Adventures in the OR
on Friday morning at 7 am the waiting ended and we got the call for surgery
“I’m gonna be honest, it’s not optimal, being laid up in a cast with crutches and in a holding pattern, waiting on a system I cannot control. Having many things beyond my control and capacity right now feels suboptimal. It sometimes feels lousy and scary. It definitely humbles.” — from Waiting for Surgery, September 16, 2025
The uncertainty and waiting ended. On Friday I had an ORIF of the right ankle for a trimaleollar fracture I sustained in a bad fell on September 10th. I’m deeply grateful for the amazing surgical team at VGH and the lovely nursing staff.
In particular, Dr. Matt Machina, anaestheologist, rocked the house. He showed compassion and grace and he listened to me and gave me Kleenex when I was crying because I was scared. I shared all my fears with him as we discussed the anaesthesia process and I am so grateful for the blessing of him on surgery day. He put a brainwave strip on my forehead to monitor my brainwaves when I expressed a fear of waking up during the procedure, as happened to me years ago at age 17, during a general anaesthetic surgery to remove my wisdom teeth. Dr. Machina listened to me. He heard me. He didn’t dismiss me. That felt very important to the whole process. I feel such gratitude simply for his wonderful bedside manner and his skill.
I have no complaints about the people I encountered on Friday (September 19th). Everyone acted in truly lovely fashion, from Uber drivers, to surgical registration staff, to staff in the Day Surgery holding area, to surgeons who came to check the consent and make sure their “i’s were dotted and t’s crossed”.
The attentiveness and professionalism of everyone at VGH moves me, who knows the system could be better and saw people work to the best of their ability and compassion in a difficult and limiting system. The love of the vocation of caregiving showed through, I witnessed and felt it yesterday, Friday.
When we got home Robert pushed me upstairs to our flat with an office chair from our flat. Neighbours who live a floor below us happened to be out with their young children and they helped us get upstairs. As an aside, it’s a good thing for your kids to see you help your neighbours, it goes to character formation and they will remember it for life!
When I got home I promptly fell asleep, and woke up briefly when a Pastor from my church brought us some Gravol and gingerale (at my request) to help keep the nausea at bay. I awoke to see my little Siamese with me on the bed, at the edge on Robert’s side. Worried and reticent, my sweet fur grrl. A while later I had gotten the beginnings of my appetite back and started sipping on a cup of chicken broth with a piece of bread. My cats were clearly concerned and they come to the best frequent short visits.
The surgeons put a plate and screws on my right ankle, I’m casted and I’m non weight bearing on the leg for 6 weeks. I have Knee Rover scooter, with crutches as a backup. We will rent the scooter for 6 weeks. The hospital gave me a script for Hydromorphone 2 mgs and I will not using opioids, I prefer to use Aleve + Tylenol for pain management. It’s effective without the deleterious and unpleasant side effects of opioids. Besides, the risk of iatrogenic addiction looms large for opioid naïve patients.
I had a bit of an awake time in the late night of Friday—wee hours of Saturday morning, so I started watching a show called Time Team on Amazon Prime, a show about archeological digs in the UK. Robert slept soundly beside me, having a well deserved rest—he left his night shift an hour early to bring me to the hospital Friday morning and he stayed with me until they took me to the OR theatre, (room 335 to be exact) and he waited for me whilst they operated. We got home just after 1900 hours. Poor boo, he was hungry and tired and he stayed at the hospital like a good and loyal and loving partner. I designate Robert the other star of the show today.
I’m only grateful for all the kindness shown me, for all the love shown me, for the exquisite skill of the surgeons and the entire surgical team.
It’s a suboptimal situation, of course. That said, it’s an opportunity to remember people are generally good—yes indeed reader, good people exist in abundance on this planet.
As for me, this adventure with a broken ankle and the surgery to fix it has proved a good opportunity to slow down and practise the spiritual formation of stillness, communing with g-d, and talking to Jesus. It’s given me an opportunity to remember the goodness and grace of Holy Spirit. It’s shown me the goodness of humanity that often seems hidden from view.
So, I’ll end this missive with my advice to anyone experiencing a tribulation or hardship.
Ask not why me, ask what opportunity does this afford me? What opening does the new limitation or loss bring you? What skill or quality of yours does the challenge test? How can you grow in your heart and mind through this tribulation?
Focus on gratitude. What graces have you seen in and received from people? What grace can you have for and within yourself? For what do you feel grateful? Think of gratitude daily, think of it throughout the day. Approach your existence and tribulation with gratitude. What we focus on grows in our heart. We see things as we are, not as they are, wrote Thomas Merton. Remember who you are, and who you want to be, and what you strive to become.
Ask for help when you need it, there’s nothing wrong with asking for help, it’s humbling and gracious to know your limit and trust another to help you meet your need that you find you can’t meet at this time.
Pray. The Jesus Prayer helps me, it’s short and to the point. Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner. Catholics might like the Hail Mary, I memorised it as a little girl and still invoked it in times of distress. The Our Father works too, most Christians have memorised that one.
Or you can just talk to Jesus. BTW, I believe crying counts as a prayer, one said in a language only the Divine can fully comprehend. I imagine crying as a secret language shared by me and my maker!
Read your Bible. Mark the passages that address fear and anxiety and tribulations. Read the psalms, they take the reader through a range of intense emotions, from fear, anxiety, rage, to gratitude and love for g-d.
Here’s a video I saw on Facebook from Pastor Scott Allen in Manitoba, a friend of my sister’s family. It speaks to what I tried to convey in this missive.