This is my Big, Big Foot

I reported for surgery at 6:10 a.m. at the Carle Surgery Center. They immediately gave MacTroll a number and a pager. The number would let him track where I was (pre-op, surgery, recovery, when the doctor would be coming to see him, etc.) on a big screen TV. The pager was for when he could come see me. 

I believe that nurses and medical assistants make or break your stay when it comes to health care, and the staff there was very, very nice. The first thing they did was have me undergo my second pregnancy test of the week because apparently there have been people who have popped up pregnant between their pre-op appointment and their surgery, but I'm getting used to how repetitive things are just to catch when people aren't getting their stories straight. By surgery date, I'd also realized when they got to the drug list to just say, "I'm only taking my iron and Vitamin D supplements. I stopped taking everything else a week ago."It was the fourth time in the last week, I'd been asked those questions and it goes faster than running through each individual med I might "sometimes" be on like Claritin or Exedrin Migraine, etc. 

I got undressed and into my hospital gown. I had chosen to wear an elastic wasted band skirt and a tank top with a built-in bra that day to make life after surgery easier. And it was a good choice, but you'll see why in a minute.

I met the anesthesiologist, Dr. Mendenhall. He asked if I had any questions or concerns. I told him that I didn't get sick the last time I had anesthesia, so I hope I wouldn't this time. They gave me some anti-nausea meds in my IV just in case. They also gave me an antibiotic. I did mention to the nurse that I got really cold, like to the point of my teeth chattering and my body shaking, when I woke up last time. 

Dr. Kluesner came in and met MacTroll. Then he had me repeat to him what work he was going to be doing on my foot that day. (He said he knew, but he needs me to tell him to be sure I understood what the procedure included.) I go through the items we had listed the week before and he seemed pleased that I understood what was going to happen so well. He marked up my leg and signed it. He expected the surgery to take two hours. 

Then they wheeled me down the hall into surgery. Kluesner was already there setting some things up. I transferred from the gurney onto the operating table. He asked me who was taking care of X-man today and I told him KTDID. Then they put a mask on my face and three breaths later I was pretty much out cold. 

I woke up to another nurse at my side in recovery. She was talking to me very gently. I could hear a little boy on the other side of the curtain waking up from his procedure. He was very sweet and happy with the nurses, and he was making me smile. My nurse got me some crackers and some water and then my teeth started chattering, so she blew up this giant plastic blanket of hot air over my body. I ate another cracker and then I fell asleep again. I was kind of in and out of it. And she'd ask me to tell me how my pain was and encourage me to eat another cracker and help me drink some water. I was at a 7-8 for a while after I woke up, so I got some morphine when the oral stuff wasn't enough. 

At 12:10 p.m., MacTroll got to come see me. My surgery had taken longer than they thought because the damage was worse than the MRI showed, and my muscle in my leg had moved into the area where the tendons were supposed to be, so the doc had to not only cut away scar tissue and recreate both my tendons, but he also had to cut away some muscle. MacTroll said the incision was longer, too. But Kluesner said everything came together well, so he expected me to have an excellent, but slow recovery. 

MacTroll helped me get dressed. This is what is on my leg and there's no size pants that I own or underwear that would allow this massive foot to go through the leg hole, so you know -- I went commando, no problem. 

The "Loosey" room in the basement is working out great. I had trouble getting up the one step in the garage to get into the house, so I just turned around, put down my crutches and skooched on my butt while dragging my leg along the floor from the garage to the basement stairs. Then I slowly skooched down the stairs. When I got to the bottom, I used the railing to pull myself up on my good leg, because hopping down those stairs would have been painful. 

Mactroll handed me the crutches and I made it to the bed with my wedge pillow, put up my leg, put a ice pack behind my knee (it cools the blood that then goes down to your ankle) and then took my pain pills. That plastic bulb on the top in the picture is drainage. MacTroll is draining it into a hospital-provided measuring cup and then writing down what's coming out of my leg. 

I want to thank Allison for loaning me her mini fridge. It's come in very handy. I also want to thank Janet from the library for bringing us lasagna dinner last night, and to Meghan for dropping off the awesome get well present this a.m. Chocolates and Fozzie Bear mugs are always welcome. It's also very nice that our neighbors have been offering to help by setting up play dates with X-man. My mom is here this weekend so the boys can go to Orchard Days and jump on inflatables, while I rest. But I want to give a big thanks to MacTroll and again to KTDID for taking such incredible care of me and X-man yesterday. 

I have no mobility right now. It hurts to get up and crutch my way over to the bathroom and back. Plus, I'm a little dizzy on the crutches because of the pain meds. But I think I'm getting it down. I'll be kind of in this haze for two weeks or so. If my blogging is sporadic, you'll know why.