I have never been so afraid and so glad to get
dressings off at the same time. Try living and sleeping with a boot on your foot, never taking it off, for days on end. Extremely uncomfortable, even as it protected my foot.
Actually the whole process, getting the dressings off and viewing the stitches, the bruising, and the happy foot that Dr. Ritchey had drawn on my foot to mark it as the one they were doing surgery on that morning, the straightness, was so liberating, yet at the same time I was afraid. Without the splint and any dressings, my foot felt so..delicate. I immediately nicknamed it Frankenfoot...for obvious reasons:
BEFORE:
AFTER DRESSINGS OFF:
Dr. Ritchey's nurse had me scoot into the other room for x-rays (putting my foot down flat on ground, although not bearing any weight on it, since the surgery...weird) to make sure everything was healing well.
The whole process took 30 minutes, and he wrapped me up in my splint with just an ace bandage and just gauze over my dressings...after brunch at Crackerbarrel, Mom, Annice and I made a trip to Hanger's, the place that distributes boots for those of us with Humana insurance. Anther $120 (danged deductibles) out of my pocket. For the next few months my foot will spend much of my awake time in a boot, one of those big, black boots that braces a broken or otherwise operated on foot...eventually it is what I will bear weight on my foot in for the first time, but for now it protects my foot and allows me to use my heel to move around...up and down stairs, I can bear weight on my heel.
And I can wash it!! Not the boot, my foot!!! Oh, I'll still be sitting in the shower, and I
won't be submerging it in water (no swimming for me the next month or 2), but I
can lather up and wash between my toes...and remove that Happy face foot Dr.
Ritchie drew on it. Hallelujah!
My second day straight of running around outside on my knee scooter (went shopping the day before) had my leg muscles and knee protesting, so we drove down to Calhoun's on the river and had cold tea there...I relaxed on the part of the deck it was easy for me to access,
while Mom and Annice took a walk down the river...Annice has never been to Knoxville before, so it was nice for her, but I was tired. Yes, the Tennessee River is out there. Somewhere. But the chair was comfortable and the iced tea was cold!
My second day straight of running around outside on my knee scooter (went shopping the day before) had my leg muscles and knee protesting, so we drove down to Calhoun's on the river and had cold tea there...I relaxed on the part of the deck it was easy for me to access,
while Mom and Annice took a walk down the river...Annice has never been to Knoxville before, so it was nice for her, but I was tired. Yes, the Tennessee River is out there. Somewhere. But the chair was comfortable and the iced tea was cold!
Pain-wise, I took a Percocet before my doctor's appointment, just in case, but really Motrin is enough. Ice, elevation....the bunions themselves hurt the least...the most painful is at the base of the incision on the top of my foot, extending from the hammer toe he broke, straightened and pinned, that was for exploration and possible removal of the tentatively diagnosed Morton's Neuroma in my foot (diagnosed based on symptoms, only way to confirm the diagnosis: surgery), and I think maybe that it is just bruised...
But about the neuroma, I almost forgot the GREAT news Dr. Ritchie gave me today: he got in there and found NO NEUROMA!! This is good news...he said the nerves to the toes feeling so much pain were smooshed and tangled and basically all wrapped up amongst the tendons and structures of my mal-formed feet...he just lysed a bunch of adhesions, tried to free everything up, basically unstuck everything, and stitched me back up. What does this mean?? The numbness I might have had in those toes, and the possibility of different pain in the ball/arch of my foot related the nerve stump he left after the neuroma (nerve tumor) was removed, the risk of those are gone. And hopefully, with fixing the main problems in my feet, the pain will resolve. I'm so relieved at THAT little turn of events.
But about the neuroma, I almost forgot the GREAT news Dr. Ritchie gave me today: he got in there and found NO NEUROMA!! This is good news...he said the nerves to the toes feeling so much pain were smooshed and tangled and basically all wrapped up amongst the tendons and structures of my mal-formed feet...he just lysed a bunch of adhesions, tried to free everything up, basically unstuck everything, and stitched me back up. What does this mean?? The numbness I might have had in those toes, and the possibility of different pain in the ball/arch of my foot related the nerve stump he left after the neuroma (nerve tumor) was removed, the risk of those are gone. And hopefully, with fixing the main problems in my feet, the pain will resolve. I'm so relieved at THAT little turn of events.
Tomorrow, we'll do Dollywood, and I will pay the $40 to rent an electric
scooter....I want to do Dollywood, but my leg will fall off at the knee if I
have to roll around there on my knee scooter, and crutches...fuggedabout it!!
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