Day 5 - photo gallery (1st Post Op Dr. Visit)

Mr. Ice Man!!

Today was my post op doctor appointment. As the nurse is unwrapping the dressing she says "so how long has this dressing been wet". Me: "Oh, did the water soak all the way through" Nurse: Yes, isn't your foot cold? I can feel the coldness through my gloves Me: Oh, well I decided last night to try and take a shower and didn't think all the dressing got wet Steve: She also has been icing a lot Nurse: Yeah, her foot is REALLY cold. Me thinking: YEAH it's frozen from icing it 15 times a day!!!

Ta Da!!! Pretty, Hey!!

Before shot below: Notice the big ball on the side of my right foot!!!

And now look - it's gone and both feet sort of look like each other!!

Yippee - hopefully no more pain when I run, jump rope, do sprints, do Mtn Climbers, burpies, and of course jumping on that trampoline!!! And think of the new found comfort in my shoes!!

Steve waiting patiently - Mr. Happy all the time.

Highlights from my visit:

• Steve calling me 90 minutes before my appointment to confirm when he should pick me up and being a smart ass saying... well last time we got to your appointment 45 minutes early, so I was thinking I need to pick you up by 12:30 since your appointment is at 1:30. And I simply said "Just pick me up by 12:50, so we get there a little early. Of course he gets home at 1:00 and we pull into the parking structure at 1:27 and on the drive he did ask "are we going to 1 S. Park St?" And I said "I don't remember what was on the invitation I sent you" and he confidentially says "1 S. Park St". We go in and register and hear "oh, your not in the right location. You need to be at 20 S. Park Str." Steve got the evil eye look from me as the clock now says 1:33. I grab my lovely crunches to hobble back to the parking structure and of course I grab out my phone and look at the invitation and say "Gee, the invitation says 20 S. Park Street". Luckily 20 S. park street is just a cross the street. This is the story of my life. To give Steve some love he did say "I'm sorry I create extra stress in your life". He KNOWS I can't STAND being late.
• The doctor said everything looks great. He said "I can tell you have been icing and elevating your foot" he said the scar is healing great and looks wonderful. And then he added "You don't have to ice your foot 24/7 and all I could do was look at Steve and smile.
• The doctor said I can drive after I get my boot NEXT WEEK, but I should not drive in the boot, but in my surgery shoe I have now. I can start more physical exercise 3 weeks after 11/29, but it's fine to do upper body work, core exercises now.
• So it was a super doctors visit. He said to keep elevating my foot. He mentioned to keep icing it as needed and know that my foot will naturally tell me when I'm over doing anything.
• I asked if he has any concerns about me getting the full range of motion back and he said "No". I'll give you some exercises to do, but really I'm not worried about that at all.
• I asked if I should take supplements to help the healing process. He said if I want that's fine but really my bones looked so strong he doesn't see any issuing with it healing or needing anything additional.
• He was happy with everything and I gotta admit I'm sort of giddy myself. I did ask him if I should keep taking Ibuprofen even though I don't feel pain and he said "no, only when you feel pain otherwise it's not really doing anything. So folks I am now officially going to stop with all pills (no Ibuprofen unless needed). Let's hope I still feel the same tomorrow.
• He mentioned I had very little swelling and if I keep icing the foot and elevating it he thinks things will continue to go well.
• I asked for his ideas on showering and he laughed and said take a bath. He said he tried most of the products out there and they all tend to leak, etc...
• We got home and what's the first thing Ice Man says "let's get ice on that foot and then I gotta get back to work". At this point all I can do is surrender : )

Help me out here/Question:

I scheduled this surgery months ago. During that time Steve came home one day and said "my buddies and I are planning on going to the Badger game on Nov. 26 (Saturday). And I said "Oh, you do realize that's a little over a week AFTER my surgery" and he said "Oh" and I said "As long as you figure out something for the kids I don't care if you go, but I can't take care of the kids all day by myself that day". Steve: "Oh sure, no problem I will figure something out". Then a month or so ago I said "Steve, just letting you know my surgery is coming up and I'm not sure what you planned yet for the kids". Steve: "Oh yeah, I'll look into that". Two weeks ago "Steve, where are the kids going on that Saturday". Steve says "Right, I better call my parents" A week ago... STEVE are the kids going to your parents. S: I don't know yet. This past Monday he says "Well, my parents can't take the kids". I give him a look and said "that sucks". Today he comes into the bedroom and says "So on Saturday my buddy is picking me up at 11:00. The game is at 2:30. Then I'll hang out for a while and take a taxi home late in the evening". I listen to him and say "Really and where are the kids going to be". He shines me his pearly whites and says "I don't know can't you take care of them" and I say "Have you given your buddies a heads up that you might not be attending". And then he goes into the speech of "come on I only get together once a year with all these guys" blah blah blah.... And now I look like the bad guy because I'm telling him he has to find a home for the kids.

Am I wrong here? Is it realistic for me to take care of the kids while I am laying in bed starting at 11:00 am through 8:00 pm? And then I asked the doctor this same question and he laughed and said "Well, it depends does your husband have an extra ticket for me". REALLY!! did you not just say I need to stay in bed and keep my foot elevated. Again, the story of my life!!

Other updates:

• I had a lovely visit from one of my dear friends this a.m. So good to catch up and hang out.
• Slept for crap last night. Lights out at 9:00 and I was still wide awake at 1:00. Finally I went and took one of those all natural sleeping pills. I did have fun connecting with my oldest sister since she was also awake. But learned her 12 year old golden retriever has bone cancer, so that's sad.
• Pain: Well up to this point I have been pain free, but last night at 4:00 a.m. I was sleeping and all of sudden I felt like my foot was being pulled apart. It took me a while because I didn't know if I was dreaming or if it was really happening. And realized this is PAIN and it's REAL. At first I was going to grab the strong pain meds but just kept breathing and took some Ibuprofen and within 10 minutes or so the pain calmed down.
• Tried sitting at the work desk in the basement with my foot up under my desk, but that didn't work. My foot started to throb right away, so I have to think through that process a little more. I have some meetings I'd like to conduct next week if possible.
• My doctor: http://www.uwhealth.org/findadoctor/Provider.action?_sourcePage=/results.jsp&id=6556 He has been wonderful to work with and would totally recommend him if your in the Madison, WI area!!! I like that he gets to the point, yet has a decent sense of humor too. And he's not so bad to look at either. Maybe one of these times I should try to dress up and look nice for one of my appointments : ) (kidding)

So all and all life is still good. I just hope I can get to sleep tonight. Yet, all I do is lay around and rest.

The next big milestone is on 11/29 - Stitches come out. I am getting a little worried how I will be able to keep entertaining you until then, so I can't promise these daily updates will continue. I will do my best. If you made it through this long message - Thank you!! And if there is something I am not covering just let me know.