The above pic is what my splint looked like one week after my surgery (my first pre-op visit). I had a heel checkup and I chose red medical tape when my podiatrist re-wrapped it.
So, I wanted to blog about August and my trip to Amelia Island in August, but I figure you all probably want to know how my surgery went and how I am feeling up to this point.
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I cannot believe that I have been non weight-bearing for three and a half weeks now. I feel like it has been an eternity. I am trying to envision having this splint on for two and a half more weeks and then a boot for four more weeks after that - the first two of those weeks still being non weight-bearing. And then hopefully I can get my foot into a sneaker. This journey is definitely a marathon and not a sprint.
I do feel like Doug and I prepared for this surgery as much as we possibly could. We had already moved Briana to school and now we had to do this. Doug and I shifted "my life" to the guest bedroom on the main floor of our house because getting up the stairs was/is just not going to happen. I am so grateful to have this guest room - though I really miss being able to go upstairs to my bedroom and office. Doug bought and assembled a number of necessary things I would need like a shower chair, a raised toilet seat and a knee scooter.
This has been my bedroom for the last 3.5 weeks and will be for 5.5 more...
Surgery day was September 18th and I was very nervous.
On surgery day, I opted to get a nerve block which numbed my leg from the knee down. That was kind of an intense process. I am truly grateful I got it because I do think it held off my pain for quite a while. I couldn't really feel my knee very much for seven days (which made me getting on the knee scooter a bit sketchy - Doug had to spot me while I used it). And I think my heel was numb for a bit longer than that. I started feeling aching and discomfort toward the end of week two. It is still quite uncomfortable - at times it just aches and other times its like a bunch of bees stings going all through my incision.
The surgery was a success though, and the doctor discovered that I was forming yet another bone spur near my Haglund's deformity (which is also a bone spur) and the Achilles tear. And that had developed since my MRI in May. I was kind of a mess. I definitely needed this surgery.
This was the surgical center on surgery day...
I had to go back on my own at first to get situated before the surgery and then Doug was allowed to come see me for a few minutes before the procedure. Then he came back after the surgery as well.
Getting me into the house after surgery was interesting. I always wonder how medical staff expects civilians to pull this stuff off without any help or real advice. It is a bit frustrating. I was still a bit groggy after the surgery and I was numb too. Doug and I were trying to figure out the best way to go up a step from the garage into the house. I did end up slowly tipping off my scooter and landing on the ground, but I did protect my leg somehow. That was not fun. I got back up and we got it done though.
The surgery staff couldn't have been nicer and my doctor did a great job. I am very grateful for that. But dang, I really miss walking now.
This is what my foot looked like when I first got home...
I was told to keep my leg elevated and ice the back of my knee for 15 minutes every hour (except when I slept) to keep the swelling down. They told me definitely do that routine for 3 days but 7 days would even be better. And, I am still icing several times a day to help with pain and swelling. I am on an aspirin a day to keep my blood thin.
The first week of this adventure was kind of rough. I couldn't shower because I couldn't risk getting my splint wet at all - so it was sponge baths for me. The anesthesia and the couple of pain meds I took that week messed with my digestive system a bit. I got through that pretty quickly though. I had to sleep on my back with my leg very elevated. It wasn't comfortable. Sleeping is a bit better now because I can sleep on my side now, but this splint still isn't comfortable and I am hurting a bit.
Because I couldn't feel my knee for an entire week, Doug needed to watch me every time I got on my knee scooter to make sure that I was secure on it because it was difficult for me to feel much of anything. I was very happy to get my knee feeling back, but then I started to really feel the discomfort of what had happened to me.
Doug moved the recliner that sits in his office downstairs to the family room so I can have a different place to relax and watch TV and have some of my meals. I didn't feel like shifting to a different room until the second week (when I was in the red tape).
My view...
Doug spent the first five nights after my surgery sleeping in that chair so he could hear me and help me get to the restroom at night if I need it. After five nights, I felt more secure about just going from my bed to the restroom on my scooter, so he is now sleeping back upstairs.
After week one with the help of a cast cover, shower chair and removable shower head, I was finally able to take a real shower and it felt heavenly. I don't take a shower every day because it is quite a process, but I try to take one every other day.
As I said earlier, at the end of week two, I really started to feel the discomfort in my heel/incision. So much so, my doctor prescribed me some nerve medication (on an as needed basis) to help with the pain and he had me come in to check my incision again. No infection thank goodness, just surgery/nerve pain. He re-wrapped my foot for a second time. I chose blue this time because red ended up feeling very angry to me...
I had read that the nerve medication could make me a bit groggy or weak or woozy. I never experienced any of that until a few days after I started taking the medication. One evening, Doug went upstairs for the evening and I had taken the nerve medication. I texted Doug upstairs around 9:30pm and said I was starting to feel a bit off - a little woozy and shaky. He said to turn off the lights and try sleep it off. I decided to go to the restroom first before I went to sleep. I had felt weakness before on my knee scooter but I had always managed to handle it fine. I didn't think I needed to call him down.
