it’s been nine years, and nine days since i put my ankle back together, except this time it will be my choice and according to my surgeon, under more manageable circumstances. also, as i understand it, 9 is a good number.

all this started with some drunk guy careening down Lincoln on halloween in 2002, leaving my jeep looking like it’d been hit by a freight train. it wasn’t, but it sure felt like it at the time.

my foot agreed. see that big shadow in the circle? yeah, that’s what they call a hawkins grade III talus fracture-sub-talar dislocation. or I broke a big bone in my foot. AVN risk: 90%. i got lucky. but i digress.

i returned home after a week in the hospital, got really bored AND lonesome after a few weeks in bed. craving human interaction, i joined what was then, a fairly small community…the blogosphere.

i wrote a detailed account of the accident and then used my site to connect with some pretty amazing and wonderful people who were complete strangers which slowly became a loyal support system. i got mad sometimes. i celebrated small victories. i vented. a lot.

nine years later, i’m voluntarily putting myself through the whole thing again. turns out that even after you break a bone, particularly a weight-bearing bone, other parts of your foot wear out and you have to fix those joints too.

the GOOD news is this time i got to plan. also, i have wonderful friends and family around me. the other good news for me, is that i like i can lean on my website when i get bored. or lonely. or run out of movies i want to see.

so here i go, on the 9th, nine years and nine days later. wish me luck.