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| Getting ready for surgery |
This is my story about my very recent foot surgery experience. Leading up to my surgery, I googled to see what I should expect, only to not find what I was looking for.
This post is specifically for my right foot, as the left foot was an entirely different journey!
On April 16, 2015 I had corrective surgery on my right foot at a really nice facility in McKinney called Victory at Craig Ranch. The surgery was perfect, and they even sent me home with two roses!
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| 2 hours after surgery |
My husband even carried me from the car, and up 2 flights of stairs, coming home from the surgery center. They had to break the bone, reposition the bones to force my foot to lay flat, and put in 2 screws, so walking so soon wasn't really an option.
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| 6 hours after surgery |
I told my doctor I was allergic to morphine before the surgery, so they put that on my allergy wristband. I was prescribed a codeine for pain management. But we didn't know I was allergic to that medicine too!
Initially I thought the issues were just from the surgery, or from not eating enough before taking the meds. But the itching (same reaction I had with morphine) was the tell-tale sign. I called my doctor the next morning after scratching all night. I told him I thought I may be allergic to the pain medicine. I had taken this medicine for almost three full days like clockwork- every four to six hours.
I had nausea, projectile vomiting (yes, it was literally shooting out of my mouth with great force), I was itching really bad all over, I had some shortness of breath, and was a little lightheaded. But the itching was the worst- it was my scalp, my back, the bottoms of my feet, my legs, palms… everywhere!
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| See the two screws? |
The medicine was making me very sleepy- I couldn't stay awake more than 2 hrs at a time. It was like a forced sleepiness, and I didn't have control to even lay down. It was so bad, I would fall asleep while texting, or typing on my laptop. I told my doctor how it was weird I was suddenly losing my voice, too. He asked about my breathing. He determined that I was allergic to the codeine, to stop taking the medicine immediately, and get some Benadryl ASAP. My throat was closing, and I wouldn't be able to breathe.
My doctor was out of town, so he couldn't submit a new pain (narcotics) prescription on my behalf (DEA requires the patient to have the prescription in hand). He told me to take the strongest over the counter Tylenol I could find until he gets back the next day or two. Well I did just that (Tylenol extra strength 500mg), taking the maximum per day, and it did almost nothing. It was like using a garden hose on a house fire. I wanted to cry, but I didn't. It hurt, but was bearable. I could feel the screws, but mostly the throbbing. I couldn't sleep because of the discomfort.
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| 13 days after surgery |
So I literally laid hands on myself and prayed that God would alleviate the pain until I could get some real pain medicine. The pain minimized, it didn't hurt to wear my boot anymore, and it didn't hurt to NOT wear it anymore. I think it was the next day or so when CVS Pharmacy called me and said my new prescription was ready.
Getting the stitches out didn't hurt so bad- it felt like ant bites. After 5 weeks, I could finally immerse my foot in water- washing my foot was never so satisfying! I had no idea there would be so much dead skin! It flaked like nobody's business. It took a while for the swelling to go down, and it's still not fully gone. The doctor said it'll take a while for all the swelling to go away because my body has to adjust to the screws.
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| 27 days after surgery (stitches have been taken out!) |
Wearing the surgical boot was annoying. It made my hip hurt, it was heavy, and made my leg hot. It made me uneven since it has a thicker sole than a tennis shoe, and I refused to wear one of those leveling things (lol).
I did physical therapy for a month to help with getting used to the screws, and the doctor said I was healing very well. I purchased some shoe inserts to help, and the worked wonders. The scarring is pretty significant now, but it'll go away. I've been using scar pads, so I'll do a later post on how well they work.
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| 29 days after surgery |
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| 29 days after surgery |
At first I was exceedingly skeptical of the physical therapy, but it was wonderful. They used the electrode machine and manual manipulation to bring back the joint mobility. It really helped with walking because my great toe was a little stiff. Even now, 3.5 months after surgery, it's still a little tingly from the nerves being altered.
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| 30 days after surgery (scab has come off… with a little help) |
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| 32 days after surgery |
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| 60 days after surgery |
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| 74 days after surgery |
The thing that I hate absolutely the most, is the muscle atrophy to my calf. I built my calf muscles over years and years of being a long distance runner, and it makes me sad to see how my muscle has waned. I guess I'll just have to get in the gym and build them back up, but I don't think they'll ever be the same.
And that's my right foot.