Hospital Operation - away for a while

Just to let people know that as of Tuesday, I will be in hospital having an operation to repair my ruptured achilles tendon which will need muscle grafting as the ends have contracted too much to be joined up again naturally. So I haven't abandoned this place, I just won't be around for at least a week. When I come out of hospital I'm going to spend time staying with my Dad as everyone here will be at work and I'll be fairly helpless for a while. It means being off work at least 3 months as I'll be in plaster for that length of time. (The first two weeks will be in a full leg plaster cast.) I've got a lot of muscle wastage in my left calf now, and this will be worse after several months of disuse, so I'll need intensive physio for a few months too.

Still, to look on the bright side - I can curl up and stay in a nice warm bed over the winter months, when it's cold and dark, instead of getting up when the alarm goes at some ungodly hour! Once I'm back here, I'll have even more time to spend on the computer and a good excuse not to hoover and dust the house instead :)

Ah, Moira:

Consider it as just a low "hump" in an otherwise smooth road of life, huh?

Do, get well soon... it will render you sedentary for a while, perhaps. But then there are plenty of opportunity for exercises up ahead by then; more particularly on the cerebral side while you can't be up and about.

Cheers!

Absolutely ...... I've got a list of stuff I want to get done on the computers, and a pile of books to read :) I can get on with learning more visual studio whereas at the moment I just never seem to have time.

And thanks for your good wishes .... have some points :)

What I wouldnt give to have the time to chew through the pile of books beside my bed......

Oh and actually catch up in personal stuff on the computer...picture organization\backup...new music...Vista, share point, virtual servers\networking

Well Moira enjoy your time..and take care of yourself

Its sad when the only way to get that time is through surgery. :(

MLF

Thank you morganlefay (did I ever ask you if you were a fan of the group?). Yes, I'm looking forward to exactly the sort of stuff you say. Archiving the index page of my website, exploring Office 2007 more, having another go with a virtual machine and an install of Ubuntu on it, as well as plough on through a book on further Visual Studio programming.

And to have the time to read through a pile of good books .... what luxury! I'll also continue to watch the rugby world cup (though I would think I'll only get to see one more England match :)

It is sad that this only get sort of "me" time by being layed up in plaster in what will probably be a lot of pain!

It's only fair I give you some antipoints too :)

Good luck Moira, we shall pray for you:halo:

Hey, you will have lots of time to stir trouble on AO? :lildevil::lildevil:

Here's hoping it comes off without a hitch. I know someone who's had this done. According to her, the operation is nothing, it's the physical therapy/stretching afterward that she disliked.

Didnt even know there was a group until someone else asked me the same question :(

I am so out of the loop..... ;)

Name comes from one of my favorite books

Marion Zimmer Bradleys "The Mists of Avalon"

You know the sad thing is...I am here trying to figure out what I can have done to get laid up for a bit :eek:

MLF

Being that I believe in prayer; I will be doing so for you.

Treatment without surgery, believe it or not, will leave you in a cast for about the same amount of time (ten weeks). But of course, complications may accrue during this process (without surgery). But I'd imagine you re-ruptured it, being that it cannot heal on its own?
Pain is a given, your foot will be placed in an abnormal position for about (dorsiflex: toes facing the floor) four weeks. After which you'll be able to have some motion in your foot and ankle.
I've seen cases in which this has kept them off their feet for five to six months.

Good luck :). We're all here for you and ready to send you beautiful flowers (some may send roses, those red ones ;)).

P.S: I'm going into the field of Orthopod Hell ..... em .... Orthopedics. :)

Thank you all so much :) I'm really touched by your kindness. I've given antipoints where I can (it won't let me give them to some people) because I think it shows what thoughtful, wonderful people this forum has and I appreciate your prayers, because I do believe in the power of prayer.

Yes, without surgery there is a good chance that the instability of that foot would sooner or later cause another injury and in any case I'd never be able to run, stand on that tiptoe, or walk in the hills. I've got a lot of muscle wastage in my right calf, which would only get worse.

d00dz Attackin I don't think it had any chance of healing on its own - I have a 6cm gap where the ends have contracted, hence the need for muscle grafting. I only went over on my foot once, but prior to that I was recovering from a torn calf muscle, so that leg was stiff and would have had a fair amount of scar tissue, making it very inflexible. The other reason it happened was I'd been taking high doses of steroids for arthritis, when I was first started on methotrexate and was waiting several weeks for it to "kick in". Steroids tend to weaken tendons and it really is true that they're bad for you.

d00dz Attackin, are you really a doctor? Just looking at your title.

