I'll meet my ankle in Miami

Well, it's going to happen. I am going to have an ankle replacement. I also need a partial fusion. I'm so excited... and at the same time, I'm so scared!



It will be awesome to not have as much unbearable pain, to get my life back, to maybe be able to run again or at least walk more than a few steps without feeling like a crow bar is being shoved into my ankle or having my ankle just lock up for days at a time.



And Scared? This surgery will be the third in twenty five months. I will have a titanium ankle, spend 5 days in the hospital, 6 weeks in a hard cast and if things go well, then I can start to walk again. Then we can talk about finances, or the lack there of, not working, recuperation and how to possibly handle everything all over again?



So, I got to be Algoma's Belle Isle Inn-keeper because I could no longer function at the hairdressing/educator career that had been so great to me. Standing on your feet for hours with dead bones in your ankle isn't a peachy day!



I had thought that my only option was fusion, locking my ankle up completely. Of course this leads to it's own set of complications and difficulties.



But being proactive about my health led me beyond Green Bay, to Miami, and to not accept that fusion was the only option.



It is amazing what you can find when you look long and hard. It is incredible how fast technology advances. It is wonderful to have found hope. It is great to have another option; to have cutting edge doctors like Dr. Mark Feldman paving the way in new surgical techniques.



I thought I would have to settle, to accept, to struggle terribly. I would become a Kewaunee innkeeper, have a new career, but deal everyday with the consequences from my fall and my damaged ankle.



Instead...I have hope! I am excited! I have a new career, I will meet and pamper tons of people, I will cook my four course breakfasts at the B & B with a lot less pain (80%-90% less pain), I'll be able to walk on the Algoma beach boardwalk, and around the block, and the future, that a few months ago looked so disappointing, now looks so promising,(not only for me, but my husband and the others who have helped out so tremendously since my accident.)



"I'll meet my ankle in Miami" (It could be my new theme song.) "and we'll become one. Together we'll be stronger and life will move on!"