Sarah's New Bionic Ankle

Well ... as Sarah's Aunt Kitty likes to say, "sh*t happens." And, it happened on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, and we headed down to Bellville, TX, to school at Pine Hill, where Sarah and Savvy were going to compete in their first one-day eventing trial (dressage, stadium jumping, and cross country) on Sunday. Savvy was feeling really good with the cool, crisp weather, and so was I. Mike had his camera ready and caught a nice shot of us clearing a log (albeit my leg was too far back) ....
and then, my right stirrup and leather came off the saddle, so when I went to step in it, I just kept going, all the way to the ground. My right ankle took the brunt of the impact, but when Mike and friends Jenny and Chad ran over, they thought I'd just stand up and get back on. But, I knew something was wrong. Being in shock, I didn't quite realize how wrong until I tried to move my right foot, and it did not feel like it was connected to my leg. I said I needed to get to the hospital quick. Luckily, Bellville County Hospital was right down the road, and it wasn't a long wait before they got me in, gave me some morphine and took x-rays. I asked the tech if it was broken, and he said, "Oh Yeah." I said just once, and he said no, two, maybe three places. I managed to break both sides of my ankle, and the little bone in between.
The doctors there said this qualifed as an "orthoscopic emergency," so we called my thyroidectomy surgeon to get a referral up in The Woodlands. They pumped me full of morphine, put a splint on, discharged me, and let Mike drive me rather than taking an ambulance. Unfortunately, we checked into the wrong hospital, and had a painful hour and a half wait there before figuring out where we were supposed to be, at the new branch of St. Luke's "Lakeside." As soon as we got there, I was immediately admitted and given pain medicine. More x-rays were taken to confirm the severity of the injury. Due to the swelling, I was going to have to wait for surgery, so they settled me in a wonderful room with a 46-inch flat screen on the wall, and took excellent care of me until the orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Coupe, came by Sunday afternoon. He scheduled my surgery for Monday afternoon. I went down a little early and got a wonderful thing called a nerve block in my right leg, which is basically an epidural for my sciatic nerve and blocks the pain in my leg. I have a little pain pump attached to that that continually feeds the block. Anyway, after the two hour surgery, I now have a "bionic" ankle, with a titanium plate on one side and nine screws altogether.

Dr. Coupe said all my bones came together great and there wasn't any damage to my nerves or tendons, so he expects me to make a full recovery and be back to normal in three months. I was released from the hospital today, with a splint wrap and crutches. I'll getting a walking boot in ten days time and have that for a while. In a few weeks I'll start physical therapy as well. In the meantime, I have exercises to do so my hurt leg doesn't atrophy. I've set up base camp in the downstairs guest room for the time being, so I don't have to battle the stairs to get to our bedroom daily. I'm going to focus on following the doctor's instructions and getting rest and healing for now.

All in all, it could have been a much worse injury to myself and/or Savvy, so I'm glad it was something that is fixable and recoverable. Riding horses is a dangerous sport, and this certainly won't stop me, but it will sure make me double-check my equipment going forward and be more careful in my riding decisions! Thanks to Mike for being a trooper and great help through this all, to Jenny and Chad for staying by my side all day Saturday into Sunday, and to my friends and family for worrying about me and praying for me.