two days after hard cast removal

I didn't sleep very well last night. I just can't get comfortable since I'm used to having my foot completely supported by a hard cast. My incisions are still pretty tender so any bumping or touching them is very uncomfortable. I ended up taking my air cast off early in the morning and trying to get comfortable without it. I'm still sleeping with my little caterpillar pillow between my legs to try to keep from bumping my left foot with my right foot. It puts a little cushion there and helps support my foot.

I've been trying to move my toes as much as I can. I can flex my foot up and down a little but not side to side. I still have a lot of numbness in my whole foot and leg. It feels really strange when I try to move it. Flexing my foot up makes a pulling and tingling feeling up the back of my leg. I figure that is my Achilles tendon stretching.

I tried to put my foot down on the floor yesterday just to see how it would feel. I had my air cast on and was supporting myself with my crutches and didn't put weight on it but it made my heel hurt. My doctor told me not to start putting weight on my foot until I started PT so they could help me determine how much weight I should put on it as I strengthen it, but I just wanted to know what it would feel like to place it on the floor. I didn't like how it felt so I won't be doing that again until it is really time to do it.

I've got my air cast off today while I'm sitting so that I can just try to move it some and get it a little more flexible. I don't like the way it feels so stiff from not moving for so long. Tomorrow will be seven weeks since my surgery and that's a long time to keep it stable. Some days it doesn't seem like it's been seven weeks and sometimes it feels longer. Every day is getting better, but I told my doctor I didn't think I could do this again this year. My goal is to have my right foot done the week before spring break next year (2011) Easter is toward the end of April next year so I wouldn't have to be out of work as long as I was this year since Easter was in March this year. I'm going to talk to my boss soon to make sure she will give me the time off. I had told her I would let her know something by June so I still have a couple more weeks so see how things are going. I just want to make sure both of my feet will be good enough for me to walk all over Europe for 12 days next August (2011) with my girl scouts. My doctor told me I will still have a lot of swelling for my trip so I'll probably have to wear my braces, but I can handle swelling as long as I can keep up with them. We'll see how my healing goes with my left foot over this summer.

Cutting my hard cast off

I didn't like the feeling of her cutting my cast off. She told me that it couldn't cut me, but when I had a cast cut off of my arm a few years ago they did cut me. She told me that the thing they use now just vibrates instead of turning and there was no way for it to cut my skin. I didn't like the vibrations it made and when she got close to my incisions I could feel it and it wasn't a good feeling. I did live through it though. He had a lot of padding in there as you can see in the picture where she is cutting the gauze.
You can see in the picture where she is cutting the cast off that I was holding my leg trying to keep it from vibrating so much. I was pretty tense and trying hard NOT to pull my leg away from her.

My second Post Op appointment was three days shy of seven weeks from my surgery date. They removed my cast and said I was healing very good. His exact words were "well look at that perfect arch" That thrilled me since I have NEVER had any thing about me be perfect. They left the butterfly tape on my incisions and told me to let it fall off by itself. I told him he didn't have to worry about me pulling anything off. LOL After removing my hard cast they took me to x-ray to make sure my bone is fusing correctly. As you can see in the x-ray photo you can hardly see where he cut my bone and shifted it up. I included a photo of my heel where they put the screw in. I had been having a pain (it felt like I had stepped on a nail) in my heel for a few days. After removing my cast he found that they had accidentally left a stitch in my heel that was pulling and causing it to hurt. I feel better now that he removed that stitch.

Now if I can just get used to not having a hard cast on to protect my foot. They placed me in an air cast for at least the next five weeks and I will start PT next Monday. Not looking forward to that at all since I figure it will be uncomfortable and painful.

2nd Post op appointment

I have my second post op appointment today. I am three days shy from seven weeks since my surgery. I am REALLY nervous about this appointment because with my foot being in my hard cast it is kinda like my security blanket. I know he will be moving my foot around and I'm sure that will not only feel weird but will be a bit uncomfortable. I will be taking some Tylenol before I go to try and off set some of the pain I'm sure I'll be feeling.

They will be taking an x-ray to see if my bone has fused enough for me to go in to a air cast. He originally told me 12-16 weeks NWB and 4-8 weeks in a hard cast. I can honestly say that it will not bother me if he says I need to go back in to my hard cast for a few more weeks. I feel very safe in this one and I am quite honestly scared to come out of it. I just know that I can't hurt my foot while it's in here. I have banged it a couple of times and didn't even feel it because the hard cast was protecting it. I know that out of the cast if I bang it or hit it the wrong way I may hurt myself. Maybe I'm just being a BIG BABY, but oh well...I'm safe in this cast so booooo waaahhhh. LOL

I have had some tendon pain this week and have had to take some Tylenol a couple of times. The past few days have been pretty good. I've had some pain but nothing I can't live with. I have been a little more active...with the help of my family of course. I had the strangest feeling last night. I guess it was my nerves playing games on me. The bottom of my foot felt like it had fallen asleep and was waking up. I had the tingling feeling you get as it wakes up. It was mostly down around my heel part of my foot. I still have some numb feeling in my toes, but I'm getting more feeling in them. I guess it's just my nerves healing. It's not really a pain type feeling just an annoyance. I did have some pain in my heel yesterday. Almost as if I could feel the screw in my heel. It kinda felt like I had stepped on a nail and it went in to my heel. It was nothing I couldn't handle but it wasn't pleasant.

I'll be posting pictures of my doctors visit and how the visit went later.

One week survival in hard cast

Well I have survived one week in my hard cast. I have had good times and bad times, but it gets a little easier each day that passes. The hardest part about being in the hard cast is when my nerves twinge and twitch. There have been a couple of times that it actually felt like I had a bug crawling around inside my cast biting me. My doctor says it's just my nerves playing games with me. I still occasionally feel like someone is sticking pins in my toes and my foot. I can't get used to that because each time it happens it catches me off guard so I jump and squeal. LOL Michael and Kinlie have gotten used to it, but my mom still gets all "what's wrong?" It tends to happen more at night than anytime, but it does happen through out the day. I also have a sensation that my new tendon is jumping in my foot. It feels like when your eye jumps and you can't get it to stop. I'm not sure if it's really my tendon I feel or the nerves around it. All I know is that it's aggrivating.

