I was off work today and it was good to rest at home. I am not walking on the foot yet, but the initial post-op pain is slowly decreasing. I have been sleeping through the night fairly well and wasn't tired enough this afternoon to take a nap. I am taking pain medication, but not the "strong stuff" that I came home from the hospital with last weekend. The toes are pretty sore, but that is to be expected. I imagine that they were maneuvered more than I know during surgery.
I was able to take the bandages off of the foot this morning and look at the incision that has difficulty healing and the toe work. The toes do look straight and I can see them now. They were so low before, that I couldn't see the toenail. Thankfully, the foot and toes were not nearly as swollen and/or black-blue as I had anticipated. We started the collagen today in between the stitches on the incision. The medicine is cool and actually felt pretty good. I am still concerned about whether the procedure we've just done will eliminate the pain - enough to allow me to function and walk. Keep praying that I won't worry about this all month .... I know worrying isn't the answer and doesn't help. The waiting during the "healing phase" is much harder than the surgery itself!
I made post-op follow up appointments today, too. The stitches come out on May 11th (St. Louis doctor) and then the pins and follow-up appointment happen in Chicago on May 25th. I am already looking forward to the Chicago appointment and seeing if the positioning will help improve the walking, as we are hoping.
My insurance company has been sending out a visiting nurse to check & give advice on my incision situation, and I learned late last week that my insurance company won't pay for this service as long as I am working & going to outpatient physical therapy. If I wasn't working, they'd pay for it! Go figure - you think you are doing the right thing by trying to continue to work .... you can't win with insurance companies. As long as the incision stays closed after we remove the stitches next week, this shouldn't be an issue.
We have a huge competition event tomorrow (Tues.) at work with school teams from 14 schools, so I am returning to work. Don't panic - I will sit all day! Believe me, I don't feel well enough to be walking around the building. I still have the scooter through the month of May.
Hope you are enjoying the St. Louis sunshine .... thanks for your continued prayers!
1 comment:
Question: Is your scooter pink or red? Somehow I can't picture you with anything else. Black would be too morose. Silver would be sophisticated but too "over" your age. And I'm sure they don't make scooters in leopard print,...or DO they? Just trying to make you smile, my dear! Thinking about you and praying for you...Dad had an orthopedic procedure last Thursday, and I reminded him that you two could exchange comiseries! He's SUPPOSED TO BE non-weight bearing for NINE weeks...he didn't last 24 hours (unfortunately). Not so great on the compliance front, is he.... I chastised his > 60 year old self and told him that EVEN JENNY has had to obey the doctors' orders, and that EVEN with patient compliance that sometimes things can go wrong. I don't think he got it. Grrrrrrr! SO...praying your comfort is better, your wound is healing, and your toes are straight as arrows (except at the joints where they're usually kind of bent a bit)--any-hoo: NORMAL! Love ya! Jobacks!
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