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June 13th
I imagine no one will think to look at this, considering how I haven't made a post in my journal pretty much ever. As it gets closer to the 13th, I'll make an announcment in my shop, but for now I just want to put this here.
On June 13th, the Wednesday after my summer vacation starts, I am having surgery on my right foot, primarily my ankle. Today I went to visit my orthopedics specialist, Dr. Jay, to schedual the surgery and discuss what exactly will be done.
To understand what will be happening, a little background is needed. I was born with spina bifida, a birth defect occuring within the first month of embryonic development, involving the neural tube, which is the precursor of the central nervous system, which comprises the brain and spinal cord. Basically, my spine was not fully attached just above my hips. There was a slight 'hole', and a water 'tumor' cushioning the opening. Immediantly after birth, I underwent surgery to close the opening, remove the water tumor, and attach the nerves. Nine days later, the stiching was removed too early, the wound reopened, and then became infected. I thus underwent surgery a second time, and it was during that surgery when my right foot 'dropped', becoming slightly malformed, and there was some nerve damage resulting in my inability to feel almost anything below my knees. I cannot control my right ankle, other than to slightly push it down. The muscles were also damaged in that foot.
As a result of the lack of control, my ankle over the years has slowly been pushing my foot out from under it, and over to the right. I do not walk on the bottom of my foot, I walk slightly on its side.
This surgery will basically realign my foot under my ankle and secure it in place. This surgery will take approximately two hours. I will be recovering anywhere from six to eight weeks.
Now, a few weeks after this surgery, I will have another one on my left knee. When I was around eleven years old I tripped and fractured the growth plate on my knee, which basically trashed my knee. The growth plate does not heal, or at least not properly, and because I was so young and still growing, this obviously was not a good thing. My knee has always been a bit weak, cannot bend all the way, and pretty much is screwed up big time. A few months ago, I mentioned to Dr. Jay that there was a 'cyst' in my knee that popped around and made my knee lock up periodically, until moved back into 'place'.
Turns out, that actually was a build up of floating cartilage, which will be removed in my second surgery. Now in the initial xrays, he believed there to be a second build up on the back of my knee as well. Today I found out that was not a build up, it was a piece of my femur that broke off and rotated slightly, then was coated slightly in cartilage. Dr. Tatcher, a man whom I met today, and whom I frankly like MUCH better than Jay, was talking to me about my knee. He was a specialist for cases like this, but I don't remember the proper term.
He plans on screwing the piece of bone back onto my femur, which will also be a two hour surgery, but he's not entirly sure if that will be possible. The cartilage has been building up for so long, he might possibly have to simply take the bone out, which is very bad. Because it's broken, when my legs are crossed or even my leg is bent, the shin juts out slightly to the left, as the broken piece is on the left side.
If the piece is removed, my shin, over time, could be pushed out to the left just like my foot has been pushed out to the right. If it's removed, I will need a knee brace to match my leg braces, and physical therapy, most likely for the rest of my life.
The third option would be knee replacement, but Thacer didn't want to do that because I'm only seveteen, and knee replacements have a life of only 15-20 years.
Fortunately, he believes he will be able to simply screw it on, which means I will not need a cast, will have a recovery period of four to seven days, and will be able to put my full weight on it within a few days, if not immediantly.
Now, obviously, I'm not going to be on gaia much for that first week. My shop will most likely be closed, though Aero.Dynamic has offered to run it for me until I'm feeling better. I just needed to get this all out somewhere, while it was still fresh in my memory, and so I don't burst into tears again.
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Community Member
Oh no. D:
* hugs *
Well, I can't pull out a magic wand and make you feel better, but I do send out all my hope to you. ;__; I hope everything goes 150%, and that you'll come back to Gaia happy.
<3 * hugs and such *