July 28 (back post)

WARNING ****** Visual images are not pretty in this post. On July 28 I went back to Louisville for the reveal of my foot. I had been in a soft cast for 10 days! I was taken to a room that looked like a ton of casts had been put on in there. A hard cast was just not on my agenda. I spent an enormous amount of time praying that I would have been miraculously healed and placed in a boot for a couple of weeks. The young lady that was removing the soft cast asked what color I wanted the hard cast to be. My heart dropped into my stomach. I murmured the color red. She finished unwrapping the yards and yards of material surrounding my ankle and foot. Then she broke (piece by piece) the cotton that was between my skin and the yards of wrap. About twenty minutes into it, I could feel fresh air on my skin. I finally found my inner strength and took a gander at the wreckage attached to my lower leg. I didn't recognize it at first. That couldn't be ATTACHED TO ME! I noticed several staples on top of my foot and they also seemed to go from my pinky toe all the way up past my ankle bone on the outside of my foot. I had to look away and gather my stomach. I looked again and realized I was still holding my breath. I started breathing again and took a closer look. I simply couldn't get a grasp around how I should SURELY be feeling this mess. I think the swelling stopped me from really feeling a whole lot of anything. My heart rate slowed down a bit and I was breathing easier. Then the nurse said, "Okay, this contraption is designed to bend the staple and pull it out". Uhhh...Heart rate is much more rapid now. I asked how badly this would hurt and she said it isn't unbearable....that it will feel like a sting. Okay - how MANY stings? She counted all 24 staples. I flopped back on the bed and slung my arm over my face. I kept thinking about my trip to Mexico and the beach, and tried with all my might to find a happy place.

The surgeon came in and looked at my foot. He told me I should be moving it up and down three or four times a day...and trying to bend my toes as much as possible. He said he would rather NOT put me in a cast because he was afraid of the tendons getting more scar tissue around them. So - I got to go home in a boot. In fact - I DROVE home from Louisville because I was so excited. I also rented a knee scooter to help with mobility. I was told I could start working the next week. Praise GOD! I was on the road to recovery!!!