No not just yet. :)
Currently in Medical School (University of Miami). Soon I'll transfer to UF - University of Florida.

Going into Orthopedics, hopefully I'll make it into Mayo. Don't know how the girlfriend will cope with that, though (might not).

Surgery is your best bet, nothing else will do, in your case. Don't worry though, you are in good hands :). If by chance you are attending the Mayo Clinic, they breathe Orthopedics (best out there).

I'm in the UK .... but the guy doing my operation did a minor op on me four years ago and I came out OK!

Just think, maybe one day you'll be doing the very operation I'm having - sewing back someone's achilles and doing muscle grafting :) it just beats me how muscle grafting works :confused: do they scrape off some muscle from elsewhere, in which case how does that part cope, and do they then sew it onto each end of the ragged tendon? I can't help thinking Mr Siddique has got a very difficult job on his hands ..... wonder how long the operation will take. Nobody's told me anything about where the muscle will come from even, just that it will be the same leg.

Oh, and I've managed to scare myself witless reading up about anaesthesia! Sounds like a scaled down version of the lethal injection :( They're bound to give me an injection of something like succinylcholine chloride if they want to cut some muscle away and I just don't like the thought of literally being paralysed and unable to breathe by myself :eek: it really is a case of your life in their hands.

Well that put me off my breakfast, and I thank you. I need to drop a few pounds.:)

Moira,

I took 3 months off of work in 2005, total hip replacement (right). In one month I read all of the books, saw all the movies, upgraded/updated all of the computers in the house, I was going nuts! The second and third month were great because I was allowed to drive and I could get out. I was almost ready to never go back to work (didn't hit the lottery so I had to).

Good luck with your surgery/recovery, you'll be in our prayers.

Thank you fourdc! I think I'm going to follow a similar path to you - I've a pile of books to read, a list of jobs to do on the computers and the rest of the rugby world cup to watch :)

I think once I'm over the first month or so, I'll actually enjoy it, then in the end I'll be getting bored. I think going back to work is going to be incredibly hard, but I've a trip to New Zealand to look forward to in February, so I can concentrate on that!

I'm envious. I would love to visit there, AND Oz, but I doubt I can endure a flight that long. 25 hours on a plane would probably turn me into a Tower killer.

I'm going first class :) I wouldn't like 30 hours in economy either! As it is, I should have an excellent journey!

That has to be £1500 at LEAST! Did you win the lottery?

£1500 ???? LOL, I wish! From the States maybe, but from the UK the price is around £6,000 - £8,000 if you want insurance against being unable to go ... but we haven't bothered with that. Then there are the flights from Auckland to Christchurch and back, to see the South Island etc, the hire car and motel expenses.

No, it's not a cheap holiday and no - I didn't win the lottery, my Dad is paying for the first class flights. We're going with Emirates and it looks very nice! There's a 10 hour stopover at Dubai and we get to sleep in a nice hotel, whereas the "cabbage class" just have 10 hours sitting around the airport. We've just had a letter from Emirates saying that as we're first class/business class passengers we're entitled to a car to take us to and from the airport, both at Newcastle and when we land at Auckland so long as our destination is within 25 miles. I've had a look on the Emirates website at our accommodation in the air and it's amazing - there's a bar you can go to and seats you can sit around in, just like being in a pub on the ground. And out of a plane holding 500 people, there are only 12 first class suites and we have 3 of them :D

Well be careful, that's a part of the world that's less than fond of our two respective countries.

You made the right choice about first class. I went economy from Maine(US) to Santiago Chili 18 hours not including the layover in Atlanta(HELL). If it wasn't for Valium I don't think I would have made it.

P.S. Hangover + Air travel = Bad Bad Bad Bad Bad

I think so too .... my Dad went over this year first class and he had a 6' 6" bed to sleep in. Honestly, we met him when he came home and he bounced through Arrivals with no jet lag whatsoever - and he's 81!

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Originally Posted by Moira

I'm in the UK .... but the guy doing my operation did a minor op on me four years ago and I came out OK!

Just think, maybe one day you'll be doing the very operation I'm having - sewing back someone's achilles and doing muscle grafting :) it just beats me how muscle grafting works :confused: do they scrape off some muscle from elsewhere, in which case how does that part cope, and do they then sew it onto each end of the ragged tendon? I can't help thinking Mr Siddique has got a very difficult job on his hands ..... wonder how long the operation will take. Nobody's told me anything about where the muscle will come from even, just that it will be the same leg.

