take me away

take me away

I had an appointment with my ankle doctor yesterday, and we actually got some things sorted out. My knee doctor has been reluctant to set a schedule for my surgeries, or to tell me exactly what needs to happen before my ACL can be fixed. I think he's hesitant to mess with the metal because he's not the one who put it in - my ankle doctor did. Yesterday my ankle doc said the rod can probably stay in my femur and they'll just take the endcap off (and maybe the screws out of my knee) before fixing the ACL. That's good news because it's much less invasive than taking out the whole rod, and they can probably do all that in one surgery. And if getting the rod taken out would feel anything like breaking my femur, I'm pretty sure I'd rather just keep it in.

After looking at my (still open!!) ankle incision, my doctor said he wants to go in and take all that metal out, like ASAP. We scheduled the surgery for the 13th - right before Easter break. I was hoping to wait until June, but my doctor said if that main screw is in much longer, it will break. It's not a big deal if it breaks, and I wouldn't notice the difference, but then I basically would never be able to have it removed, and that would really suck. I have mixed feelings about this surgery. I will be so glad to get it taken out once and for all, but I was planning on using Easter break to get caught up in last semester's school work. I guess I'll just have to find some other time to do it. Also, I'm nervous because the Viennese ball is the next week, and I don't want to be really sore, but my doctor swears that immediately following the surgery I won't need to use crutches at all and I'll be able to wear normal shoes (no walking cast). But he also told me my last surgery wouldn't be a big deal and the recovery ended up being pretty painful. I'm hoping it will just feel better once the metal is gone.

Today I had a short, but good conversation with Dr. Heidel. We talked a little about the Chi-Hi memorial concert (May 13th, 3:00, @ Chi-Hi). He told me he wants to make sure that I get to play on the commissioned piece, and I said I'd like that. If you haven't heard already, Jim Bonney is writing a piece about the accident. I don't know many details about the concert (maybe this is where Andrei can help), but it sounds like UWEC's wind symphony is playing two or three pieces, and some Chi-Hi alums will be joining us on the commissioned piece. Playing on the piece is probably going to be one of the hardest things I'll ever do, but I think it will be therapeutic in a way. It's kind of weird - I don't think many people get the opportunity to play on a piece commissioned for something which directly affected them. This will be a good outlet for me, since words fall short in explaining/describing what happened. Also, since the accident happened on a music trip, and there were so many musicians involved and/or affected, it makes sense to portray it in music form. Anyway, it will be hard, but there is strength in numbers: Sazama and Andrea will be playing too, and basically everyone who will be playing on the piece was affected in some way or another by the accident. I don't know if I worded all that very well, but maybe that proves my point that words fall short in this case.

Yesterday I was putzing around online and came across this article. It's not perfectly written (it's kind of meandering), but it describes the Greenhalgh family that I remember. It made me smile.