I was so excited because I was able to FINALLY lay on my side for a while Saturday night. I am NOT a back sleeper so I have had a hard time having to sleep on my back for the last few weeks. I actually had to put pillows under my shoulders on either side so I would not try to roll over in my sleep. I have to put a pillow between my legs and rest my leg on that pillow to keep my cast leg straight. It takes me a while to get comfortable, but I have been able to sleep like that for a little while each night since then. Last night (Sunday night) I had a harder time getting comfortable, but I took my pain meds and finally my pain eased enough so that I could lay in a way I wasn't hurting as bad.

I did survive an out of town dance competition this past weekend. One reason I wanted to hold off on my surgery was because I didn't want to have it in the middle of dance competition season. It just got to the point I couldn't wait any longer so I sat Kinlie down and talked to her about me not being able to help her get ready for her dances. I am so proud of her because she did a great job at getting herself ready without loosing anything. The trip there and back was not as bad as the trip to Kentucky I took a couple of weeks ago. We only had to drive about two hours. Our hotel was nice and at least they had an elevator this time. They were a little more handicap friendly than the last hotel. My main problem and pain came when I had to sit in the auditorium for a few hours at a time. In all of the years Kinlie has danced I haven't missed one of her competitions yet and I didn't plan on missing one this time. When it comes to your kids sometimes you just have to do what you have to do....so I did...hahaha.

When we got to the auditorium one of the people that worked there told us that the aisles that were missing a seat on the end were for people in wheelchairs...well that's nice, except that by the time we got there all of those rows had people in them already. We ended up in an aisle behind a wheel chair accessible aisle so I sat in one of the auditorium seats and propped my foot on a backpack, dance bag blankets and pillows we brought in. Saturday was not as bad because Kinlie's dances were close together and I left as soon as she finished dancing. I went back to the hotel to lay down and elevate my foot. Now Sunday was a different story. I did wait until right before her first dance to go to the auditorium, but she had more dances and they were spread out longer for the day...then I had to get in the car and ride home. My foot swelled up pretty bad on Sunday so I did end up having to take pain meds when I got home. I have been trying to only take medicine at night when I absolutely need it.

I also volunteered at the school today. I actually felt good because it was the first productive thing I have done since my surgery almost four weeks ago. I had kids asking me if they could sign my cast...lol....I just thought I was too old for people to sign my cast. hahaha It made me feel good they cared and wanted to sign it. I'm supposed to volunteer at eighth grade day on Friday so I'm hoping for the best and praying that things will go smoothly with no problems. The main thing I'm concerned about is that it is supposed to be outside and I'm hoping I can get around outside in my wheelchair. I'm also worried about it being hot with this hard cast on me. I'm gonna stay positive and hope for the best. : )

Stitches out....new cast on

These pictures are out of order but if you start from the bottom you can see that I had a little friend that also has a cast LOL The cast room had a little stuffed animal that had a cast on it's arm...so cute. I also have pictures of my splint cast as she is taking it off. You can see her taking my stitches out of my foot and then applying butterfly tape before they applied my new hard cast. I had to put my foot on a metal support that helped keep my arch as he was putting my cast on. I think my scars look pretty good so far. Now I have four weeks in my hard cast then they will take another x-ray to make sure everything is looking good. If everything is looking good I may get to go into the air cast and start pt. I kinda dread that but hopefully it won't be too bad.

Stitches out...New Cast

I got my stitches out yesterday. I was so very nervous about a lot of things. I was unsure how it would feel to finally have my foot unwrapped after it has been stable for almost three weeks. It did feel VERY WEIRD to have it free from all the gauze and bandages that had been there since surgery. It wasn't as painful as it was uncomfortable. It felt very strange for them to be moving my foot around after it had not moved for so long.

I sat up and watched while she cut the gauze but when she started to take everything off I had to lay down. I'm the type person that doesn't mind needles (They're not my favorite things but I don't freak out if I have to have one) but I DON'T want to see them or watch them being put in to me. I just didn't think I could look at all the stitches in my foot. Better yet I didn't think i could watch her take them out. The best way I knew how to avoid looking was to lay down so I couldn't see. Michael took pictures of the whole thing so I did get the courage to look at the pictures after we left the doctors office.

It did sting a little on some of the stitches she took out. Not all of them, but some of them. For some reason it was mostly the ones on the outside of my foot. After she took out my stitches (I only had 10...wow I thought I would have had more) she rubbed medicine on my incisions to make sure they didn't get infected. I have NEVER been ticklish on my feet and I told Kris (my doctors assistant) that I never had that problem. As she was rubbing the medicine in to my incisions I was wiggling around and laughing. It really tickled. I had her laughing too. When she finished rubbing it on it hit me....oh man that stings!!! LOL She told me that it was probably stinging where the medicine was going down in to the holes where she had removed the stitches. That only lasted I'm sure for a few seconds, but it was like putting alcohol on a cut so I'm sure more aggravating than anything.

After she finished cleaning my incisions she placed butterfly tape on them. She said that was extra security. As she was doing that she asked me to choose what color cast I wanted. I asked her it she do a tie die cast. LOL She said unfortunately she couldn't. OH WELL...that's ok because my favorite color is purple so that is what I picked.

My doctor came in and looked at my foot and told me it's looking very good and healing up nicely. YAY...that's good news for me because usually if something can go wrong it does so with me. I was very glad to hear that I was on track in my healing process. He had me put my foot on a metal support to make sure that as the cast was curing it would keep my arch (which by the way is a very nice arch which I have NOT had in quite some time). That was not the most comfortable thing to do since nothing but gauze has touched my foot for some time.

