6 Weeks Post-Op

I had my 6 week post-op appointment on Nov 1st, and what a happy day it was! Dr. Senall said everything looked GREAT!!  I thought I would be getting my second cast, but things were progressing so well that Dr. S. put me in an air boot. I am still non weight bearing for the next few weeks, but at least I can wash and shave my little leg. Seriously... It's so thin I can feel my tibia and fibula.

I did, unfortunately, have to pull out two halves of stitches that they missed at my first follow up appointment. I'll allow it...it was a pretty gross mess. 

The scar! 

Boots and boots and all the boots. I'll be going as robocop for halloween next year

It's so weird to be in the least amount of pain I've been in for the last few years, but like I said, I haven't started weight bearing yet. 

Outside of my foot issues, it's been a busy few weeks since my last blog post. I saw Bon Jovi with my mom for the third time this year (Tampa, once. Chicago, twice). It was an AMAZING show. The band has never disappointed us. Since the show ran very late, I decided to stay the night at her house instead of Aaron coming to pick me up at the United Center at 11pm. I am very glad I did because little did I know, that next morning would the last time I would see one of my best friends in the world, my dog Pepsi. My mom came home from work that night and found Pepsi in an indescribable amount of pain, sprawled out in the floor, and unable to move. My mom told me that she just new it was time to put her down. Pepsi was 15 years old. She had a very good life...we spoiled her rotten. It's still really sad, but each day gets easier. 

The best in the world. I will always miss you Pepsi!

Halloween was pretty weak. It's one of my favorite holidays, and the cast and crutches made my costume choices very limited. Since Aaron and I loved The Book of Mormon musical, we dressed as Mormon missionaries. Very simple costume for a small house party at a friends house. 

Hello, would you like to change religions, I have a free book written by JESUS

We went to our first Blackhawks game of the season on an extreme whim last week. I had a friend text me at 10 minutes to game time that tickets on stubhub were 10$ each. We ended up buying tickets and booked it over to the UC. We missed about half the first period, but the game was great, and the hawks won! 

He's the best. 

HAWKS WIN! HAWKS WIN!

That's it for today! My next appointment is in December, and I will hopefully be walking by then! 

- Vanna 

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

Surgery #3

.....I am having an ankle fusion!

After meeting with Dr Senall, I not only decided on an ankle fusion, but I also decided to continue my care with him. I think Dr. Arndt is a great guy, but when I had two other doctors tell me I have too many risk factors that would cause an ankle replacement to fail, I need to go with who makes me informed. Dr. Senall was very straightforward with me. Like my second opinion, he said that my tibia would not hold the replacement hardware.  The turn around time of this is pretty quick. I am having this done on the 19th of September. Just over a week away. I'm pretty lucky actually. The hospital is making special arrangements to let Dr. S operate on a day he normally doesn't. If this wasn't possible, I would have to wait until October 8th.

Aaron turned me into a Packers supporter

In the next week, I need to do some major grocery shopping, tons of laundry, clean the apartment, see my friends, go on a shopping trip to look for bridesmaid dresses with my sister, and of course have a date night with Aaron. We try to go out once a week, whether it's going out to eat or ordering a pizza and relaxing at home. What ever it is, it has to involve neither of us cooking. It also always includes fro-yo.

Outside of my foot issues, the last few weeks have been pretty good. Aaron and I had a very busy weekend! We celebrated our first anniversary (clearly what a crazy year it has been!), Aaron ran the Chicago half-marathon, football started (not that I really care), his friend Connie was in town from NYC, and I went to a taping of Windy City Live (a Chicago talk show) and Giada De Laurentiis was on!

Had a casual dinner at Maggianos, and was presented with this cheesecake

He's been training all summer for this. I'm very proud!!!

Yes, I geeked out the whole time.