Somehow it is quite difficult to wrap your brain around it. It seems to send your body into a state of shock.

So with Kerryn supporting my leg on her lap, Julie driving and another wonderful woman, Sang (who speaks Lao) accompanying us, we made the 2+ hour drive to Udon Thani. The first hour wasn't so bad, as I was high on morphine and the pain was a persistent but background noise. However, the morphine faded and an intense burning that I could only guess to be nerve pain took over. I began breathing like a woman giving birth and sobbing uncontrollably. I have been lucky enough to have few serious injuries in life, and this pain was like nothing I had ever felt before.

I can't imagine how that last hour felt for the poor women in the car with me, but I remember it as being the worst of my life. Somehow, we made it through the bordercrossing with only minimal complications, and I eventually found myself being wheeled into the emergency room at Auk International Hospital. I begged for more pain killers as they removed my shoe and sock. I admit I could not bring myself to look at my foot at that point but someone managed a picture that I will share soon, it really is rather mindboggling. The ER doctor consulted "the" orthopaedic surgeon who was currently in the OR.

I was taken to xray and the morphine began to once again numb the pain. From my hospital bed I could see the xrays, showing no fracture but a dislocation of some kind. Turned out my talus (the bone that articulated with the tibia and fibula) had dilocated laterally (to the outside of my foot) and the rest of the foot moved in, hence the odd, inhuman angle.

Given this information, the ER doctor informed me that they would need to straighten my foot "some" and immobilize it to prevent nerve damage while we waited for the orthopaedic surgeon. I would then need surgery. So I couldn't eat or drink water although apparently morphine makes you crazy thirsty. The straightening of the foot wasn't exactly enjoyable but as I heard and felt the loud pop of the talus reducing, I knew things were headed in the right direction. Kerryn assured me my foot was back to where it should be and I could move my foot again, something I had been aching to do for the last 4 hours.

So, we booked the VIP2 hospital room (medical tourism :) ) and after an xray to confirm a reduced ankle and no need for surgery, we all attempted to get some sleep. I spent the next few hours feeling relief like I have never felt. Seeing you foot in such a horrible position is quite traumatizing and scary. I had been sure surgery was in my future. Instead I am in a splint for 3 weeks non weightbearing on crutches and then starting physical therapy and rehabilitation. Not looking forward to the next few months but counting my blessings for how much worse it could have been.

It's been an emotional and scary last 24 hours. I am moving in with Kerryn to her spare room for a temporary solution to my homelessness and lack of manueverability. Then hopefully I will get some decent sleep and start to recover. I must say that my compassion for my patients, especially those in the hospital, has increased exponentially. Crutches are no fun, and I'm so happy my one leggedness is only temporary!