This cast is quite different from my other one I had after surgery. My toes were exposed in the splint cast, but they are covered with this one. Since I hate shoes because of that fact this one is very uncomfortable for me. I told myself I could handle it for the next four weeks and I thought I may be able to. The problem is that I broke the outside bone on my foot several years ago and my small toe does not sit right. My doctor told me when he saw my x-ray he took on my first appointment that he could see where I broke it. I told him I had always had problems with it and he said it healed short (whatever that means) My small toe has always poked up for some reason and I have a HARD time finding shoes that don't aggravate me. Well now that I have this cast pressing on that toe it is VERY UNCOMFORTABLE. I kept trying to move my toes last night to get it comfortable, but nothing was working. The way the cast is sitting I can't move my toes freely at all. I have to actually move my last few toes with my hands. If I could have cut this thing off of me I would have. I begged Michael to just cut my toes out so they could be exposed but he wouldn't LOL I have left a message with Kris this morning in hopes they may be able to get me in and fix this. Yay....just got a call back and I have to bear with it until tomorrow morning but at least they could get me in to change it. My appointment is at 8:30. Lord help me make it until tomorrow morning without cutting this thing off of me. : )

busy weekend

I have had quite a busy weekend and paid for it last night. I spent the day (Saturday) in my wheel chair down stairs for most of the day. We are remodeling our down stairs kitchen and I wanted to be down there supervising. LOL I also took two trips to Lowe's with my husband and a trip to Moe's (a restaurant). I even bragged to one of our friends that we ran in to that I had been sleeping OK....well the reason I had been sleeping pretty good is because I had not been doing anything during the day so my foot was not swelling very bad. I took my meds to try to go to sleep last night and that didn't even work. I was miserable all night. I did only take one oxycodone (instead of two and a phenergan). I kept waking myself up all night trying to get my foot comfortable, but I just could NOT get comfortable.



I stayed in bed late today in hopes that I would make it through my Granny's family reunion. It was kinda hard and my foot swelled up like a puffer fish but I did it. Then when we came home I sat on our back porch for a while. It was so relaxing listening to the creek running through our back yard. I sat on the back porch trying to figure out how I could get down to the creek in my wheel chair. It's not possible because it would be a very bumpy ride. I just wanted to stick my one good foot in the water. One day I'll get there again.

Two weeks Post op

I am two weeks post op today. It has been a while since I posted anything so I have had several things happen since I last wrote anything.

I took a trip to Kentucky for Easter to see my husbands family. It was not an easy trip to make but I did get through it. I got to see my son who lives in Illinois who I miss terribly. I also got to hold my new grand baby (who lives in Texas) for the first time and that made the painful trip worth all the pain I endured.

I was lucky that I didn't have to make the trip all at one time. My dad has a house in Tennessee that is half way between our house in SC and my father in law's house in Kentucky. We left Thursday afternoon for Tennessee. On the way we stopped to eat. Since this was my first time out of the house I was very nervous to be in public since my surgery for the first time. I had a wonderful pizza at a cute pizza restaurant in Tryon NC. I was very uncomfortable while sitting. I did keep my leg elevated on my wheel chair but the way I was sitting was pulling at my Achilles tendon which made me very uncomfortable. After dinner I thought I should go to the rest room before we got back on the road. Like I said this restaurant was very cute but NOT wheel chair friendly so Michael had to bring in my crutches. They had very uneven (pretty but not very safe) brick flooring. The restroom door was too small to fit my wheel chair in so I had to crutch it in to the restroom. I may be wrong but I thought that every public facility across the country had to be wheel chair friendly or at least handicap friendly. This place was NOT either. Thank goodness Kinlie was there to help me get in to the bath room stall because there was no rail and like I said the floor was very unstable. I did survive but not without being in a lot of pain and VERY nervous.

We made sure to pack PLENTY of pillows and blankets that I could rest my foot on. I drive a fairly new suburban that has bucket seats as the middle seats. I started out with my foot extended across to the other seat. This was very uncomfortable. I tried to take my medicine thinking that I would be able to sleep on the drive there. Since this is a very curvy ride my foot kept sliding around. This made me tense all over and there was no sleep for me. We got smarter the next day and decided that it may be more comfortable for me to lay my seat back and extend my foot to the middle console between the two front seats. This was a much better plan as it was not totally comfortable but much more comfortable than the previous plan.

Needless to say I did make it there and back. It was a very painful trip and had it not been for getting to see my son and gran baby I would not try it again but I did have fun.

The swelling in my foot goes down a good bit at night while I'm sleeping. two days ago when I started moving around (by moving around I mean getting up to potty then back to bed with my foot elevated) my foot started to swell again. I don't have a lot of room in my cast to move, but what little room I do have my foot shifted (just enough) and when it swelled back up it was pressing on a nerve. OMGosh was this so painful. I thought I was going to have to call the doctor to have him take off my cast. If I could have gotten it off myself I think I would have taken it off just to get relief. I spent a big part of the night putting my leg up in the air just to get relief so the pressure was not touching my nerve. I am also having a lot more pins & needles feelings in my foot and my toes so with that along with the nerve pain it was NOT a good day and night. By pins and needles I mean it literally feels like someone is putting pins and needles into my skin. With all of that put together my foot was just jumping around like it had a mind of it's own. If it had not been so painful it would have actually been funny. My nurse did tell me this would happen because not only did my foot go through a lot of trauma, but they had to work with a lot of nerves while doing my surgery.

When I woke up the next morning I had relief and my cast was not on the nerve. Now that I know that can happen I make sure that as my foot is swelling during the day I'm not moving a lot as to make sure my foot doesn't shift to the wrong spot again. Definitely DON'T want anything inside the cast pressing on a nerve again.

Lots of firsts : )

I am so tired and sore tonight. Tomorrow will be a week since my surgery and today was the first time I actually went outside. I didn't realize what a big chore it would be for Michael (my husband) and Kinlie (my daughter) to get me downstairs. We dicided it would be easier to go outside and go around the house instead of me going down the stairs in the house. We have two entrances in to our house our upstairs front door or we have a full basement (basically another whole house downstairs) with it's own entrance. With them taking me outside and around the house I didn't have to take as many steps. Since they took me in my wheel chair I only had two steps to get off of the front porch then Michael took me down a big sidewalk hill around to the back of the house. I was a little nervous but he brought me down backwards so I didn't get away from him. On the way back up we went through the carport which meant I had to go up three steps at the driveway and two steps to get up on the front porch. My little Yorkie Mollie likes to ride in my wheel chair with me. Sometimes as I'm going to or from the bathroom I will put her in my lap and let her ride. She rode with me downstairs today and she seemed to love it.

It was really funny because there was a man walking several dogs down the street as they were bringing me out today. He kinda chuckled at us as he went by. I was laughing pretty hard too along with my squeeling from fright that I may get away in the wheel chair. When I say this is a steep hill....I mean it is steep. LOL

After we got to the back porch we just stayed outside for a few minutes. It was so nice to feel the sunshine and sit outside for a while. Mollie was taking it all in. Since I have been in she has only went outside to go potty then right back in the house too. I think she was enjoying the outside air as much as I was. She has been stuck to me like glue since I got home from the hospital. She has been a real comfort to me.

