Ankle Hardware Removal Surgery

I must warn you before you take on the endeavor of trying to read this whole thing....it is quite long, and fairly descriptive of what my ankle looked like when it was broken....

For those of you who do not already know, I shattered my ankle 4 years ago.  Here is how it happened:

I was at a wake at a friend's house.  I had just arrived and poured myself a glass of wine when a friend asked if I wanted to step out back to smoke a cigarette. I set down the wine and followed her through the kitchen to the backyard.  As I was walking down the 4 steps to the pitch black yard,  I slipped and fell down a stair.  Yes.  One singular stair.  While sober. At a wake.  Go ahead and laugh.  It really is okay.  It is pretty ridiculous :)

When my foot slipped out from under me, it twisted and I fell down straight on top of my ankle with all of my 220lbs of body weight.  I shattered all three bones that make up the ankle joint, leaving just the muscles and tendons keeping my foot still attached to my ankle.  It took maybe 2-3 seconds for my brain to register what had actually happened....That is when the pain hit.   The most excrutiating pain I have ever felt in my life.  I screamed.  Screamed at the top of my lungs.  People came rushing out to find me sitting on the steps and my foot dangling from my leg; my ankle joint was like jelly.

After realizing that no one was sober/able enough to take me to the nearby hospital (especially since I obviously was not able to walk/hobble/whatever to get to the cars out front)...someone called an ambulance.  Katie called my then-fiance (now ex), Pat, to tell him what had happened and that I was going to the Emergency Room.   He was out with the guys at a comedy club in Hollywood.  From what I was told later; he did not want to leave the comedy club because he thought I was just "overreacting" and "doing it for attention."  

A jacket was put over my head so I couldn't see my ankle.  Seeing it made it hurt more.  Moose, the dog, kept trying to touch my foot (out of obvious concern) and was told to "FUCK OFF" (his command for "go away").  
A gaggle of hot EMTs arrived, They gave me a shot (or maybe it was an IV??) of morphine, stabilized my ankle in a weird orange foam brace that resembled a life jacket, put me on a gurney and loaded me into the Ambulance.  Chani accompanied me to the Emergency Room at St. Jude's. 

From here, the details and order of events get a little fuzzy from the morphine.....

There was an IV put into my hand. Somehow my parents showed up.  The doctor needed to set my ankle at the hospital.  I was wearing my favorite jeans and they said they had to cut them off.  Chani helped the doctor and nurses get my pants off so they didn't have to cut them off.  My mom left the room so she didn't have to watch them set my ankle.  The medics knocked me out temporarily to set my ankle.  I woke up and I was in a soft cast.  Pat was there. He complained about having to leave the comedy club and come straight to the ER (not getting to continue hanging out with his friends for the night)....The doctor was ready to do surgery on it that night, he had a specialist on call and ready to come in....but my insurance wouldn't cover it unless it was at THEIR facility in Downey.  So he fortified my soft cast, gave me a prescription for some heavy duty Vicodin and sent me home.

Called the next day to set up an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon. Need to see my regular doctor for a referral. Waited 1 week, bedridden, in excrutiating pain, before seeing the doctor.  Get the referral.  Need more xrays...they refused to even LOOK at the one's from St. Judes....Have to remove the soft cast for X-rays....ask me to roll over and move around for the different views....yeah, that was super fun...... -___-

Go to orthopaedic surgeon one week later..... "yup, that is REALLY broken.....we need to do surgery to repair the damage.  We will have to put hardware in your ankle"   

surgery is scheduled for 1 week later (a little over 3 weeks has now gone by since it was broken).  

Get surgery done, he said it would be 2 hours...took WAY longer. In a soft cast for 5 days.

Remove soft cast, put on hard cast for 9 WEEKS.  

Keep in mind that I am bed ridden and having to be taken care of this entire time.  I can't shower on my own.  It took WEEKS before I could get up and move to get to the bathroom on my own....my friends and family are having to drive from OC and Long Beach to come take care of me in Diamond Bar (about 30-40 miles away....taking up to 2 hours each way in traffic) because Pat is "too busy" to take care of me. 

9 weeks goes by and the cast is finally removed.   I am fitted with a walking boot and told I need to get into physical therapy IMMEDIATELY.

I call to schedule appointment with physical therapist.  No physical therapist in this medical group, just a chiropractor...... Call the chiropractor's office and tell them I need an appointment immediately.   Woman on the phone tells me his next available appointment for a new patient is 5 weeks away.  I explain to her that my surgeon said it had to be immediately.  She tells me that there is nothing she can do, I have to wait 5 weeks....

