PT

Not exactly sure but from what I understand, the first surgery they cleaned everything up and put in the hardware for my tibia break and got the fibula back in place.  The second surgery was to check for infection and bolt a small fracture in an ankle bone.

The next debate began on when to send me home.  The "healthcare professional" in charge of my case suggested that I could go home Friday or spend some time in rehab.  My rehab options were another floor in this hospital or 2 other clinics in Odessa.  I figured my best bet was to stay in the same building so they shifted me to room 320 on Tuesday morning.  That afternoon I had appointments with the physical therapists to go over my dilemma and set up my schedule.

From then on I settled into the new routine of physical therapy (sitting and standing exercises and crutch walking) from 10 - 11:30 then occupational therapy (upper body exercises) from 1 - 2:30.  This fit in quite well with the meal plan - breakfast at 6:45, lunch at 11:45, and supper at 4:45.  Some of the others in PT included 2 guys who got really busted up in motorcycle accidents, and overweight guy who broke his hip falling off a ladder putting up Christmas decorations,  some elderly that had various fall injuries, and a couple of knee replacements.  What really struck me about the knee replacement folks is that they were the only ones that were there intentionally.

The daily rounds were governed by constantly changing nurse shifts.  I must have had about 20 different nurses.  It just so happened that I had a bunch of the Ben and John postcards in my camera bag so every different nurse or attendant got one as the shifts changed. At one point I had lagged on the gift and a new nurse asked where her postcard was.

To be continued...
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