Happy Valentines Day!! 12 Days Post-Op ~ Graphic Pics ~ Beware

Happy Valentines! Tonight we celebrated with a delicious dinner made by my helper 'Cousin Carin from Colorado' and chocolate cake and wine from Jeremy. We played Quelf as a family and laughed til we cried. Not the most 'romantic' of evenings, but it was filled with love! I can't tell you how thankful we are to have Carin here, it has been so much fun to spend time together face to face after not seeing each other for 5 years! Anyways, onto my 'medical' update...

Today was my 12 day post-op appointment. I had my stitches removed and am now in a fiberglass cast. Dr. Harris looked at my foot and ankle and said everything was successful and is healing perfectly! He decided to keep me in a cast and on 'non weight bearing/bed rest' for 2 more weeks to be super safe about my healing. He said I should be able to transition into a walking boot in 2 weeks. Hopefully I will be back to work at that point too. I was kind of disappointed to be in a cast for 2 more weeks, but I am willing to do whatever it takes! I am finally weaning off of the heavy narcotics and am transitioning to a less 'loopy' medication as well. All in all I felt great about the appointment. Carin came with me and took pics and the two of us kept the entire dr's office very entertained with our continuous banter and wit!

Here are some pics from my appointment today.. beware they are graphic and a bit gory. Turn away now if you need to! The 'yellow' haze you see on my skin around the stitches is bruised skin..ouch!


Dr. Harris checking out my foot and some pics of my stitches and appointment.

1 Week Post-Op

So, it's been 1 week since my surgery. Honestly...I have been pretty zoned out the past week. Narcotics around the clock. My days are basically spent moving from couch to loveseat to bed..with my foot propped up with ice. I have watched some tv, lots of reruns though, my brain hasnt been up for anything that requires deep thinking. I hope to be in a state of mind to read soon or in the very least watch something like Battlestar Gallactica. Amazing how lofty my goals are, huh? Haha.

So as far as recovery, the swelling has gone down a bit, which actually makes the splint/cast a bit more painful. Lots of pins and needles and sharp throbbing burning pain. My foot is set in a non-neutral position, and I can actually feel the plaster gripping my ankle. No fun. This is definitely much more intense than my last surgery. I am supposed to keep it up 24/7 until my post op appointment next Tuesday. At that point the Dr will decide if I can move into a partial weight bearing cast or will stay non-weight bearing in a plaster cast. I am ok with either..I am willing to do whatever it takes to heal properly.

People have been asking if I feel stir crazy since I've been housebound for a week. I can honestly say..no. I think the last few months of my life have been so intense and busy that being on bed rest has been a good thing for me. Although, today I realized that my body hasn't been in natural light since last Thursday around noon. I seem to be more sallow in tone than usual as well. So..I decided to mix it up and sat outside on my deck for a bit. The fresh air was wonderful and I loved the sun. I think I'm going to add it to my daily routine. Maybe I will have Jeremy pick up some outdoor plants to spruce up our little piece of the concrete jungle.

Jeremys Mom leaves tomorrow morning, so tomorrow I am on my own! Should be an interesting day for sure!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!! Part 3 ~ The Good

The Good ~ The Help!

Nanc Green is in the HOUSE!! Jeremy's Mom, Nancy, came on Sunday to help us out for the week. She has been an incredible blessing for our family during this time. She has kept us fed, cleaned like crazy, organized my closets and kept up our laundry. She's played board games with the boys and even walked the dog. It's also been really helpful for Jeremy to have another person who is able to help me out. We are so grateful that Nanc was able to take time off of work to be with us during this time. Thanks Nanc! My father in law Jake, just had back surgery less than 2 months ago, so we are thankful he 'lent' her to us during this time as well.

My parents were unable to 'physically' come to help us during this time. My Mom just had open heart surgery and my Dad is having knee surgery, so they are in 'recovery' mode themselves. However, they sent 'help' in their own way...a Kindle Fire! I have been able to read books, watch movies, and play games to get through the days. I have put it to great use and love it! I am so thankful for their generosity during this crazy time when I am 'couch bound'. Thanks Mom and Dad!