Call the surgeon. He is no help in getting the appointment any sooner.

Wait 5 weeks.

Go see the chiropractor and tell him how long it has been since the break.  He says "why didn't you come in right after you got the cast off?"  I tell him.  He said "you should have asked to speak directly to my nurse! we could have taken you THAT DAY if we had known!"  Yeah, thanks....not really helpful....  He then tells me that with a break like mine, you have a MAXIMUM of 6 months from the injury date to make ALL the progress you are EVER going to make.  I am nearly at that 6 month mark by the time I start PT....

I do everything he tells me to do, all the exercises, stretches, etc.  I make some improvement but I am in constant pain.

Fast forward to now.  I am STILL in constant pain.  Every single day I am dealing with a level 2-4 pain (out of 10).  Some days it is a 5.  Some days it is worse.  I take prescription-strength anti-inflammatories every day.  Sometimes twice a day just to be able to make it from waking up through to getting back to bed. I ice it nearly every night after work.  Sometimes I can barely walk it is so swollen and sore. 

I thought that this was just going to be my life;  that this is what I have to deal with for the rest of it.

I now have different insurance and all new doctors.  I talked to my regular doctor about trying to get back into PT for my ankle.  He suggests I see an orthopaedic first to see if the hardware needs to be removed.  I set up the appointment, get x-rays taken both with and without weight bearing....  He took ONE look at the xrays and told me the hardware needed to be removed immediately.  

The original doctor had not put any of it in right.  He used a screw that was too long and attached my fibula to my tibia.  These two bones are supposed to move independently of one another.... It is some of what provides stabilization and range of motion in that joint.  He also noted that some of the smaller screws were ALSO too long, going all the way through my fibula and poking out the other side....wearing a hole in the adjacent bone(s) with every single step.  Not only that, but some of them were not screwed in all the way, causing muscles/tendons to occasionally catch on these screw heads...making it absolutely impossible to walk and forcing me to wrench my ankle HARD in odd directions to try and get that caught muscle/tendon OFF of that screwhead.   


Now that you are all up to speed on what happened and WHY I need these removed, this is the part where I humbly ask for your help.

I need just over $1900 for the copay to get this surgery done.  The surgery is set for Friday April 1.  No, this is not an elaborate April Fool's prank ;)...   I have recently had to spend $600 to replace the front bumper on my car after it was smashed by someone driving my car on NYE.  She had said she was fine to drive and (likely) fell asleep at the wheel, crashing into permanent cones on the 91 and ripping off 1/3 of my bumper.  She then said that she couldn't pay for it and never offered any other solution (nor did she accept any of my ideas) to pay for the damage.  
I also just had to spend nearly $1000 on my dog, Sky, because she stopped eating and I didn't know why.  I still don't know why.....but the medications the vet has given her at least seems to be helping somewhat.

I am explaining all of this because I want you all to know that if I COULD pay for this myself, I would.  If all I had to save up was $300, I could do it in time for the surgery.  But I can't.   I just flat out can't do it.  The current surgeon has told me to limit my physical activity as much as possible until I can get the surgery done, to prevent any additional damage that may occur from things like walking, running, etc.   I need to walk and stand for long periods of time for my job.  I have a house and animals to take care of.  I want to get healthier and get in better shape than I currently am.  None of this is possible for me with my ankle in its current condition.  

I will be eternally grateful for any and all help.  There is no donation too small.

 I currently have $140 saved. I have the goal set at $2000 to add a little cushion since I will not be able to work for a few days after the surgery and for whatever fees GoFundMe takes.  Please, I beg of you, help me get my ankle back to normal.  The orthopaedic is optimistic and said that WORST CASE is that I improve 30%.  I will take 30%.  I am determined to be able to walk and live without pain again.  I am determined to be able to wear sexy heels again.  I am determined to be able to perform with RHPS shadowcasts without fear of my ankle giving out on me. I want to exercise more. I want to run, bike, swim, walk, jog, hike, etc...

If you know me, you know I will pay the favor back (or forward) in any way that I can.  If you know me, you will also know that I HATE asking for help unless I absolutely have no other option.  I hate it even more that I am asking for help with this when there are so many other people in the world who need help more than I do.  Please help me to fix what the original surgeon did wrong.  Please. 

Thank you so much for reading this incredibly long description.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart for whatever help you can give, even if it is only sharing the post around.  Thank you!!!