12 Days 8 Hours Healing

The day after tomorrow will mark the two week mark since my surgery. I get my stitches taken out and I find out if I can begin putting weight on my foot. I have been encouraged to take my pain pill before the appointment to help with the pain from taking the stitches out. I'm also planning on doing a little preventative work. I need to find out if the nurse can wrap my foot a different way this time seeing as the bandage tends to create a sore on the back of my heel.

Well, nothing much has changed with my recovery. I'll leave you with this short post. Up to date pictures are soon to come! 

Can Someone Loosen the Noose Around My Foot?

Ok so above this is a picture of the back of my foot right above my heel. I think I wrote in some earlier posts about how I was feeling a lot of pain in my heel. Well, today I got up from the couch and saw that my bandage had kinda lifted up the back of my foot. Right before I pulled it back down I noticed the back of my foot was really red! I lifted the bandage a little higher and found this beauty. Gosh! They didn't even work on the back of my foot! I can now understand exactly why the back of my heel hurts. I honestly don't know if it is from the bandages or if it is from resting my foot all day long. I know I saw three pink and redish spots on the top of my foot and I can only imagine how they look by now.

Pain: I am still in a lot of discomfort. I can't really call it pain as much as discomfort. It feels like I have a steel rod that has been shoved down my foot and I can't bend or move my foot. This feeling is more aggravating than painful. Every once in a while I feel a stinging pain, kinda like when you get a scab hung on something like a piece of clothing and then you accidentally pull it up or off. That is how it feels around most of the incision sites. My whole foot has this really tight feeling as well. It is like my foot is a balloon and it is stretched to the max. I wonder if that is from swelling. I feel like if I could just stretch my foot and wiggle my toes that feeling would dissipate. BUT no wiggling of toes so far. I really only take my pain pills regularly at night. I try to stay ahead of any pain or discomfort by taking a pill every four hours, plus it helps me sleep.

My doctor has told me to start bending my great toe back and forth a little bit each day. I must say this is the worst thing I could ever imagine. I know that my toe will not break and that I will not cause a lot of damage but it freaks me out so much that I can hardly bring myself to do it. I know that it will help keep my toe flexible and it will reduce scar tissue but on my goodness I almost pass out from the stress build up that I get before I even touch my toe! Can anyone relate!? 

I already feel like a bum. I made myself pick up around the house today. I hate having to ask for every little thing. I also have begun to play this game I like to call "The Great Scavenger Hunt" I send my husband off with the biggest list of things I might need to use in the next hour so that he doesn't have to keep getting up and down. This has begun to work a little bit. I feel like such a burden, but my husband is the best and he really works hard to help me out and he does it with such grace and willingness. I am so blessed to have him with me.

So I know that when someone has had a horiffic accident or something similar people tend to stare at the person. I think this is extremely rude. I still cannot understand why a young woman who only has an ugly black boot shoe thing and wheels around on a knee scooter is so intriguing that EVERYONE and their momma have to stare at me! I mean seriously, I already feel like a fool scooting around having to take more time than the average Joe, I don't need your scrutinizing eyes watching me like I came from another planet! My husband and I went for a quick stroll through a store so that I could get out of the house and no kidding everyone had no problem staring at me and my foot. When we got back in the car to go to get my husband's hair cut I asked if he noticed, he said no. Then when we walked to the store his next words were, "wow everyone is really staring at you!". I was mortified. Way to go public, way to make me feel awkward and stressed on my once in a blue moon outing.

This has definitely been a journey of more than just the physical. I battle the frustration that goes on mentally and emotionally while in this recovery. To everyone else going through this I hope that you don't feel alone and keep in mind that this will not last forever and that you will get up on both feet one day and walk around to do normal daily things without a problem. 

 

 

 

(Just thought since Thanksgiving is about family time, I would show a picture of me and my dad,

 the one who gave me my feet.)

