The Scream Heard Around the World

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope you all had a fantastic time celebrating the new year. As you can see I did not let my foot keep me from having fun! I have been able to walk on my foot without any assistance other than my boot since right before Christmas! That was a huge step...ha literally for me. I love not having to lug all the hardware around. I do have to give myself some time to sit down and elevate my foot or else the swelling gets pretty intense. I have noticed that since walking a bruise has formed on the bottom of my foot in the middle of my arch. I talked to the doctor and he said it was fine. There are a lot of ligaments that have not been pulled for a long time and it will take a while before it all works normally again. I also have begun to stand up during a shower! YAY! That is huge! I actually feel semi normal now. My incisions have really started to look a whole lot better. The tape lifts and I cut the excess away so now there is only tape on my three middle toes. I can now see where my scars are going to be but to tell you the truth they really do not look that bad to me. I'm excited for the rest of the tape to fall off soon.

So now that the fun stuff has already been addressed lets get down to the other stuff. I had my appointment to take the pins out of my toes yesterday. I think of all the appointments, this was the appointment I was the most apprehensive of. My husband almost had to drag me out of the house. I did make sure to take a pain pill thirty minutes before we left the house. They called me back, took four x-rays of my foot in different positions and then took me to the room. They asked how I was doing, took my vitals, and let me watch TV for all of two minutes before the doctor came in. He then told me he would first numb the area. PAUSE. I could not believe my ears! I asked him again to make sure I heard him correctly. He totally told me in a previous appointment that he does not numb patients for this procedure. Now all of a sudden the gloomy clouds are lifted and I hear angels singing in the background! My anxiety is GONE! I'm ecstatic that I will have a numb foot for this whole thing! PLAY. Yea, so all of that wonderfulness is about to end...really fast. First they have to numb my toes. Needles...not so fun. But I handled it pretty well...I thought. Then I prepared myself for the first pin. The one closest to my pinky toe. You can see the pin in this picture.

 I grabbed my husband's arm and tightened my eyes shut! Then...there was the scream heard round the world.

OH MY LORD ALMIGHTY! That was horrible! I cursed and screamed and cried! The doctor (trying to be funny) said ok now there will be a five dollar fee for every curse word used in the office. I replied ever so feverishly "Put it on my tab." without even a trace of a smile. She pulled so hard and fast! I felt my toe pop...you know like when you pop your knuckles? Yea but I mean this was my previously broken toe that was popping! I was inconsolable. Then it was time for the second pin...this time she went for the toe closest to my great toe. You can also see that pin in the above photo. OH MY LORD ALMIGHTY! It did not get better the second time. There was no popping but I was still screaming and crying and cursing under my breath! The room was spinning and everything was pissing me off! Finally we were ready for the third toe. Yep...there is a third toe...I know hard to believe since you cant see the third pin...that is because it is DEEP IN THERE! The woman had to DIG WITH THE TWEEZERS! I almost crawled off the bed. I pulled away from her I know at least three times. I almost told them to leave it in there. They finally decided to numb that toe more. I recon it was because they could see I was in a lot of pain. That shot went deep...and I cried even more just from the shot. Finally she went for it and I grabbed so hard on my husband's arm I thought I might rip it off but I made it through the final pull.  The nurse wrapped the toes up and now this is how they look.

Dear Heavens! I don't know how I made it but I did. I went to walk out and I couldn't stop crying. I felt like I just had my three toes broken. Doctor H saw me in the hall and asked why I was crying. I managed to get it together enough to let him know that my toe was still really hurting. He let me know that if I had pain like that the next morning to call him and he would give me some better meds.

Well people it is the next morning. The call has been made. I am waiting for my return phone call. This is horrible! I do not think I will get my three hammer toes corrected the next time. This hurts worse than my whole surgery did. I did get to keep the pins though!

      I was told not to soak them for seven days since it is a hole that is straight down through my bones. I have to clean the tips with rubbing alcohol and then put neosporin in the hole at the end of my toe. Fun. Now I'm just waiting for my husband to bring this fun stuff home so I can take the bandages off.