Swelling setback ....

Today was a rough day. It was one of those days that the more medical opinions I got, the more I wondered “Why haven’t I heard this before?” I was ready to “throw in the towel” at the end of the day today. Over the weekend I had significant swelling over the transfer area and ankle. As I walked the pain increased, too. I iced elevated and did the usually “swelling” stuff and then Sunday night sent an e-mail picture to the Texas surgeon. I attributed it all to the fact that I had not walked on the foot for 8 weeks. I didn’t walk excessively over the weekend or do any exercise.

He (TX dr.) e-mailed back this morning saying to stop icing, as this decreases blood circulation and flow to the foot. Great – news to me …. I had been icing every 2 hrs. over the weekend. He also said to wrap it in an ace bandage, keep it elevated at all times and return to using the crutches. He wants me to fly to Texas in two weeks for him to see it. If the swelling doesn’t get under control, there is a chance that the flap could still die because of the swelling and hanging down. What!?! This wasn’t how I wanted to start a Monday morning. I just moved things back to my house over the weekend & have not been home since early April.

I promptly went to see the STL surgeon at 1:30 to get his opinion. He agreed with the Texas surgeon, but also added to wear the boot when walking and stop physical therapy (except for the arm & toe movement). I had to keep my 3:30pm pt appt., because we were doing an evaluation on the arm today. While I was in therapy, I missed a phone call from the Texas surgeon that I had been waiting for all day. He basically told me the same thing as he had stated in the morning e-mail & said that he’d see me in two weeks. He also said that the swelling could easily last 2-3 weeks.

Having swelling when the cast comes off is not uncommon, but in my case it always takes a long time to go away. I had planned & arranged to go to Chicago and meet with that surgeon on June 30th, but now it looks like we have to return to Texas. I just told the Chicago doctor last night that we were looking forward to seeing her and visiting with family in IL the weekend before. It now means that we have to get a flight, hotel, rental car, etc. & do all this coordination to go back to Texas on June 30th. It isn’t a money issue, although it is upsetting that this is going to cost a sizeable amount.

To make matters more challenging, I have a new camp starting next week & I’m not prepared yet for it. There is a ton to do yet and now my foot is supposed to remain elevated at all times. My boss is out of the country until next Tuesday, so she doesn’t know any of this yet.

Needless to say, all of this is fairly frustrating as we were doing so well …. I thought we were totally past the point of the transfer possibly dying. Follow-up care is so hard when you involve multiple doctors and then you are twenty hours away from the main doctor. Even when you think everyone is on the “same page” it was clear today that this is not always the case. Just last week I heard “do whatever you want,” but it was a very conservative and cautious tune today.

Prayer requests for this week …
- SWELLING GOES AWAY!
- The transfer area continues to live and doesn’t die.
- Scheduling & coordination details for Texas trip on June 30th
- Patience, acceptance, peace and better attitude
- Work – get needed items accomplished this week

Hoping tomorrow is better ….
je