Thanksgiving, Family, Food, and a LONG Car Ride

Man, it has been forever since I updated y'all on the progress of my foot so let me try to catch you up. After my post op appointment my husband and mom began to pack up the car for the long drive back home to Georgia. I participated by verbally reminding them of things to pack while I sat on my butt. We got on the road at midnight and began the journey. Three adults, a cat, and a dog all crammed into a small suv. We were so excited. The car ride was not bad at all. My pump still had meds that were keeping my foot pretty numb. We made it to our destination in roughly seventeen hours. After getting settled in we enjoyed time with family and friends. I was able to use the scooter to get around the house. My pain level was never unbearable, but at night I still felt like my foot was going to explode and then burn to a crisp. After being out of town for a couple of days I began to get sick. Nothing like feeling sick while recovering from having all of your toes broken.

After time with the family was over my husband and I packed back up and headed back to Texas with the cat and dog. This time the trip was not as pleasant. My medicine ball had run out of all of the wonderful whatever that stuff was that pumped into me to keep my foot numb. I could literally feel the broken bones in my foot. The other side effects of running out of my medicine were feeling burning sensations throughout the day and I could feel when my foot was swollen. 

We finally made it home and then this morning I had my husband pull the catheter out of my leg. That moment was terrifying. I had no idea how it would feel, so I took a deep breath and put the biggest grimace on my face. Surprisingly enough it did not hurt at all, I mean that, it did not hurt AT ALL. I was so relieved to get that thing out of me. Afterwards I could finally take a nice long hot bath to help me relax and enjoy some quiet time. 

Still waiting to get my appointment time for getting my suchers taken out. My pain is more intense than before but the meds are keeping it under control. I'm able to hold out for the full six hours before taking another pill.    

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The Big Reveal!

The following images are graphic. Viewer discretion is advised.

I went to my first post op appointment today. I was so excited! I couldn't wait to see how my NEW FOOT looked. It is super rainy today so I had to wrap my foot up in a plastic bag before getting to the car. 

Once we got to the building my husband let me out and I scooted my way inside. This knee scooter is the most amazing thing ever! I love it. After checking in and waiting to be called back we were shown to a room. I sat in the big green chair and the nurse began to take my vitals. She asked how my pain was doing and I told her that I was doing really well. She told me that I was going to get to see my foot for the first time and that after she took the bandages off we were going to get new x-rays. I was a ball of nerves people! Like I have never passed out but this was really close to being my first time. I started taking the pictures but as she got further and further under the gauze I had to had the camera to my husband. I was about to faint. There was a lot of blood from the procedure done on my great toe's bunion. The other procedures didn't look like they bled too bad. After the bandages were off I was in TOTAL SHOCK! This foot belonged to someone else. This was not MY foot. I was freaking out! It looked like my little toes had been beheaded and then sewn back on my foot! I couldn't believe how raw it all looked. I kept looking at my husband hoping that he was having the same reaction. I think he just thought the whole thing was really neat. I was so disappointed. My foot looked fat and swollen. It was covered in a blue hewed bruise. And the incisions were intense. I'm telling you all of this now so that if you don't want to look this is your chance out of it.

 

After the bandages had been taken off, the nurse wheeled me into the x-ray room to take post op x-rays. She asked me to try to flatten out my foot as much as possible. Man, that was tough. I got it done and we were back in the room in no time. I couldn't take my eyes off my foot. It was just so wow.

 These are my x-rays. The picture on the farthest left is the post op picture and the picture next to it shows what my feet looked like before I went in for surgery. Here are some better pictures.

 This is it. My new foot in all of it's glory. You can see the three metal pins in my three middle toes. If you look close enough you can also see the screw that is holding my great toe together. Crazy! Look how straight they look in the pictures!!!

 To go from this to what they are now is incredible.

 I thought that after the x-rays were taken I would get my foot rewrapped but that was not the case. The nurse told me she had to take the strips off as well and replace them with new ones before she could wrap my foot up. Y'all, I was so glad my pump was still pumping that amazing local anesthetic down to my foot. I felt hardly any pain when she did this but after I could feel a burning sensation around my little toe and little toe side. Man alive!

I was told that this bleeding is normal.

I made it through the hard part!!! Now to have my chat with the doctor.

And here she is, in all of her glory, four days after surgery.

I was told to begin to move my great toe back and forth at the joint that was broken. OUCH! As much as I really don't want to do this it will help keep my toe mobile and reduce scar tissue. Scar tissue = pain later down the road.

Sutures come out in ten days!

I'm a happy girl while my pump still has meds in it! All done!

