June 30th, 2023

appointment with my surgeon. After six weeks, I was hoping for good news and to finally be able to start gently putting weight on my foot. We did an X-Ray, and I was feeling optimistic as I walked into his office. But he looked at me with concern and asked, “What have you done?”

It turned out that my foot had shifted again relative to my leg. In short, another operation was necessary! The news completely crushed me, and I struggled to find the words to express my disappointment. The surgeon suggested doing the procedure the very next day, Thursday, so quite quickly.

I went home feeling demoralised. Those six weeks seemed to have been for nothing. I had trouble sleeping that night; it was hard to find rest.

Thursday morning, I packed my things for this new hospital stay. Deniz decided to come with me, and we took a taxi at 11:15 to Sonnenhof. They took me to my room, this time with a balcony, a nice little bonus.

The operation was scheduled for 3 pm. I was starting to get hungry; my last meal had been the night before. Around 2 pm, they informed me of a delay due to an emergency. I had a consultation with the anaesthetist, and the new time was set for 6 pm.

At 5:15 pm, they came to prepare me: attaching monitors, setting up the IV drips, then off to the operating theatre. I was surprised by the number of people in the room, at least eight. I was given a local anaesthetic along with sedation to ensure I slept peacefully and wasn’t aware of the procedure.

I woke up around 10:30 pm while the assistants were finishing the dressing. I was taken to the recovery room, where the staff brought my phone from my room so I could contact my family and friends. After exchanging a few messages, I was brought back to my room around 11:30 pm.

The night was tough: despite several doses of morphine through the pump, the pain gave me little rest.

This morning, after changing the IV drips and taking my medication, I was finally served a substantial breakfast. I was really hungry!

Shortly after, my surgeon came to explain the situation. Right from the first incision, he noticed significant swelling around the ankle, a bad sign. When removing one of the screws, they found the bone surface was slightly spongy, likely indicating a bacterial infection.

The team decided to remove all the screws and the plate. They took tissue samples from four different spots for analysis. The results will be available on Monday.

Two scenarios are possible: if the results come back negative, the foot will be left without any fixation, and they will monitor its progress, as the ligaments have healed well. If the results confirm an infection, a six-week course of antibiotics will be necessary before reassessing the situation.

The good news, however, is that I should be able to go home next week!

This afternoon, I got a new plaster cast and had some X-rays. Then I slept to recover from the difficult night.