After sitting outside for a while I took my first REAL shower since my surgery. You can only take so many of the sponge baths with the little hospital wipes you get from the hospital. Not that they are not appreiciated, but there's nothing like a real shower. We put a plastic deck chair in the walk in shower we have downstairs with a towel on the seat. Then we put another plastic porch chair outside the shower with some rolled up towels to prop my leg on. We tied a big black trash bag around my leg above my cast then wrapped a towel around that. I think that was the BEST shower I have ever had!!! LOL We did decide that it would probably be better to get a cast cover for future showers instead of a trashbag. It would just be one less thing we have to worry about since they are waterproof.

After my nice shower Kinlie dryed my hair for me and fixed it. Eventhough I was only going outside long enough to go back upstairs she had me looking like a million bucks. Michael told her "that's right fix her up and she has no where to go" LOL I only stayed downstairs long enough to take my shower and dry my hair, but just that short amount of time I'm still feeling the pain. I kept my foot elevated on my wheel chair, but I was feeling a pulling in the back of my leg. I guess it was putting a strain on my achilles tendon that they repaired while I was sitting there. I've been back in bed for a while with my foot elevated, but I'm hurting pretty bad from my knee to my toes. As bad as it hurts right now...it was SO WORTH the nice shower I got.

We are supposed to be going out of town tomorrow. I'm really hoping I can make it through this weekend out of town. Lots of prayers and pain medicine will get me through it.

Six Days Post Op

I am six days post op and still sore. I have found that I'm getting sore all over just from laying around and not doing much. I'm especially sore in my arms (from the crutches) and my upper body. I figure that is because I'm using more of my upper body to pull myself up in bed and to get in and out of my wheel chair.

Good news is, last night I slept all the way through the night.....bad news is I slept all the way through the night and didn't take my pain medicine. I was hurting so badly when I woke up this morning that I didn't think I would be able to control my pain for a while. I took two oxycodones and a phenergan at 6:00am and then another oxycodone (no phenergan this time) at 10:24 am and I'm feeling OK right now. I'm really tired of being so tired, but I guess as long as I'm not doing anything fatigue is what I'll be feeling.

We are supposed to be going to Kentucky this weekend to be with my husbands family. I'm hoping that I will feel like going. I made sure I had all of my pain meds and phenergan filled just in case. My nurse told me as long as I can keep my foot elevated in the car I should be fine. I get car sick and since the only way to keep my foot elevated is by sitting in the back I'm not looking forward to the ride, but hopefully the phenergan will help me with the motion sickness. I'm still trying to gauge my pain like the nurse told me to, but I've found that there are times I'm feeling more pain than others. I'm not sure why, because I'm not doing anything different except that some times I may be sitting up in bed and others I'm laying down. I guess it does make a difference if my foot is above my heart or below it.

I seem to be feeling a little more nauseous now than I was in the beginning. I have wondered if it could be that the medicine is building up in my system. Not sure if that is possible, but I seem to not be able to eat much now (not to say that will hurt my weight loss efforts) hahaha I feel like I'm living on these little mini saltine crackers my mom got me and Canada Dry ginger ale. I'm persnickety about my ginger ale...it has to be Canada Dry. LOL Michael fixed me dinner last night, but after about three bites I couldn't eat any more. I did have some cheese toast and bran flakes this morning, but I ended up feeling a little nauseous after that too. I'm sitting here wondering how lunch will go today. I'm kinda craving KFC mashed potatoes....that's what I like when I get nauseous.

I'm still trying to space out my bathroom breaks since it takes me about 45 minutes to get over the pain from having my foot down when I go. I was hoping to be more mobile by now. My goal was to be able to go down stairs for a while by yesterday. I didn't quite meet that goal. LOL They put in my new counter tops yesterday morning and I still haven't been down there to see them. Kinlie did make me a video but I can't tell much from that. I did go to the front door yesterday afternoon and stuck my feet out the door for about five minutes. That was all I could take at the time so we will see what will happen today. A NICE LONG SHOWER would be GREAT!!!! My mom brought me some of the ready bath clothes that my granny got when she was in the hospital. They are good, but not as good as a full blown shower.

My medicine is making me itch. I can handle it anywhere but under my cast. LOL I sometimes get an itch on the bottom of my foot. Michael has been scratching behind my toes and it's one of those...hurt but just do it anyway type feelings...LOL It's like it sends tingles down my foot. My nurse said that would happen because of all the trauma my foot has been through. She also said there were a lot of nerves that got messed with during my surgery.

I have been very surprised that I haven't had that much swelling. I'm sure I would have more swelling if I were not keeping my foot elevated, but I really thought I would have more swelling with all the work they did. We have ALMOST got all of the orange medicine off of toes. I can only take them moving my toes around a little at a time for them to clean it off. My mom tried to get most of it off before my block wore off...THANK GOODNESS....but she has tried a couple of times since then and every time I twinge she stops because she doesn't want to hurt me. I keep telling her to just go ahead and do it but when I tense up she stops. Kinlie told me she would polish my toes with a french pedicure but I want all that orange stuff off first. I try to wiggle my toes as much as I can just to have movement. It feels weird to move them, but again it's one of those....hurts but gotta do it anyway...type things. hahaha

One thing that has helped me keep things at my finger tips is a little plastic basket that my mom bought me at the dollar tree. It's just big enough to fit my bath cloths, my crackers, my TV remote, cell phone and a few other small snacks and a few other things I've wanted at my finger tips. My bed side table is just close enough to my bed that the little basket just hangs there between my table and my bed so I can get to it easily. Kinlie also got me an Easter basket that has my puzzle book, a couple of magazines, a coloring book and crayons (yes I'm like a kid I like to color LOL) my pens, and a small box of thank you notes in it. I'm trying to keep up with my thank you notes as people come to visit or bring me things. It has really helped me feel a little self sufficient to be able to reach these things without having to ask someone to help me. I've also been using Kinlies lap top tray and bed tray. those things have really come in handy. Just a few things to make sure you have before surgery.

