Waking Up

The next thing I knew, I was waking up in a room. Looking to my right, I saw a big plate glass window into another room with a clock showing 10:10. “That can’t be right,” I thought. Looking down at my legs, I could see two sets of toes poking up. “Well, I think I have two feet, so that’s good.”

Someone saw that I had awakened and came to explain what had happened. I had multiple fractures—six in my right ankle. They put a plate into that one with four nails and a screw for the ligament. My left ankle was basically shattered, with a broken tibia, and my foot was cut quite badly. They used external hardware on that one.

They did more X-rays to make sure everything looked right. The surgeon later explained that he had reconnected everything. He put in what looked like an erector set to set the bones and keep them in place. I would need more surgeries and physical therapy, but for now, I had two feet, and they were attached.

I was under for about four and a half hours of surgery and came out with functioning joints, a straight leg, and everything put back together. And my island adventure was just beginning…