3 Days, 6 Hours After Surgery

 

Everything is going very well. I was able to bump my little ball back down to 2 ml today. That should really help me make it to GA for the holiday. 

I was finally able to get cleaned up today. I called the doctor office yesterday to ask if I could take a bath with my catheter in and the nurse said she would call me back. Well I think he was so shocked that I would even ask that he called back personally. He said "You did not just ask if you could take a bath while your catheter is in."  To which I replied "yes". He told me to take a guess at what the answer was. I said no. He then asked me to take a guess as to why. I said, because water might leak into the catheter. He said yes. Then I asked why my toes were burning at night and he let me know that it is from nerves regrowing. I'm like oh well that is comforting, this burning is TOTALLY normal. Good to know. I talked to him about a few other things like bending my ankle and my heel feeling like it was broken to which he replied all was normal. I'm like well that is just great all this crap is normal. Totally made it feel better. So today I got in the bath by laying backwards and leaning my head back with my foot hanging out of the side. The bath was not filled up with water so that it wouldn't hit the catheter site. My husband washed my hair and I was able to take a little sponge bath. I laid out on the bed and hung my head over one side where my mom was able to blow dry my hair. Talk about feeling like a new person. IT WAS MAGICAL.

 

(This is to remind you of what the catheter looks like. No it is not the kind that goes to the bladder. It pumps a local anesthetic to a nerve behind my knee to keep my foot numb.)

  Tomorrow I go in for my post op appointment. This should be fun. I expect to get to see my before and after x-rays. YAY! I can't wait to see my new foot. I can't remember if he will change the bandages (I was a little out of it when the surgery was over). I hope I get to see what it looks like. If I do get the chance to see what is under all the wrapping paper I will definitely take lots of pictures so you guys will be kept in the loop. Keep in mind they will be graphic. Use caution (Lilly I'm thinking of you here). 

I used my scooter for the first time today. Man was it hard to bend my knee, not painful just very unfamiliar and weird. I think between my leg being swollen and me being freaked out about moving my catheter that is in my knee I had a few mental hurdles to jump. Never the less, everything went smoothly. Crutches are definitely faster, but I like that on the scooter I can take a break and my arms are not work out after walking across the room. 

THREE DAYS DOWN!

 

The Time Has Come The Walrus Said...

(say hello to my nurse, isn't she so attentive?)

Pain...lots of pain today. Sorry no picture with this post. The toes do not  look like they have changed very much. I tried turning my pump down yesterday from 4 ml to 2 ml. This went well for about half of the day. I then started to feel like my little toes were being put closer and closer to a fire. They kept getting warmer and warmer. I would get a very intense sharp sting through what felt like the incision site and then it would dissipate with a little time. I was dying! To all of you who wrote a blog about your bunionectomy, you never said it would burn! I then put my pump up to 6 ml and took a strong Tylenol pill to help me go to sleep.

Now let's talk about my heel. My heel feels like it is broken. Maybe not broken but definitely like someone has sliced my achilles tendon in half. It burns too! I also get slight cramps in the arch of my foot and across the top part of my foot near my ankle. I think my tendons are tired of being stretched but I simply do not have the strength yet to bend my ankle up. It just lays out kinda in a point. I tried to move it this morning and I could feel it pulling my incision on one of my little toes. OUCH! 

So here I am, laying once again in the reclining love seat counting down the minutes til I can take one of those lovely Tylenol pills again to put me to sleep for an hour and a half.

Gosh, this is the life!

 Say hello to my BEST FRIEND!

This has kept my pain at bay.

This little ball of awesomness is linked to that little filter and then it goes to the regulator. I get to pick what my take home pump puts out. After surgery I had a really good nerve block that lasted until I went to bed. I then turned on my pump to 4 ml per hour. Now I have gotten brave and I turned it down to 2 ml per hour. This has really helped my ankle not feel so bad. I don't feel a lot of pain but every now and then my four little toes start to feel not so well. I like to describe it being like playing in the snow for a long time and when you come inside and the heat kinda burns your toes, that is what it feels like.

My doctor has told me to rest, rest, rest. I have definitely been doing that! Naps are my second best friend to this on q ball. I have noticed that I feel kinda nauseous, but it hasn't been that bad. 

Well, that's all I have for you today folks!