Oh, and I've managed to scare myself witless reading up about anaesthesia! Sounds like a scaled down version of the lethal injection. They're bound to give me an injection of something like succinylcholine chloride if they want to cut some muscle away and I just don't like the thought of literally being paralysed and unable to breathe by myself :eek: it really is a case of your life in their hands.

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Dr. Siddique indeed has a very difficult job on his hands, depending on which tendon he decides to use. The most difficult, would be to use a graft taken from a cadaver (this procedure restores the most strength in your leg). Or a tendon can be taken from the back of your leg or big toe (on your foot).

Update me :)

A cadaver ??? :eek: A dead body ? Do you mean to tell me he might have put parts of a corpse inside me ?!?

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Dr. Siddique indeed has a very difficult job on his hands

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Thank you. :D Actually we call surgeons "Mr" over in the UK, medical doctors are known as "Dr". The guy seems to be well respected, so hopefully he's skilled enough to make a good job of it! At any rate he seems to be the best in his field around here. I'll try and look at the clock when I go down and again when I come back onto the ward to see how long it's been - but I may not be too compus mentus when I'm just back from theatre. I'll update you as soon as I can - which will be when I get back over here after spending the first few days with my Dad, so you're looking at a week tomorrow, at the earliest.

Good luck and godspeed on the road to recovery. A severed achilles is one of those injuries that I can't hear or think about without shuddering.

Hope to hear good news from you soon! Take care.

O

Yeah... This is why we don't really tell you what we are doing, unless you ask. I highly doubt you'll have this particular procedure done.

:)

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Originally Posted by Ouroboros

Hope to hear good news from you soon! Take care.

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Thanks - I started another thread to say I was back again. I still have such a backlog of email and haven't started on any of the projects I had planned! I still seem to get tired after about 2 hours on the computer and can't bear any more, preferring to be tucked up on the sofa with a book :)

Oh, I can't remember who was asking but of course I didn't look at my watch on returning to the ward! However I learned later I'd been away a good 6 hours. I was first on the list and apparently the bigger, longer surgical cases are scheduled first so it must have taken some time.

d00dz Attackin I'm sure they also lie about procedures. I was commenting to the anaesthetist that I didn't like the thought of being paralyzed and unable to breathe unless someone did it for me and he said "oh don't worry, we have newer drugs nowadays". Well, I woke up with quite a sore throat :( and to my knowledge they don't have any alternative to stuff like succinyl choline and how else could they make sure all your muscles stayed totally still without whatever they used affecting your diaphragm too? And why else would you need to be put on a ventilator?

I'm sure hospitals only tell you half the story!

It's my understanding that at one time Curare was used for that purpose, to make sure muscles remained perfectly still during ops.

Of course they don't tell you everything, if they did no one would do anything. Only takes a couple times of hearing about a Dr forgetting his scalpel inside you or watching how liposuction is done to to turn you away from letting someone open you up.

Most local anesthesia has always been Cocaine based for numbness, but as for being knocked out, China White, the street name for Fentanyl, is a very good one. It's an Opiate. The risk of abuse is over stated fairly bad because using that for anything but knocking someone out is just stupid, I've now had it once and can say even I was shocked how fast it worked and how well it worked.

I was out like an MCSE at an IQ contest.

Yeah, I've heard of curare, but wouldn't it still require you to have someone artificially breath for you? Curare used to be a poison from what I remember, and would be very effective!

I'm not sure what was used to initially knock me out, but by god it was fast! I had one injection put in the line that was set up into a vein, then something which made my mouth go dry which I remembered from last time, followed by around 2mls of a clear liquid. That's all I remember until someone said "you're in the recovery room", and after that I remember nothing until I was back on the ward. I wasn't even told that what was being injected would put me to sleep! There was no counting to 10 or anything, it seemed instant!

I had a local anaesthetic block which was incredibly effective. It didn't wear off until the following day so I got no pain at all. I'd been a bit worried about this knowing I'd have a high opiate tolerance from my arthritis drugs, but it wasn't a problem. I had morphine piggybacked onto my drip, slowly giving a constant supply and 4 times a day, my arthritis painkillers (methadone), so with this block as well, I was really comfortable. The only pain was, they insisted I breathed in oxygen while I was getting morphine, which I hated.

In large doses it's fatal yes. In smaller doses it was used as a muscle paralyzer, and I do think they'd need some type of contingency for breathing.

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Originally Posted by Moira

Yeah, I've heard of curare, but wouldn't it still require you to have someone artificially breath for you? Curare used to be a poison from what I remember, and would be very effective!