Five days post op

I'm five days post op and still surviving. I've tried to start cutting back on my pain meds during the day. I've been trying to go five to six hours in between the oxycodone and no phenergan during the day. At night I go back to two oxycondone with phenergan every four hours. It is still pretty painful, but I'm trying hard to stick to this. The only time I'm getting up is to go to the restroom and that is quite painful. My nurse told me she wanted me to start judging my pain instead of just automatically taking my pain meds every four hours whether I need it or not.

One problem I had last night is constipation from the pain meds. I was told that this could be a problem so I started taking Senekot-S on Saturday night. One of our friends that is a pharmacist suggested this. I took two before bed on Saturday night, two before bed on Sunday night and then two yesterday (Monday) afternoon. I realized this was not going to work so Michael called my doctor on the phone. He told him to get me some Milk of Magnesia...let me just say that stuff is like drinking chalk. LOL That unfortunately didn't work either so we called our pharmacist Friend which told him to get me a suppository. After about five hours of pure agony (I'm talking this was as bad as my surgery) it finally worked. I honestly thought I was going to die. I'm only saying this because I would hate for anyone else to go through what I had to go through so in other words....don't let it get so bad before you do something about it. fixing this problem before it happens would have been much easier.

I have been sleeping pretty good at night. That is partly due to pain meds that help me sleep, but I don't care how I get to sleep as long as I'm not awake all night in agony. I did get up this morning at 6:15 until 6:50 to sit with Michael before he went to work. That's the longest I've sat up in my wheel chair since my surgery. I had my foot elevated, but it was still painful. Elevation is not only the key to not much swelling, but also the key to not as much pain. The past few times I've gotten up to go to the bathroom I have had pins & needles feeling in my leg and foot. My foot is also twinging and jerking. The nurse told me this was pretty common with all the trauma my foot has been through and all the nerves that got messed with. The jerking is sometimes pretty painful since it tenses up my foot. Not a pleasant feeling at all but it could also be worse.

Day Four post op

I've made it past the third day of my surgery. My Granny has always told me that the third day of surgery is always the worse and I'm not sure why but that is usually the way it goes with me. Today is my fourth day and I feel pretty good right now. I slept good last night too except for the itching and waking up every two hours to take my medicine.

I am more swollen than I was the day I had my surgery, but I feel like it has went down from yesterday. There are times I feel like there is NO room in my cast because it is swollen so much. Right now it's not painful, just tight.

My calf and toes keep twitching and that feels really weird. As I was dozing off yesterday my foot jerked and that REALLY HURT BAD!!! OMGoodness I thought I was going to die. LOL I keep getting pins and needles sticking me today in my foot, or at least that's what it feels like. I like not being in excruciating pain at the moment so I'll take all the other twinges as long as the pain is controlled.

Last night I had a slight fever of 99.1. My doctor told me that may happen and not to worry about it unless it was above 101. We just monitored it for a while and it went back to normal. That was really no biggy, but just thought I would mention it.

I decided on my last round of oxycodone (at 12:00 pm) to only take one oxy with NO phenergan just to see what happens. So far so good. One thing all of this medicine has done to me is make me constipated. I know that may be too much info, but if you are looking for the way this surgery is really affecting me then I feel you should know everything or it does no good for me to blog about the process. Anyway, one of my girl scout parents is a home health nurse and her husband is a pharmacist and when they brought us dinner yesterday she asked me if I had that problem. I didn't even have to tell her...she just knew since that is one thing she deals with in her home health patients when they get home after surgery. They told me to get Senokot-S and take two pills before bedtime. I did exactly what they said, but it hasn't worked yet. I'm hoping it works soon because I haven't been since Wednesday and today is Sunday. Like I said may be to much info, but that's what this blog is all about. LOL I do feel fortunate that my oxy is NOT making me sick....YAY!!! I know it has a tendency to make people sick so I'm so happy it didn't affect me that way.

I feel perkier today than I have since my surgery. I actually feel like I could sit on the porch for a few minutes right now but wouldn't you know it's cold and rainy today so I can't. Maybe tomorrow.

Day three post op

These pictures were taken today...day three post op. That's my Mollie still taking care of me. She has been such good company for me since I've been stuck in bed. As you can see I've kept my foot elevated good and the only time it is not elevated is when I go to the bathroom which I try to spread out as long as I can.

Day of surgery.....not much swelling yet

These pictures were taken the day of my surgery. I was very surprised that I didn't have more swelling than I did. I must have bragged too much because by the second day the swelling set in and now my foot feels like it doesn't have a lot of room in my cast. I added a picture of my teeny three pound Yorkie Mollie on here. She has been stuck to me like glue since I came home from the hospital. She is sitting on my shoulder in this picture looking out of my bedroom window.

Before surgery on left foot

Two days post op

I am two days post op and I survived my first full night without the block. I had A LOT of pain last night. I was so tense from the pain that I'm sore now in places that I didn't think I would hurt. My upper left thigh muscle is really sore. I'm not sure if that is from me being so tense from pain or from me having my leg propped up. I think I cried for about an hour and a half straight from the pain I was in. I just couldn't get comfortable or get any relief. I did a lot of praying and it was almost as if God was saying "how do you think Jesus felt with those nails in his hands and feet." I know I can get through this!!!

I'm very surprised that I slept as good as I did last night as much pain as I was in. I didn't wake up as much from pain as I did itching. The medicine is making me itch. That's just me though. A lot of pain medicines do that to me. Michael (my husband) had his alarm on his phone set for every two hours. I also listed on a piece of paper what I should take at what time. Right now I'm taking two oxycodone 5mg and a phenergan 25mg every four hours and alternating an extra strength tylenol every two hours in between. I start hurting pretty bad when it gets close to the time I should take my oxycodone. That is when I start to watch the clock closely. I know some people ice after surgery, but my doctor told me he didn't want me to do that. He said he wanted a good blood flow to my foot so it heals properly.

Yesterday afternoon my calf (I assume it's my Achilles tendon) started twitching. This morning my toes started twitching. It's more of an annoyance than pain. My foot is tingling today. It's like when your foot goes to sleep and when it's waking up it tingles and feels numb. Just feels weird mostly. When the pain kicks in it feels like someone has something wrapped around my ankle and is trying to pull my foot off my leg.

