Yesterday I was taken to the orthopedic surgeon so he could assess how my injuries were healing.
On the whole, the news is encouraging: the broken ankle seems to be healing nicely; cast and stitches were removed and I was fitted with a boot -- which is only marginally less cumbersome but can come off for baths and PT. He gave me exercises for the dislocated shoulder-- still must go cautiously there for another four weeks. The big (8x3 cm) laceration on my right leg -- has been a bit of a concern because it had a big patch of dead skin (eschar) in the middle that needed to be removed. ("It's dead; it won't hurt when I pull it off--(insert howl of pain) oh, sorry, didn't realize there was a stitch in it.") When eschar and stitches were all removed, the doctor declared the wound free of infection. (Yay!)
The unhappy news is that the ankle is non-weight bearing for six more weeks. At best. After which I return to the doctor for x-rays and further assessment. So it seems I'm stuck in this facility for at least that long...
Happy news, if you'll excuse my mentioning it, is that I've graduated from the bed pan to the bedside commode. I still need help to make the transfer via sliding board; nonetheless, it's a bit of a victory.
I enjoyed my outing -- the autumn colors advancing, and being able to see the mountains . . . But best of all was the magnificent Peregrine falcon I saw from the van. He was perched on a guard rail just outside an underpass, waiting, no doubt, for one of the pigeons that roost there. He was a gorgeous reminder of the Wild Things out these. (N0, not my picture -- from Pinterest. The others are mine, of a waterwheel in Cherokee.)