I'm not sure what was used to initially knock me out, but by god it was fast! I had one injection put in the line that was set up into a vein, then something which made my mouth go dry which I remembered from last time, followed by around 2mls of a clear liquid. That's all I remember until someone said "you're in the recovery room", and after that I remember nothing until I was back on the ward. I wasn't even told that what was being injected would put me to sleep! There was no counting to 10 or anything, it seemed instant!

I had a local anaesthetic block which was incredibly effective. It didn't wear off until the following day so I got no pain at all. I'd been a bit worried about this knowing I'd have a high opiate tolerance from my arthritis drugs, but it wasn't a problem. I had morphine piggybacked onto my drip, slowly giving a constant supply and 4 times a day, my arthritis painkillers (methadone), so with this block as well, I was really comfortable. The only pain was, they insisted I breathed in oxygen while I was getting morphine, which I hated.

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Hey Moira, in case you were wondering, the reason that they wanted you doing oxygen mask crap with Morphine is because even though you say you have a tolerance, when you've just had surgery the anesthesia and others don't actually leave your body right away when you wake up, so mixing that + Morphine, can slow your breathing pretty quick, so it was more for your own safety.

There is every chance you'd have been fine without it but in that area, they weren't just annoying you, they were putting your safety first as all Opiates affect respiratory and can in large doses make you stop breathing.

Ummm, the dose to make even a baby stop breathing would be pretty huge but still, it's a precaution. Think of it like wearing a seat belt on the Freeway or highway where you can go really fast, there are less accidents, but when there is one it's generally a bad one.

Anyway though, get well soon and Hope you're not in any pain. God knows I hate being in pain, as should everyone, that's why God made that plant :)

Oh, and, good luck on recovery! The quicker that goes the faster you can be back in the saddle doing what you actually would like to do instead of being forced to lay around.

I know when I screwed my knee up and they said stay in bed for 3 days I was like "You're kidding right? My desktop doesn't reach the bed, I can't play Doom in bed, you damn well better be kidding!".

Then I got a laptop and it was all OK lol.

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Originally Posted by gore

Hey Moira, in case you were wondering, the reason that they wanted you doing oxygen mask crap with Morphine is because even though you say you have a tolerance, when you've just had surgery the anesthesia and others don't actually leave your body right away when you wake up, so mixing that + Morphine, can slow your breathing pretty quick, so it was more for your own safety.

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Ah thanks, I wondered about that :) in fact they would have taken the tolerance into account anyway and possibly upped the morphine and other opiates making oxygen just as necessary a precaution for me as everyone else.

Well, I was very surprised and delighted to be reminded of this thread by a message from d00dz Attackin :) how nice someone still remembers me! Was this honestly my last post? Almost a year ago? :( I need some encouragement to get involved in forum stuff again, it hasn't been an easy year, and at times I couldn't face the internet, then it would get more and more difficult because I knew I'd be facing an ever increasing number of emails, demands, broken blog links to fix etc etc when I came back on. The longer I stayed off IRC the more I'd be mobbed by where were you? every time I went back on and it turned into a vicious circle. I feel a lot better and am back to work now, but ridiculously busy! I've just got back from Helsinki and haven't dared press mIRC yet as I know what will happen, I won't have any peace! I feel guilty abandoning a channel I own and even a small server I help admin as these were commitments, but I just don't have the capacity to cope with anything else wanting a part of me that doesn't exist right now. If you could just sit peacefully in a channel, irc could run in the background - likewise Trillian. But there's always *someone* wanting to query msg a load of non private nothing, which means the system tray flashes until I look at the window, or someone who needs the sort of help channel admins/owners are usually good at providing prodding me until I end up simply engrossed 100% in irc, achieving nothing very much. Oh dear, I make what are supposed to be pleasurable pastimes sound like harsh punishment, don't I? Which reminds me, I also have to go to court on 17th October ... but I don't suppose anyone heard about the car accident? Or the broken ribs? The week of dilirius semi coma? Detox? In fact, you are lucky I didn't stick around. I'd have driven members away by the dozen with grim posts about **life** I've become a technical dunce too, I can't even do bulletin board any more. How the fsuk do you achieve italics and bold? Paragraphs anyone?

I took a year off once. Life got crazy, I didn't have any burning IT problems, wasn't shopping for anything new equipment wise, so the priorities readjusted.

A few "brush fires" put out and back to the forums....

Yeah, I found it just a bit hard to cope with what was becoming an impossible build up. I went back on irc briefly last night and it felt strange at first, but like holidays from work, it doesn't take long to feel like you never went away!

A bit late, but i do hope that everything turns out well for you. :)

Thank you ! I'm sure things will work out, life just needs to get a bit less hectic :(