We have so many incredible friends! The Stenzels, some friends at our new church, Knox Prex, have coordinated meals for us for a few weeks! This list includes friends from our church and non-church friends, and we are so thankful! I have had countless emails and texts from my friends and neighbors offering help as well. We are SO thankful for our community here in Pasadena and beyond and are blessed and humbled by the outpouring of love and help from all! It truly has made all of the difference, knowing we have so many that are just a 'text' away. Many thanks and much love to all of you!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!! Part 2 ~ The Bad

So once I got past the first nasty day of recovery, I have been trying to find a way to be 'comfortable'. This has been difficult for me for a few reasons. For the first 72 hours, I had to keep my foot elevated above my heart at all times. In order to do that, I have needed to prop up pillows etc. The challenge has been to get my foot high enough without aggravating my bad shoulder. I have some issues with my right shoulder/arm/hand, and I have found that laying with my foot up makes it worse. I think it's more about the angle I lay with my neck/etc. By Sunday, my shoulder was so spasm-ed that I was experiencing numbness to my fingertips. So I have started taking a muscle relaxer in addition to my other pain pills, to try and stay on top of it.

I started off taking a new medication called "Nucynta"... which is a class 2 medication and not carried by all pharmacies. It hasn't really done much for me, so the dr switched me to 1500 mg's of hydrocodone every 4-6 hours. That is the strongest dose of vicodin I have ever experienced. That coupled with the muscle relaxers.. and I have been pretty out of it, to say the least. I am slowly starting to reduce the dosage, so I am slowly coming back to 'life'.

For those of you visiting my blog that are considering a similar surgery, I'll describe how the pain is. For the rest of you.. no need to read further. :)

The simplest way for me to describe the pain is a 'shooting/burning' sensation. The pain is in my heel and in the arch.. as well as up the achilles tendon. Occasionally I get a sharp pain, but it is more of a dull burning pain. I also can feel the 'pin/screw' in my heel a bit. It is a bizarre feeling.. and not necessarily pain, more of an annoyance. I have been told that I won't feel this once I'm fully healed. I also feel a general 'swelling' feeling. My heel/arch has a cast around it that is formed to my foot, so if I swell at all, I can feel the cast, and that can be painful as well. As long as I keep my foot up.. I seem to be ok.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!! Part 1 ~ The Ugly

Greetings from my new home.. the couch! Sorry I haven't done any updates yet.. I have been seriously drugged up! I am going to summarize the last few days in 3 blog posts... starting with "The Ugly"... Warning **nasty**

So, since I had a major nerve block, I was basically 'pain free' the first 24 hours. I started my pain medication on Thursday night, in case the block wore off in the middle of the night. So on Friday morning, I was still doing pretty well. Jeremy set me up with everything I needed within reach, and headed into work. Unfortunately, about 30 mins later, I began to 'react' to coming off of the general anesthesia. I became violently ill, and was so dizzy and faint I couldn't move to a more appropriate place to vomit. My nerve block ,began wearing off around the same time, so my pain levels were sky high as well. I was trapped, surrounded by my own vomit and couldn't move. I had to call Jeremy and ask for him to come home. Jeremy got home about 20 mins later and called the dr. The dr prescribed me an anti nausea pill, which didn't work. :( The 'ugliest' moment of the next few hours was when I grabbed a bag to 'be sick' into, and it had a HOLE in it...so 'red gatorade' vomit went all over myself, the floor and even part of my surgical dressing. Poor Jeremy.. had to clean it all up, since I was completely unable to even sit up at the time.

A few phone calls to the dr. later and they finally found an anti nausea pill that worked for me, and switched my pain meds as well. By about 10:30 on Friday night, I was finally sleeping and had the pain someone managed, and was no longer getting sick. Friday was the worst one of the recovery.. and will forever be labeled... The UGLY.

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!

Twas the Night Before Pics

Well.. in about 12 hours, I will be heading to the operating room. I have been so busy tonight I haven't had any time to be 'anxious'.. yet. I promised some 'before' pics.. so here they are.


First pic here on the right...is my 'normal' right foot. You can see slightly on the left my collapsed arch. But.. wait...







Here are some shots of my left foot. This is me standing normally. As you can see, there is no 'arch' at all and the heel is slightly bowed outward.






And here are my feet side by side. If you look at the 'arches', you can see how my right foot has an arch, and my left foot is just kinda rolled inward. This is me standing with my weight evenly distributed. I am not forcing this pose.. it is just how it is! It is called Post Tibial Tendon Dysfunction. Severe flat foot. This is what is being repaired tomorrow. So excited.



Well.. not sure that these before pics really do the issue justice, but it gives you an idea. I am so excited to get on the road to recovery.

Surgery is tomorrow morning at 930 am! I will be taking some serious meds for about 7 days, so I am not sure how much I'll be updating the blog. Thanks for reading.. and I'll keep you posted! Can't wait for the day when I can post a pic of my 'fixed' stable foot!

Peace be with you.