July 18 (back post)

Alllllllrighty - I am post posting about having surgery on July 18. I went to see my orthopedic surgeon in Owensboro in April. He said the surgery was too extensive for him and believed repairing my tendons would be like "sewing two pieces of wet tissue paper together" so we scheduled an appointment with a surgeon in Louisville. I went to see him and we decided to wait until after school was out AND I had a chance to go to Mexico on vacation....no worries - I will post about that later.... so that put my surgery at the end of July. July 18th - went to Metro surgery center, was prepped for surgery (ankle block and general anesthesia, went to sleep thinking my tendons were going to be repaired and mentally guarding myself regarding any kind of running until next year. Woke up a little foggy. I remember everyone talking and repeating how I would not remember anything they were saying, so they spoke to my husband. We drove home to Owensboro, I went to bed for the next 24 hours. Every four hours I woke up long enough to take the pain meds and drink lots of water. I was so thirsty for cold ice water! Saturday, July 19th - woke up at four and was physically ill. Waited four more hours to finally let my body rid itself of the pain meds. I cannot describe to you the overall grossness of being physically sick with no mobility. I vowed to never take another pain pill as long as I lived. Then the ankle block wore off. I refused the pain pills, but I was more than happy to take the four ibuprofen that my family was offering me. I should mention here that I have an AMAZING family. They make really great nurses and don't mind to sit and visit while one is recuperating. Sunday, July 20th - had a great night's sleep (but the soft cast was heavy and in my way). I woke up starving for real food and wanted to get some questions answered about my surgery. Here is what happened: Instead of repairing severed tendons, the surgeon found that my tendons were not severed....they were completely surrounded with massive amounts of scar tissue. He cleaned the scar tissue off both tendons, broke the top of my foot (where I had overcompensated)and inserted a metal plate that kind of looks like a hinge with several screws, AND pulled a muscle from the under side of my foot around and attached it to the bone on my ankle (to give more support). The next few days were pretty awful. Not because I felt bad really, but because I couldn't really get out of bed. When I did get out of bed it was to use the bathroom or to take a sit down shower - which takes so much effort, energy, and will power that I just couldn't seem to muster. Don't get me wrong - I really did take the showers, but it was so exhausting I would make it back to the bed and lie down for several more hours before attempting to move again. If you are reading these in order...please note that the next post will have graphic images of my foot.