Broken Brett

The day after Thanksgiving we were looking forward to a fun day of sledding. We all bundled up and headed out to the backyard. We sledded for some time and were enjoying ourselves, when suddenly, Brett, in a daredevil stunt, decided to show off to his nieces, and as he yelled, "Hey Corinne, watch!" he launched off of the steep hill on foot, landed, rolled a few times and then said to me, "Lex, I just broke my ankle." He didn't sound urgent so I wasn't sure what to think. I said, "Brett, are you being serious?" He said, "Yes, Lex, I just broke my ankle!" (I asked afterward why he was screaming bloody murder and he said he didn't want to scare the girls. He also said, it took a few seconds after hearing the "pop" to feel the pain.)

So here he is, a good 20 feet down the hill and I have no idea what to do. I scream to Haakon, "I need help!" He takes the kids inside and then comes down with a sled. We put Brett on the sled and start sliding him down to a road at the bottom of the hill. I run up the hill and grab the truck to drive down to pick them up. Meanwhile, Haakon and Brett are sitting at the bottom of the hill and Haakon has contacted a orthopedic surgeon friend who has advised us to go to the walk-in clinic at his practice. I have NO idea where to go, so the three of us jump in the truck and Haakon drives to OPA. At this point poor Brett is going into shock. He has NO color in his face and it's obvious he is in a LOT of pain. When we arrived at the office, they immediately take him back, cut his boot off and get x-rays. At one point the x-ray tech asked him to point his toes up and he says confused, "I am!" Well, his knee was facing up...his foot was to the side. After reviewing x-rays it was obvious that Brett would need surgery. Brett had shattered his fibula and broken his tibia in multiple places.

First, they had to get everything aligned (reduced) though and the worst part is, there are no pain meds available at the clinic. Haakon had to hold Brett's knee down while they popped Brett's foot back into alignment with the rest of his body. He took it like a champ! (They told us it's pretty unheard of to do this without pain meds).

Poor Brett was in SO much pain for the next few days. November 30, 2010 he was scheduled for surgery. At this point he was highly medicated. He was HILARIOUS. He was flirting with the nurses, giving them nicknames. I was dying! He has had such a fun, playful attitude about the entire situation, even though he was miserable!

BEFORE SURGERY, AFTER A FEW MEDS! HAHA! Brett was feeling pretty good! :)

The anesthesiologist let me watch the popliteal block. It was awesome! Then they wheeled Brett back to surgery and the waiting began. I'm so glad Midge was there to keep me company. I would have gone crazy. Dr. Chang, the surgeon, came out to speak with us after the surgery. Things went well, but they had to use a little more hardware than previously thought and he had to rig a few things up during surgery.

We went back into the PACU just as Brett was waking up. HAHAHAHHAH. This had to have been one of the funniest experiences of my life. Brett was CRAZY. I just laughed and laughed at him! (I'll have to find the sheet of paper where I wrote what he said)

At first he asked where he was. Then he said, "They already did the surgery? I was going to try to not fall asleep." Then he started tearing up, "Where are Superwoman and the lady with the mask?" (the nurses) "They said they were going to stay and take care of me!"

He was given some pain and anti-nausea meds which knocked him right out. When he woke up this time, he was MY Brett. Calm, nice, happy. Phew!

Brett's ankle 2 plates, 1 wire and 10 screws later. Good as new...kinda.