But I should have.
I got on my scooter and headed toward the bathroom (which is only like 5 feet away). In an instant, I felt my scooter tip to my right, on my surgery side. I guess I was more woozy than I had realized. My leg slipped off and I started to fall. Because I was in shock and due to reflex, I stepped full weight on my surgical foot and reached out for the wall. It hurt to step on it obviously, but it wasn't as horrendous as I thought it could be. I completely freaked out and crumpled to the floor. I screamed for Doug. I somehow managed to pull myself up off the ground on one foot and Doug came into the room. I was hysterical to say the least. He helped me to the bed.
We paged the doctor immediately and he called right back. My doctor told me that I was going to be ok, my anchors are in my bone very deep, this is why I am wearing a protective splint and that this happens to like one in four patients. I did trust what he was telling me, but I was still devastated. After almost three weeks of trying so hard not to make a mistake - I did. It was my nightmare come true. My doctor said to keep icing and elevating and keep an eye on it. If I had any issues, to call.
I felt a little sore the next day but that was about it. I was still very nervous that I had backpedaled in my recovery. A couple of evenings later, I was lying down with my leg elevated and I felt a small pop in my heel. It felt like a stitch may have popped, but I couldn't see anything obviously. I called to report it the next morning to my doctor just in case. He said to come in again so he could take a look.
He took a look at my incision and he said it was healing nicely. No visible stitches had popped. The anchors were/are still in place (he felt my heel) and he said my outside stitches were ready to come out, so he removed those. He said what I felt may have been an internal stitch popping (that dissolves).
He wrapped my heel up once again and I chose purple...
I am so grateful I didn't do any lasting damage by landing on that foot.
So now I don't have to return to the doctor for three weeks (on Halloween actually) to get a boot. It really is wishful thinking that I won't need to return there for three whole weeks, but it would be great if I could hold out that long.
I am still in a lot of discomfort in my heel. My incision rests/slides again my splint and it hurts. How could that not hurt? I am trying to get through this the best I can.
Since my surgery, I have watched two hurricanes hit the southeastern US. I was terrified of Helene because it was heading straight for Atlanta and my kid lives in a 14 story building. Lucky for Atlanta and those west of Atlanta, we only had minor affects from it (tons of rain). I feel horrible for the devastation both of the storms caused in other places.
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This whole situation has been ROUGH. But I have had my spirits lifted as well. I honestly have wonderful people in my life. I have received phone calls, texts. FB messages, gifts, food and cards from friends and family. My mom and dad came to visit me right after surgery and my mom came by herself to visit me on another day as well. I have some friends coming to visit me this upcoming week (now that I am finally feeling up for it)...
And Briana was able to drive home to visit last weekend after being gone for a month (more on the visit later). That really lifted my spirits!!
Yesterday, Doug and I went out to lunch. It was my first outing to a restaurant since September 15th. I had only gone to the doctor's office at that point. Getting in and out of the house is kind of a chore. It involves moving cars in and out of the garage and then me getting down a step from the house into the garage. It is getting easier though. I do have a temporary handicap permit, so that makes things much easier when I do go out.
We went for Mexican food for lunch...
And then I sat on my downstairs back porch after lunch for the first time since surgery and the weather was amazing...
The only being who is enjoying all this surgery hubbub is Mei Mei of course...
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I am blogging now from my desktop computer in my dining room. Doug set it up for me, of course. I do have a laptop, but I definitely prefer to blog from my desktop so I can alter photos, etc.
Doug has been a total rock star through all of this. I feel so badly because when I signed up for this, I signed Doug up for this too. He has to do everything - take care of the cat, help me shower, make my bed, do the laundry, make the meals, do grocery shopping and he is also trying to work at the same time.
I am not used to having to be so reliant on someone else. I feel so vulnerable. I did have a surgery 25 years ago that required a lot of help afterward, but other than that, I have really been able to take care of myself. Of course when I would get really sick, Doug would me help out, but I could still kind of function even when sick - even when I had covid. And when I became a mom, I shifted into major caretaker mode and it's so hard to me to not be able to do that right now.
I feel helpless. I feel kind of down. I feel anxious. I feel irritated. I feel uncomfortable. But I feel loved and cared for too.
And I feel a bit scared because I don't know what will happen when I am finally able to step on that foot. Will it hurt? Will I feel unstable? Will it feel weak? So many unknowns.
I'm sure I missed something in this update, but I am feeling a bit tired now and I better wrap it up. I promise to get to our trip (which feels like a million years ago now) and also blog a bit about Bri in school.
Thanks for reading. I hope I will be able to walk around a bit by Thanksgiving.
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