"Well, young lady, let's see what these pictures look like" the doctor says as he puts the x-rays on a viewer. Over the doctor's shoulder, Jennifer and I can see the image of a leg bent at a strange angle. While the doctor is looking at the x-ray, a nurse finally gives Jennifer a shot of Morphine for the pain. The doctor carefully looks over all the x-rays, even putting on his glasses at one point to get a close up view. After looking at the x-rays, the doctor approaches the gurney where Jennifer is laying. He looks closely at the strangely twisted leg. "So how much more can you tell me about how it broke" the doctor says as he looks at the ankle. "Well as I said, I was going down the basement steps" Jennifer reiterates. "I was 3 steps from the bottom when my left foot slipped on something and I fell missing the last 3 steps completely".

My heart is crushed as she tells the doctor all the gory details of the fracture. "I landed on my foot but, I guess because of the heels I was wearing, my ankle collapsed and my leg twisted" she continues. "As the leg twisted, there were 2 loud snaps" Jennifer said looking a little sick as she repeats the story. I also feel sick to my stomach as I listen to my wife describe her terrible injury. "Well, what you have here is a very serious fracture of your fibula and tibia in your lower leg" the doctor said matter of factly. "Your fibula is fractured in 2 places and your tibia in 3 places. You also have a fractured talus bone in your ankle and it appears you have ligament damage in the ankle also". I feel Jennifers grip tighten on my hand as the doctor continues with the details.

"Put in simple terms, you have shattered your leg and broken your ankle badly" he adds. "So now what" I ask the doctor. "Well Tom, we are going to have to set Jennifer's leg" the doctor replies. "We will have to put the leg in a cast as soon as the swelling goes down" he continues. "How long will I be in a cast?" Jennifer asks with a sorrowful tone. "Every case is different, but it looks like you will need to be in a long leg cast for 10 to 12 weeks" he says. "At that point, you should get put into a short leg cast for at least 6 to 8 weeks" he continues. "Hopefully, once we get you into the short cast, we can get you bearing some weight on it after 2 to 4 weeks".

Jennifer's morphine wracked brain tried to do the math on what he had just said. "Let's see, that's anywhere from 16 to 20 weeks with a cast, and at least 12 to 16 weeks before I can walk" she thinks to herself. "20 weeks in a cast?" she asks out loud. "That's 5 months!". Jennifer weeps harder as countless thoughts rushes through her brain about all the things she would miss out on. "Don't worry honey, I'll take good care of you, you'll be good as new in no time" I try to assure her. "And let me tell you this" the doctor adds. "You strike me as a strong willed person, while that can be helpful in the recovery process, I must warn you if you try to do to much to soon, you could set that schedule back even further" he scolds. "Don't worry honey, we will do everything we have to do to get you back on your feet as soon as possible" I tell Jennifer as I kiss her on the forehead.