I'm stretching out my bathroom breaks as far as I can because every time I go It's excruciating pain for about 45 minutes. I've been trying to go about 30 minutes after taking my oxy since it is the stronger drug in hopes it may not hurt as bad. I accidentaly knocked my foot on Michael's leg yesterday when I was getting up and I thought I was going to pass out right there on the floor. All I could do was lean on him and cry on his shoulder. I never thought anything could hurt so bad!!!

I've been bragging that I didn't have much swelling....well I'm not sure why but over the night my foot swelled and it's bigger today than it has been since my surgery. I have kept it elevated. The only time I get up right now is to go to the bathroom. I have been going in my wheel chair but our house is older so the wheel chair won't fit through the bathroom door so I have to stop in the hall and go the rest of the way with my crutches. I never thought going to the bathroom could be such a chore. LOL It completely wears me out!!!

It's a really pretty sunny day today and I wish so badly I could go outside. I'm so thankful for a comfortable bed and a bedroom with lots of windows. My little three pound Yorkie was sitting on my shoulder a while ago looking out the window. She has been stuck to me like glue. I'm glad she's only three pounds because she has walked over my cast on my leg a couple of times. She's so small I didn't feel it though. She's such a good little care taker.

I'm going to stop writing right now so I can try to relax. It's almost time for my oxy so my pain level is getting pretty high right now. 12:00 can't get here fast enough hahaha

Block has worn off : (

My block has now worn off and I just thought I was hurting yesterday. I don't think I have ever watched a clock so closely before in my life.

I just got off of the phone with Kris (my doctors assistant) She says I can double my oxycodone dose for the next 48 hours then she wants me to go back to one every four hours so I can track my pain. My doctor also had her give me his cell phone number in case I need him over the weekend. I LOVE MY DOCTOR!!!! I can't think of any other doctor I have ever had that trusted me with his/her cell phone number. Come on 4:00 hurry and get here so I can take my pain medicine!!!!

The hospital just called to check on me. I think I had the best doctor and the best hospital. I feel so loved right now. LOL

One day post op

Well, I'm one day post op. I wanted to post something yesterday but I didn't feel like getting on the computer. I really don't feel like being on here now, but I'm trying to get my mind off of my pain.

My block started wearing off around 7:00 this morning. I woke my husband up just to show him that I could BARELY move my toes. He said I was moving my head as I was trying to move my toes. LOL I just thought that I hurt yesterday, but around 8:00 this morning I started hurting in places that I didn't hurt until the block began to wear off. My whole foot is hurting, but mostly in my heal. It feels like someone has a vice on my heal and is squeezing it real hard. I knew it was going to hurt, but I never imagined it could hurt this bad. I'm taking my oxycodone and phenergan every four hours and alternating with extra strength Tylenol every four hours in between. That means I'm getting something in me every two hours. They told me I could only take the Tylenol for about 3-4 days that way so I hope the pain gets better by the time I have to stop the Tylenol.

When I went back to the nurse (her name was Linda) yesterday she was talking very highly about Dr. Womack. She said he does a lot of these surgeries and that he is one of the best foot surgeons at that hospital. She asked me if I minded if medical students observed my surgery. I told her I didn't mind but just don't let them touch me. Linda also told me that all of the interns love to shadow Dr. Womack because he is such a good doctor. She said he usually has a little posy following him around. She really helped me to know I made the right choice in my doctor. She was a really good nurse too. I'm going to request her when I go back to have my right foot done.

Usually they have a hard time running my IV's. I warned Linda about that so she started with my left hand. She put the tourniquet on it and popped my hand a few times and said let me see your other hand. She popped my right hand a few times and said "man you were right you don't have cooperating veins do you"? LOL She decided to go into my left hand that had the tourniquet on it. She told me she was going to give me some numbing medicine before putting the IV in. I told her that hurt worse than an IV because it stings really bad. She said she didn't have to give me that if I didn't want it but I told her to go ahead because they usually have to dig to get my vein. After she numbed it she told me "here we go" she noticed I was holding my breath and she told me not to do that. She told me when you hold your breath it closes off your veins and makes them go flat so the needle could go right through the vein and make it collapse, which is what usually happens with me when I get an IV. Well now, why couldn't all of the other nurses that have run IV's on me tell me that and I may not have had problems in the past. She told me to take a deep breath in through my nose and let it out slowly through my mouth as she was putting it in. Well wouldn't you know that worked. We were both so excited. LOL She said she couldn't believe as small as my veins were that she got it in the first time. I told her I knew she would because I prayed for her. hahaha She told me she prayed for her too.

I got to speak to the anesthesiologist after she ran my IV. I told him I wanted him to put me completely to sleep. I didn't want to hear anything, feel anything, heck I didn't want to remember anything. I told him if he could put me to sleep until next Tuesday he would be my VERY BEST friend. LOL Well, he did a good job because I don't even remember going in to the operating room. They gave me a sedative in order to do my nerve block. The last thing I remember is turning over on my stomach so they could put the nerve block in the back of my leg. I heard him tell Linda to go ahead and give me the sedative. I asked her how long it would take to knock me out and she said not long then BAM...I WAS OUT!!! That's the way I like it though. Next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery. That nurse was really sweet too, but I can't tell you her name because I was still drugged up. She did call me a while after I got home to make sure I got in OK. I thought that was really sweet.

When my surgery was over Dr. Womack told my husband that it took a little longer that he thought it would. We knew my tendon was laying in my ankle but he didn't know until he got in that it was covered in scar tissue. He said that a tendon should be white and mine was all yellow and covered in scar tissue so he had to cut out that scar tissue when he took the tendon out.

I'm not sure if I have mentioned this before in another post, but my doctor told me before my surgery that they would put a guide wire in my foot first and take an x-ray to make sure the screw was going in the right place. He said it would be much easier to move the guide wire than the screw. The screw he used has a hole through it so it just goes in over the guide wire. I thought that was a pretty clever way to make sure the screw is going in the right place. They also took an x-ray once the screw was in place to make sure that it was threaded through both bones. He gave me a nice little souvenir x-ray of my screw to bring home with me. It shows the screw and you can also see where he cut my bone. I'm going to try and figure out how to post it on here. He drilled a hole in my navicular bone and thread my new tendon through that and stitched it together. He also made three incisions in my Achilles tendon to lengthen it and put it back in place. I think that about does it...not sure if I missed anything cause I'm getting kinda loopy from my oxy and phenergan. LOL

My little three pound Yorkie Mollie has been taking GREAT care of me. I also have some pictures of her to post on here. She has been stuck to me like glue since I got home from the hospital. I guess she realizes something is wrong with me and she's trying to comfort me. She's a GREAT little mother. hahaha

This seems like a long post, but it's two days worth. I'll stop for now and post more later.

