(This was written on August 28th & 30th, 2011)
So on Friday, August 26th I was working from home and taking my lunch break to go to restorative (yin) yoga. At about 3:15pm I was biking home, feeling peaceful, strong, present and grateful for my life. I took a turn at Folsom and Pine (3 blocks from my house); a turn that I take all the time. Perhaps at a bit more speed than usual, but still under control. This time I crashed in the bike lane. I was leaning and turning right when my right metal pedal kicked off the ground, stopped me dead in my tracks, probably sent the rear of my bike in a tail spin toward the road and sent me flying. We believe that all of my weight, speed and inertia went into my left leg, jamming it and causing unbelievable injuries. My surgeon has compare my injuries to something she would see in a parachuting, hang gliding or motor cycle accident.
Within seconds folks in their cars in the intersection were out of their cars and calmly huddled around me offering support. One was a nurse coaching me through breathing, one held my head and did not remove my helmet, a few other ladies called Alon and my friend Jesse, as well as dropped my steel, indestructible bike at home, just a few blocks away. I think the ambulance was there in less than two minutes.
I don't know how exactly to make this long story short, except to tell you it was excruciating. The medics could not manage my pain.... it took about an hour and a half once in the ER to get me on my back and ready for x-rays. Then they wanted to do a CT scan. Then I started going into shock. Then, by about 7pm, Boulder County Hospital assembled a orthopedic surgical team and by 8pm I was in the operating room.
I had to have emergency surgery on Friday night. Thankfully no head or spine injury and no collision with a car. I managed to do this much damage all on my own! I severely shattered the tibia plateau - the top part of the bone that flairs out and connects to the knee. Dr. Fulkerson, my surgeon and hero, said there was basically a hole in my leg where the bone pieces were crumbled fragments. She piled them back together with bone graphing as best as possible and held it all together with a metal plate and screws. I also had a medial tibia fracture which consisted of a clean break and crushed, crumbled bone pieces. It was bone graphed, plated (I think), and screwed together.
My ACL ripped right off the bone. A small bone fragment was still attached to it, so Dr. Fulkerson placed the ACL "back into place" and we are hoping bone healing takes place on it's own (future ACL surgery may be required; won't know till later). I also tore my meniscus, which was repaired. I have some road rash, swelling and bruising along my left arm and shoulder and ankle. Slight whip lash in the right side of my neck.
The surgery took about 4 hours. I was in the recovery room by midnight. My beloved Alon and friends have been by my side the whole time. The first three hours of this ordeal were by far the worst, most painful, uncertain hours of my life.
Doctor's orders are zero weight bearing on the left leg for at least 8 weeks. I'll be using a walker most of the time. I passed the stairs with crutches test, if needed. Still trying to pin down a loaner wheel chair so I can "take walks" by the creek or Pearl Street mall when I'm ready. Twelve weeks of brace with walker/crutches/wheelchair. No exercise except leg lifts, eventually, and upper body work. All of this will be driven by home physical therapy.
As of Sunday morning, I am already figuring out how to do yoga poses like half moon and heart openers in my hospital chair. I can sort of pee on my own. It's hard because my leg is in a straight brace, and I'm a bit wobbly.
I am sleeping with a Constant Passive Movement machine, which contracts and extends my leg from 0-40 degrees at an incline all night long. It will come home with me. My right leg had an inflatable compression bag to help avoid blood clotting. Since surgery, I had my bandages changed twice and had Ted socks put on both legs - to control swelling and blood clotting. These socks will come off for a few hours during the day, but I mostly will have them on for one month. They are like the the ugliest white thighs highs ever. I have had 2-3 nurses at my beck and call since I got to the hospital, and Alon sleeping on a cot by my side.
I started writing this Sunday, August 28th, on my birthday when I was still in the hospital. But as of Monday at 5:30pm I was home with my boyfriend Alon and kitty Ozy, and starting to settle back into to a new reality. Headaches, dizziness and nausea accompany the Percocet and Valium I am taking at home. Otherwise, I am getting around pretty good on the walker. I am extremely tired, surprisingly clear and coherent when I need to be and got about 8 hours of interrupted sleep on Sunday night (taking meds every 3 hours).
I am reluctant to post more details here, but I will because I'd like to make my communication as clear and efficient as possible. Dr. Fulkerson and my PT predicts that I will be home from work for 1-2 weeks and then back to work part time. I am able to work from home on certain project so that will be helpful (once I am off the pain meds). I have in-home care for physical therapy and occupational therapy scheduled for at least 2 weeks, maybe more. Both are supposed to come to my house three times a week for 1 hour each.
On my birthday, while everyone was wishing me beautiful birthday wishes on Facebook, I was a bit out of it i guess you could say, but getting around the clock care and my pain was managed really well by then. Really, who could ask for more? My Dad pointed out that it's unusual to be in the hospital on your birthday more than once in a person's lifetime, so that was kind of funny to me :)
My voice is very horse because of the breathing tube from surgery on Friday night, plus the blood curdling screams from my first 2 1/2 hours of pain.
If you would like to contact me, please email erin.e.dupuis@gmail.com or Facebook of course. Your healing words and encouragement will certainly help me on my path to full recovery. Please email to ask for my mailing address if you want it. I don't have much capacity for phone calls right now needless to say. But we can arrange visits if you email or mesage me first. I hope that makes sense and please understand that I am easily over whelmed and worn out right now.
Thank God my beloved parents will be here Thursday-Sunday and Alon is out running all sorts of crazy errands for me right now. Kitty (Ozy) is still a bit afraid of me and my CPM machine, but she's coming around. Love and gratitude to you all.
As you could see from Friday morning's post (8/26), I woke up feeling alive and wonderful and grateful for life. I was so clear headed (my Shiatsu healer, Dale, would say that has something to do with a blockage clearing up in my body) that I was finally able to make my first blog post on a new Blog I started called "I'm Doing It". I made that blog post which really could not have been more optimistic or ironic, seeing as what happened just 8 short hours later. I still have those feelings in me and I'm ready to embrace life, live it the way I want to, and manage all it can throw at me.
On my birthday, I woke up viewing a beautiful sunset with two hot air balloons rising. It was beautiful and had a hopeful feeling to it. I opened my heart and felt gratitude for this life I was given, these friends and family that love me, and this chance to see things in a new way.
DISCLAIMER: Sorry if any of this is redundant or confusing or missing details... blame the meds :-)
