Saturday, October 5, 2013

Post Surgery #3: Week 1 and 2


Some pre-op photos and one of me on a lot of drugs

Weeks one and two have come and gone since my ankle fusion.  Aaron and I started off the day bright (dark) and early by leaving the house at 4am since I had a 5am check-in time. Once I was checked in, we moved to our pre op room so I could put my sweet hospital gown and socks on. Aaron's sister Rachel is a nurse at the hospital, so she came down to visit us before her shift was over. She works on the teeny tiny babies, otherwise I would have requested her to be my nurse.

I met with 100 different people who all looked the same in their scrubs. The anesthesiologist came and explained the nerve block to me. He said I had to be awake for it so that I could tell them if I was in any pain (aka if they hit the nerve). I had one injection near my sciatic nerve and one near my femoral nerve. I honestly don't remember having it done, or even leaving my pre-op room. Yay drugs, right?!

I was in recovery for quite some time since they were waiting for a room to open up. Unfortunately for me, there was some miscommunication between two nurses and Aaron. One told me that she called him and left a message so that he could sit with me, and when he called back, another told him no. So I sat there alone and in and out of sleep for what felt like hours. I couldn't even call him  myself because he had all my belongings. I finally made it up to my room. I remember the guy who moved me telling me how pretty my toenails here painted. I tried to tell him that I wish I chose a more "autumn color" but I don't think he understood what I meant.

Aaron met me in my room at some point. He did some work on a video, and I did some work on catching up some zzz's. I was STARVING and nauseous at the same time. I was a clear liquid diet until the nausea passed, so I had some delicious chicken broth for lunch. Honestly, after all the food I had at the hospital, the broth was the only hot and tasty thing I ate. I did eventually switch to veggie broth after a recommendation from a nurse that it had more flavor.

My mom came by after work while Aaron went to have dinner with his sister, and my sister came by shortly after that. We chatted and watched TV, and my sister showed my this ridiculous video. If you want to know what the fox says, watch it.



I was only supposed to stay over one night, but due to the insane amount of pain I was in and the fever I couldn't break, I ended up staying two nights. I left Saturday afternoon and stayed at my moms until Sunday. Since then, I've just been hanging out in bed/on the couch. I play Lego Harry Potter on the xbox for half the day, and watch TV the other half. I'm thankful that all of my favorite television shows started up last week. 

I spend a lot of time snuggled in my blankie. 

Some times I nap backwards on my ottoman.


On the 4th, Aaron and I headed to the burbs to get my foot unwrapped and casted. I was (of course) hysterical getting my stitches out. I am pretty sure I counted 12 snips and pulls, but the lady that put my cast on pulled one more out. Aaron said the bandages were pretty nasty. I couldn't look. After the stitches were taken out, I had steri-strips put on and was sent to x-ray. I wish I would have taken a picture of what the inside of my foot looks like now. I have 6 screws and a plate! 


Before xray, and getting my cast. 

The cast is not as bad as I anticipated, but it's only been less than 24 hours. Talk to me in a month when I get my next one. Dr. Senall was very optimistic when he saw my films. He said I will get my next cast in about 4 weeks, and after another 4 weeks we might try a walking boot. WOO!

In non-foot related news, I got to see the Stanley Cup twice in two weeks. There was a photo-op at Millennium Park the day before my surgery, so I waited in line for about 3 hours. Thankfully I had nice line neighbors and my Kindle to keep me occupied. The second time, I happened to catch something on Twitter about the cup being at a restaurant down the street from our apartment. Aaron has never seen the cup before, so I treated him to a nice dinner, and we got to have our picture taken professionally with the cup.  

we are a pretty good looking trio.


That's all for now! 

- Vanna