My last day to walk for a while

Well, this is the last day I will be able to walk for a while. Something made me think of that today and then I thought how do people that are in wheel chairs all the time cope?!?!? I know they manage and learn to deal with it, but I'm hoping it comes easy to me....might just be wishful thinking.

I am on my last day of antibiotics...how ironic...my alarm just went off for me to take my next to last one LOL thank goodness I was awake for this one or I might have missed it too. hahaha I have been so nauseated today and I'm not sure if it's from the antibiotic or my nerves. I have a feeling it's a mixture because my nerves are SHOT!!!!

I had to go to the hospital this morning to have blood drawn to check my potassium. I...well not me but the nurses usually have a problem sticking me. The lady told me "you're gonna feel a big stick" I always turn my head..needles don't bother me but I don't want to see them going into my arm...I sat there waiting for the stick and then all of a sudden she says "you're done" I had to look at my arm to make sure there was a hole in it. I didn't even feel anything. I asked her if she runs IV'S and if she was working in the morning. LOL She told me that she gets that question a lot. Well, it must have gone too good because about 3 1/2 hours after I left the hospital they called me and told me I had to come back to do it again. Something went wrong and they needed to draw more blood...DANG IT ALL!!! Back over to the hospital I go (30 minute ride each way). Just in case you were wondering, NO I didn't get the lady that doesn't hurt...and yes it did hurt this time. As a matter of fact I now have a nice knot and bruise where she took my blood because she went into the same vein right near where the other lady went. My arm is pretty sore now, but I'm sure I won't be feeling that by tomorrow night when that nice nerve block wears off of my foot.

While I'm waiting for them to call me back my phone rings...it's the hospital LOL I'm thinking, well I checked in at the front desk they could just call my name instead of calling me on the phone hahaha It was the surgery department calling to tell me that my surgery had been moved up. Now I have to be at the hospital at 5:50 and surgery will start around 8:30. I don't know why but that made me even more nervous. In the past when I have had surgeries I would rather be there early. I'm not a morning person so I would rather sleep right through my worry instead of spending the day worrying about my surgery. I just hope they give me a I DON'T CARE SHOT as soon as I get there. They did ask me during my pre op if I wanted a Chaplin to come in and pray with me and I gave them a GREAT BIG YES!!!! Excuse me, but can I get that Chaplin as soon as I get there and keep them until I go home...or better yet, can they come home with me and pray with me 24 hours a day until I have no more pain : ) I will continue to say and PRAY....I CAN DO THIS...I KNOW I CAN DO THIS....for this too shall pass!!!!!

Two days until surgery

I am two days from surgery and on my second day of antibiotics. I was not a happy camper having to set my clock and get up at 2:30 in the morning to take my antibiotics, but I have to take them every six hours. I guess I could have done better planning on when I started them so that six hours didn't fall in the middle of the night, but oh well. I guess I'll have several days to catch up on my sleep while I'm on pain meds. LOL Let's hope anyway!!!!

Today was my last day of work and it was really hard knowing that I wouldn't get to be with my kids anymore this year. They are the reason I was trying to make it until June to have my surgery. My doctor asked me in December what was more important my foot or my job, and I told him that was a no brainer...MY KIDS are more important. I had a hard time telling them bye today, but I didn't let them know I'm having surgery. Not sure how three year olds would take that kind of news so I thought it would be best not to say anything. I am hoping to be able to go back to play with them when I get my hard cast on.

When I got off work I had to just come home and sit with my foot elevated. It hurts so badly when I have to work and be on it for hours at a time. The knot (which is my ptt laying in my ankle) is really big and hurting right now. My Achilles tendon is killing me too. I'll be so glad when all of this is over with and I have NO PAIN!!! Course my husband just told me " this time next week your little Achilles tendon will be the least of your worries with all that other surgery pain you will have" He had a BIG grin on his face as he said that. He just cracks me up....NOT!!! No really he has been so good to me through this whole thing. Lets just see how good he is when I'm grumpy at him because I'm in so much pain.

My goal is to take the summer to get my feet well so that I can start the new school year out in September with a RUNNING start. Not sure I'll be running by then (I never ran when I had good feet) but hopefully I'll not have so much pain. My doctor has told me I could have swelling for up to 1-1 /2 year from my surgery. I think I can handle that as long as my pain is not as bad. I'm going to stay optimistic!!! God is good and I know he will heal me and get me through this whole thing. I also have to get better by next summer because I'm taking my girl scout troop to Europe for 12 days. We have had this trip planned for four years now and I want to enjoy it with them hopefully with not much pain. This gives me something to work for and look forward to. I CAN DO THIS!!!! I just have to keep telling myself that hahaha

Three days until surgery

I only have three more days until my surgery and I'm getting REALLY NERVOUS!!!!! I'm still trying to get last minute things done since I know I will be off of my feet for a while. The problem with that is I can't stay on my feet for very long right now because of the pain.



I started my antibiotic this morning. My doctor has me taking 500mg of Cephalexin every six hours over the next three days. I guess he's trying to head off infection so I thought that was a pretty good idea. I like the fact that he seems to be on top of things.



Last week I had to start sleeping with a pillow between my legs. I sleep on my side so that keeps the inside of my foot where my tendon is laying in my ankle off of the bed. It's so painful now that I can't stand for anything to touch it. I do dread having to sleep on my back for a while, but I can't imagine sleeping on my side after my surgery. Seems like it will be too painful for that.

I went potty shopping today LOL I have read a lot of things and been told by people in my PTTI support group that having something that helps you get on and off of the potty is a good idea. I didn't realize that there were so many potty choices to choose from hahaha. I found the one I want at a medical supply store that I got my wheel chair from. It is called a three in one chair. It sits over the potty or you can use it as a shower chair or you can put the little bucket thing underneath it and use it as a potty that can be emptied. I just can't imagine that I would want my family to empty it, but if I have the pain I'm expecting to have I may not care who empties it as long as I don't have to go all the way to the bathroom. I like the fact that it elevates higher so I won't have to try to get up from so low. We will be going to get this tomorrow. All I have left to get is my Tylenol and I'm getting that tonight.

