Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Day 30 - Moving Along

So today, for the first time in a long time, I finally took a shower! Yay!!!! It's very painful for me to be on a hard surface barefoot, so I bought a pair of cheap spongy flip flops to wear in the shower. I'm now able to walk around my apartment barefoot, with no problems, on the carpeted areas. And when I leave the house, I only need one crutch now, instead of two. My MD is surprised that I am still using crutches, but I still need the one for balancing purposes. I've had so much work done to both feet and I am healing so slowly!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Day 29 - Follow Up Appt.

Today I had another MD f/u appt. They told me that at this point, I should be promoting heat circulation and that I should stop icing my lower extremities.

So the nurse had me soak my feet in this weird foot tub that had these strong jets. The stuff they put in there smelled like Ajax! I soaked for about 10 mins. Then the nurse did and ultrasound on both my feet to help increase blood circulation to my feet. Very weird! 
                                                Left foot                                         Right foot

                                                                          Ultrasound

Monday, September 19, 2011

Day 22 - It's Baaaack!

This morning I woke up at 6am, in excruciating pain!! Remember that bone pain I had the other day? Well it's back, in my right foot. It's that same feeling of the bones "fusing" back together. I've never had any broken bones before so this is a first time experience for me.

Since my incisions are just about closed, I've switched back to aspirin as of this morning. I popped one right away, ate a little something, iced my ankles and elevated my feet. This is the only way to tolerate the pain. Well, here's for another full day confined to the bed. I feel like I'm going nut-so!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Day 21 - No Pain!

This morning I woke up to find that I had slept through the entire night!!! I can't remember the last time that has happened! I usually need to get up 1-3 times a night to use the bathroom. I also wake up here and there in order to adjust myself in regards to my minimally elevated feet. Anyhow, I obviously had gotten the best sleep in a long time.

I decided not to take any Tylenol this morning to see how long I could go without any pain. For most of the day, I stayed in bed, as usual, and had virtually no pain! The only pain I started to have, in the middle of the day, was as a result of a large bruise on my left foot. But that was so minimal, compared to what I went through yesterday, that I just ignored it. All day, I went with no pain pills for the first time in almost 6 weeks (since my first surgery)!

We'll see how long this lasts!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Day 20 - Rude Awakening!

So I woke up this morning with great discomfort! This is a new type of pain that I've never felt before. I feel it right at the base of my toes where I know the bones are no longer connected. Specifically the pain is located in my bones, I would say, 8/10 on the pain scale. I literally feel like my bones are "fusing back together". What else could it be?!?! I cried as I walked all the way to the kitchen to get my rice packs (uncooked rice in zip-lock bags are cheap, easy to make, and make great ice-packs!), and a hand full of dried cereal. I made it back to my bedroom, iced and elevated my feet/ankles and took 2 extra strength Tylenol. The icing makes the pain a little bearable.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Day 17 - Feeling Uncomfortable!

I've never been pregnant, but now I know what pregnant woman say when they complain about constantly feeling uncomfortable!

Every now-and-again, my feet fall asleep. Now, normally I would stomp them on the floor to wake them up, but obviously I can't do that now! Today is the second day of changing my dressings. I had so much anxiety just anticipating the whole thing!! Yesterday, it was such a horrible experience! Anyway, I must say that it turned out not being as scary today. I can already tell that the incisions have closed a little more within the past 24 hrs! That's great, right? I apply a generic (neosporin) antibiotic cream to the incisions with a Q-tip before I wrap them. Even though I only applied it once, so far, I know it makes a difference. Once the incisions close completely, I'll start to apply Mederma (to fade incision scars) before I wrap my toes.

I also noticed, today, that my feet don't hold on to heat anymore! I have these thick socks on, but my feet just can't get warm. It's difficult to cover my feet in blankets because my toes can't hold up any weight. I finally took my socks of and held my feet in my hands, one at a time. That finally got them warmed up.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Day 16 - Straighter Tootsies!

Today has been a little difficult for me. This morning, for the first time in 1 month, I was able to wash my feet. I decided to still use the plastic boot to bathe with, since I'm afraid to submerge my feet in water for an extended period of time. So after I showered, I used a basin to wash my feet in separately. I scrubbed my feet a bit, with a rag, but I only dribbled water over my toes. I was so afraid to touch or move them too much since the incisions are not all the way closed! My toes also seem to just flop around. I'm not able to move them much at all. Both my baby toes feel very numb, and have a tingly feeling in both of them. Walking around feels very weird. It just seems like as soon as I make progress as far as healing, and feel less pain, it hits me again! All day today I've had pain in my toes and the numb/tingly feeling. I'm right back to staying off my feet as much as I can and asking people in my household to bring me things. This is very frustrating! I feel as if I'll never feel better!

With all that having been said, I must say that aside from being afraid my toes will fall off when I change the bandages, the right foot is starting to look pretty good! I can already see the "bend" in my toes disappearing. My toes DO look straighter!  


Monday, September 12, 2011

Day 15 - Who's in Stitches?!?!

Had my stitches taken out today. I do feel a lot better when it comes to walking. When I'm out, I walk with 2 crutches, but when I'm at home, I walk with one or no crutches. I still have to wear the big ugly post-op shoes for a few more days, then the Dr. says I can wear what ever shoes feel comfortable. I plan on transitioning to crocs on Thursday or Friday. I'm also going to be able to get my feet wet, for the first time in 4.5 weeks! I am soooo looking forward to it! I must say that my feet smell really bad. I do clean them, when I can, with hand sanitizing wipes. That's pretty much all I can do, since I don't wanna risk getting the bandages wet with soap and water.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Day 11 - My New Toes Introduced

I took my second trip, post surgery, to the podiatrist today for my dressing change. Throughout the week, I've been having pain when I walk which I believe is attributed to the stitches being pulled buy the gauze. I've read in other people's experiences that this is 'annoying'. NOT TRUE FOR ME!! It was very painful! It keeps me off my feet, for the most part. Starting to go quite crazy, sitting in the house, day after day. 






AHEAD


                      
                           











                                          ARE






                                                                     
                                                                         

                                                                  SOME














                                                                                          PRETTY 





























                                                                                                              SCARY














                                                                                                                                  PHOTOS!!!!!!
















                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                               
















Left foot with betadine (not blood)


 Right foot

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Day 4 - My First Bath

I went to my podiatrist today to have my bandages changed. It took about 15mins. for me to get from my bed to the car. It was such a task! I was sure to take my Vicodin a few minutes before I started my journey, and as soon as I got into the car, I iced and elevated. The Dr. cleaned the incision sites with Betadine and changed the dressing. I was able to move around a bit better after that dressing change. My toes felt a lot more free. The Dr. said that because of the tight bandaging the first time around, and because of unavoidable dried blood at the surgical site, there is very little room for the toes to expand when they DO swell. My Dr. didn't want me to see my toes yet, because it's usually a pretty scary sight at this point. But, he did say that my feet couldn't look any better than they do! He said it was obvious that I stayed off of it and iced it like I was supposed to.

 I'm now able to bathe in the tub while wearing this plastic bag contraption thingy they gave me, lol! Goodbye bed baths and hello tub baths!!! Lol!