Day 15

My best friend in the entire world right now...

So I mentioned how itchy I've been since last weekend, but it looks like I figured out how to alleviate most of the symptoms. The combination of aloe vera and hydrocortisone seems to be working for me. I was able to take my foot out of my boot and clean out the itchy area then apply the aloe vera and hydrocortisone all over. After a few hours the itchiness pretty much went away and it's been like that since yesterday afternoon. Hopefully, it doesn't come back...

On another note, I made a quick clip of my progression so far

I'm sure it looks f-ed up and gross, but I actually think it's looking good. If you look carefully, the swelling seems to be winding down and the foot looks more like a normal foot in terms of alignment.

That's it for now... hope to have more positive updates in my next post :)

Lucky day #13

Ready to take this damn thing off of me and scratch 7 layers of skin off. And still hoping I get a removable boot and not some crazy cast...

I also must reiterate how awesome my scooter is. It is a must have!

Another thing I learned yesterday was that aloe Vera relieves the crazy itching if you can get to the spot on your foot that's itchy. That's why I brought a bottle with me to the office!

I'm also trying to figure out why sometimes my leg goes numb when I goto bed and when I wake up I sometimes get crazy throbbing. Might have something to do with the icing?

Ok back from seeing the doc. Interesting visit, but nonetheless I got the sweet boot I wanted. Gubler also cleaned my dry bloody foot up with alcohol and put some anti itch/cortisone cream on my foot. Hopefully that cures my itchy issues.

Here is a pic of this sweet boot of mine!!

Only Day 11

I haven't been posting on a consistent basis because the pain and discomfort level has remained the same. The most swelling/pain/discomfort/itching comes in the middle of the night and early in the morning. Not sure why this happens, but I've tried icing, elevating, everything. What I do now is just take the hydroxyzine before I goto bed and then sometimes a Percocet in the middle of the night if I can.

I have a 2 week post op appt on Wednesday with Dr Gubler (Cade is on vacation this week). He's going to take my stitches and I think I'm going to get a walking boot, although I won't' be able to walk on it. I'm just hoping I can remove the boot every once in awhile so I can scratch the crap out of my itches. Doing a google search doesn't give me any idea of what the boot looks like because it looks like everyone has a different flavor of boot. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Day 7

I've been feeling pain free pretty much for the last three days...

Had a little spill down the stairs on Day 6, which was pretty serious, but the doc took xrays on it and everything looks good. Said to me, "that's why we have redundancy/two screws and a plate in there." Thank goodness!

Other than that nothing else, I wake up with mild pain or swelling, not sure what causes it, but it goes away as I wake up in the morning.

Day 5

Finally got a look at what my foot looks like after a post op visit with the doc.

Here are some shots:

warning!!! it gets bloody!!!!!

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ok here they come.

Before and After shots!!

Also got an awesome knee scooter today. It is totally awesome!

Day 4

Woke up around 5am feeling some pain and discomfort, but this is probably from not having a Percocet in the middle of the night. Took one after I got up and now two hours later it feels good. I would say my pain level is the same as yesterday as of now. Hoping it feels better than yesterday.

Kinda sucks not being able to sleep on my left side.

Day 3 - 5/18

Pain level has been a lot better. Probably went from a 8 to a 6 or 7. I still can't move it at all without feeling a strong sting.

I'm going to try to ween off the hydroxyzine and maybe just take it at night. That's the stuff that seems to be giving me a stomach ache, head ache, and dizzy. I still plan on taking the percocet on a regular basis. Possibly only 1 instead of 2 every 3 - 4 hours.

I still haven't been upstairs because I imagine that's going to hurt. And this is probably gross, but I haven't showered since the day of the surgery. The doc was very adamant about me not getting my cast wet, so I'm going to avoid the shower altogether. And I don't think I have the energy to do it.  The percocet makes me fall in and out of sleep. My post op appt is Monday at noon, so hopefully he'll give me good news. I'm hoping to take lots of pic of my foot when he opens up the dressing and also get a before and after shot of my xrays. 

Also, hoping he tells me the bones are healing (fusing)...

For now this is the next four weeks...

I blacked out today right before dinner. Scared mary pretty good,  and luckily we had some family here,  otherwise I would've fallen on my head and probably wrecked my foot. We called cade and he told me it happens when you lay down all day and don't slowly get up. 

Another thing to note is that my temperature has been fluctuating from normal to feverish(101) for most of the day. Another thing that cade was normal,  as long as it didn't stay at 101.

One more thing,  I was able to take a grandma style bath with the aid of mary of course. 

And the bowel movements have been better :)  but the process has not gotten any easier 

Day 2 - 5/17

Woke up this morning (~5:30am) from throbbing pain... We are upping my dosage of meds now. I'm still dozing on and off every so often.

Day 1 - 5/16

Day started with me going in at 6:15 and was immediately taken inside by nurses.  Nurses said I looked nervous as hell.  Doctors said the same thing.  Got dressed up but nurses had huge trouble getting the iv in me,  took two nurses and four tries and still no luck.  They waited for Dr costs the anesthesiologist to put in me.  First try and he got it.  

Me in my sexy ass gown and a shot of the 4th attempt by the nurses to get the IV in my "runnny" veins.

So I get pushed into operating room and it was freezing g doctors cold.  Dr cade was awesome,  and the propofol/milk put me right to sleepy land.  Woke up feeling like I was read to party.  doctors are saying that as soon as the drugs Wea off I'll start feeling it  so tomorrow might tough.  I'm stocked up on percoset

Got out of surgery around 9:30 and feeling no pain and wide awake cracking jokes with the staff. This is probably the doc pumped me full of meds, but I'm pretty lucid right now. 

Doctor told mary it went well,  Mary said the post op xrays looked amazing,  my foot looks normal

I'll have a look at the xrays on monday for my post op appointment.

On the drive back...

Just got home around noon and there's huge amount of blood dripping out my cast wrapping.  Blood is all over the house ....

Walked in the house and there was huge pool of blood,  driving back to mountain view now.  Mary is pretty stressed out. 

sitting in the er right now without my foot elevated is probably going to come back to haunt me later. but at least i have ample time to write about it

Ok waited 4 hours to finally see Cade and he said bleeding was normal and that's he's seen worse. Better safe than sorry.

Warning... there is a semi-graphic picture down below...

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... and BAM!

Cade was able to finally see me and rewrap my cast after his 3hr surgery 

This is kinda my setup for now...

Dozed off right after I finally got some food in me (about 24 hours since I've eaten) and letting the percocet and hydroxyzine. I wake up every couples hours to more throbbing pain as the anesthetic  wears off. Could barely get up to goto the bathroom without feeling light headed and wanting to collapse. 

Day 0 - 5/15

The night before...

should start my blog tonight.  Night before my surgery and I have not slept yet.  Surgery is in a few hours.  Will try to keep notes and media of everything that happens

For reference I'm having a combination of two procedures - modified McBride and Lapidus Bunionectomy (arthrodesis).

Here is a quick note about the lapidus:

http://surgerybunion.com/Lapidus_Bunionectomy.html

And in case anyone out there is trying to do comparisons my weight is 196, height is 6'

Before picture... Both feet are pretty bad, but guess which one is going under!

One more picture, but this time it's the sexy side bump shot!