My uncle is a rehab nurse at the hospital I'm having my surgery at and he told me to alternate regular Tylenol with my pain meds to fight off pain. He told me that they have started giving the patients that have knee and hip replacements Tylenol instead of the narcotic pain relievers so they are not fall hazards. He told me if I made sure I took my meds before the pain sets in I should do fine. Seems like everything is falling in place I just wish my nerves would calm down.

Five days until my surgery

I only have five days until my surgery and this will be the last weekend I'll have to get my house in order before I won't be able to do anything for a few weeks so I'm trying to do a major spring cleaning....good thing today is the first day of SPRING!!!! LOL I've found that over the past few weeks I can only stand on my left foot (the one I'm having fixed next week) for short amounts of time before I have to sit down because of the pain. One thing my doctor pointed out to me on my first appointment with him was the very painful knot I have on the inside of my ankle (well right behind my ankle). He asked me if I had ever wondered what the knot was, and I told him yes I had because it is always hurting. He told me that it was my tendon laying in my ankle. It gets bigger and hard when I'm on my foot for a while or if I sit for a while without elevating it. I haven't been able to wear tennis shoes for a few weeks now because they hit me right on my tendon that is now laying in my ankle. Considering the fact that I can't go barefoot either I have found that the best shoes I can wear right now are the crocks with the fur stuff in them. I know they don't have the best arch support, but it's the only thing I can get on my foot at the time that doesn't touch that knot.

I have also had a lot of pain down the back of my calf. My doctor asked me last week if it was like a very bad charlie horse in my calf and I told him he was exactly right. He said that pain is my Achilles tendon (well now I know exactly where that tendon lays) LOL. He explained that since my foot is turned in so bad it is causing problems in my Achilles tendon. One of the things he will do during my surgery is lengthen and straighten my Achilles. He told me that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and since my foot is turned in so badly there is not straight line between my Achilles and where it should be hooked to. Not a very easy way to explain that one, but maybe that makes since. : )

I went grocery shopping last night in hopes to get things my husband and 14 year old daughter can cook for the next few weeks. I sure hate depending on them to do my cooking since I am trying to loose weight. I took her with me so she could help me pick out things that would be easy. I'm very lucky that she enjoys cooking. One thing they told me when I had my pre op at the hospital is that I need to wash in anti bacterial soap the day of my surgery. Well let me tell you, that was not easy to find unless you are looking for hand soap. I did finally find safeguard anti bacterial bath soap so that is what I got. I'm not sure if that's what I was supposed to get or not, but it did say antibacterial and it is bath soap so I got it. I did stock up on lots of saltine crackers and ginger ale since I've been told that the pain medicine (Oxycodone) they gave me can cause nausea. I'm hoping for the best (which is NOT getting sick) but preparing for the worst just in case. Thank goodness they also gave me phenergan to take too. I know that works for nausea because I already take that for my migraines.

Well, I'm not getting much work done in the house since I'm taking a much longer break than I thought so I better get back to work.

Why I'm starting this blog

I am starting this blog in hopes that my experience will help other people with what I am going through. I have done a lot of research on the internet on PTT transfer, but one thing I have found is that it is good to actually read what people who have been through this surgery are going through so if I can just help one person with my experience I would feel blessed.

After several years of constant pain from my hip to my toes and three knee doctors telling me I needed to go on anti depressants because my pain was due to depression I FINALLY found a knee doctor that actually knew what he was doing. One look at my foot and he told me "why it's not your knee causing your pain...it's your foot...you have torn your posterior tibial tendon and you need to see a foot doctor immediately"!!! Well hello....why could the other doctors not look at how bad my foot is and realize that was my problem?!?!?! He thought that it was bad enough that he got me in with the foot surgeon in his group two days later.

My first appointment:
They did several x-rays of my foot. The doctor came in to the room and told me he didn't even have to look at my foot to tell me how bad it was. He said my x-rays showed that I had definatly torn my PTT and surgery would be the only way to fix it. I was so relieved to finally have an answer to my pain that surgery did not even register in my mind...only the words WE CAN FIX IT and not with anti depressants. He told me that NO amount of anti depressants would fix my foot because it is a very real problem that can only be fixed with surgery. He proceeded to tell me that it is a very invasive and painful surgery and it would not be a walk in the park.....literally I won't be able to walk for several weeks. HAHA He was so kind to sit with me and let me ask all the questions I needed to ask. This was so different from the previous knee doctors that would just tell me there was nothing they could do and push me out of the room in order to move on to their next patient. I explained to him that I was a pre school teacher and I wanted to try to wait until school was out in June to have my surgery. Concidering my first appointment with him was in December he told me he thought that was an awful long time to wait as bad as my foot was. I scheduled my surgery for June 1st. He told me he would be very surprised if I could hold off until June and he would concider me a wonder woman. : ) I've never been concidered a wonder woman so that made me like him even more. LOL

In mid January I started having pain in my good foot. I made another appointment with my doctor to look at that one. After several x-rays he came in to the room again and asked me if I wanted a matching pair. LOL I told him NO!!! He told me I had not torn my other PTT YET, but by the looks of the x-rays on that foot it was indeed stretched and had tears in it. He put me in a air cast and told me to stay off of it as much as possible to rest it. He also told me he didn't want to get my hopes up because in many cases if you have had one tear you will eventually have the other tear also. I haven't mentioned this yet but I do have the extra navicular bone. The one in my left foot (that's the ptt that has been torn) was taken out about 20 years ago. I still have the extra bone in my right foot so that is not helping my ptt since it is hooked to the extra bone instead of the bone it should be hooked to. I went back to him on March 8th and he told me the air cast didn't work and the only thing that would fix my right foot is the tendon transfer surgery. UGH!!! Well with this in mind I decided that there would be no way I could wait until June for my first surgery. Besides the fact that I am in excruciating pain now I have two surgeries to look forward to. I rescheduled my surgery for March 25th which is only six days from now.

I'm getting really nervous about my surgery but I am trying to take my mind off of it by making sure I have everything I need before hand. I already have a wheel chair and crutches. I have already gotten all my prescriptions filled and my pain meds are sitting on my night stand by my bed...want to make sure I can get to them fast. LOL