Groundhog's Day

So my surgery was on Groundhog's Day 2012. Every time I signed/dated something, there was the date 2/2/12. I found it a bit ironic.. bc, if I think back to the movie with Bill Murray, he was stuck in a hopeless life.. where each day was the same.. over and over and over. No matter what he did to try and spring forward into the next day, he kept waking up to the same song on the radio.. 'I Got You babe', in the same motel, same little town, with the same events facing him. No way out. There have been many days since I've dealing with chronic foot pain, where I've felt trapped with no way out. So many doctors, so many medications, so many different orthotics/supportive shoes, with little relief. No matter what I attempted, I would still wake up with a shooting pain in my foot and calf. Every. Day.

Surgery Day Details **warning, some graphic and descriptive content**

I arrived at the surgery center around 8, completed paperwork, and was prepped for my 9:30 surgery. Jeremy hung out for a while, but once they brought out the needles/iv/etc, he headed into work for a few hours. He's not a fan of the medical stuff. He arranged to be back in the waiting room before right before my surgery ended.

I found out about 30 mins before surgery, that the anesthesiologist would be giving me a 'nerve block' from the thigh down, prior to me going under general. This would help me in my first 24 hours post-op, by being completely numb at the surgery site. For whatever reason, this completely freaked me out. The dr explained to me that in order to do this block , they would need me to be awake during the procedure and they would 'stimulate' my nerves to find the right one to do the injection in. UGH. Plus, I had to be laying on my stomach as well. The dr was great.. he gave me something to sedate me through my iv, and I was a goner after that. I have no recollection of getting the block or going under general anesthesia, and woke up in the recovery room.

So, the surgery went really well. Luckily, the dr was able to repair my post-tibial tendon, and didn't need to do a 'fdl transfer' after all! This is great news because it means that I will be able to switch into walking boot in about 2 weeks, and will be able at 'partial weight bearing status' sooner. Originally I was going to be completely non-weight bearing for 6-8 weeks, in a hard cast. He also chose to lengthen my achilles tendon to release some of the pressure from my calf, instead of the gastroc calf lengthening. So.. in the end... here are the procedures Dr Harris performed:

1. Medial Calcaneal Osteotomy (shifting my heel bone to a neutral position, held by screw)
2. Post Tibial Tendon Repair
3. Achilles Lengthening

Here is an x-ray of the new 'hardware' that will be with me in my heel from now on...

I've been told I won't set off any metal detectors when I head into the store.. but we shall see. :)

So, we got home around 1:30 and Jeremy got me set up with my foot elevated on the couch. I had a pretty good remainder of the day, since my foot was completely numb. I didn't have much pain, but did have a lot of 'pressure' in my foot/ankle from the swelling. I spent the rest of the day watching Downton Abbey and relaxing.

The dr had told me to start pain meds at the first sign of sensation in my foot, and if I hadn't felt anything by 11 pm, to start the meds then. So I started my pain meds at 11 pm, since I was still completely numb from the thigh down. Unfortunately, that moment marked the beginning of a very nasty and painful 24 hours. I'll talk more about that in my next post. Until then...peace be with you!