Surgery Day!

Greetings from the other side! I was already through foot surgery once 10 years ago. I hated every minute of it, it was the most painful experience in my life. Suffice to say, knowing what I was getting in to again, I wasn't thrilled with the concept of going back for more. But I did.

Surgery Day

Surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am on Friday. I had to be at the surgical center at 6:30 am. I couldn't eat of drink after midnight. I ate dinner at about 10:00 pm and had my last glass of water as I went to bed at 10:30 or 11. We were up at 5:00 am for my last regular shower for at least a month and then the drive to the center.

Once at the center, everything went pretty smoothly. We checked in, filled out a few final pieces of paperwork, waited in the waiting room for about 5 minutes, and then they came over to take me back to get ready. I had to put on the terrible little "hospital dress" which was as ugly as always, take my pregnancy test and get settled to wait. All the nurses were amazingly nice and helpful. I got to met my anesthesiologist, and heard the plan for getting me through. I would be doing "twilight sleep" meaning I might very well wake up during surgery, but would likely not remember much.

The nurse came in to put in my IV, in what she said were "little veins". That all went fine and I was hooked up to my IV with antibiotics started. We waited a little longer for the doc to show (I think he was running a little late!). Him and another doctor came in, which would be assisting him in the surgery. Both were nice and making jokes, which was nice. Once they were there, I was whisked back to the operating room where they got me moved to the surgical bed and got me hooked up. The anesthesiologist got me started on the stuff to knock me out, and I was OUT. I remember waking up a few times. I remember saying I was cold and trying to stay awake, but wasn't very successful. I know I heard some mechanical noises (maybe a drill or some screwing?) but went right back to sleep.

Back in the recovery room I woke up pretty quickly. Taking one look at the clock I realized we were running a little behind and asked the nurse to go tell my hubby everything was ok. I know he was probably out there worrying about me!

They took quite a bit of my monitoring devises off. Then they offered me water. I've never been so excited about getting something to drink in my life! The nurse mentioned my eyes lit up when I saw the glass... I was SOO thirsty!! The not eating before the surgery was fine, but the next drinking was KILLER for me. I usually drink a lot of water, so it was rough for me.

They kept me in the recovery room for about an hour, and the anesthesiologist and doc visited me. All went well, except evidently the old screw in my toe was a b**tch to get out. They actually had to drill around it a little, and then use some needle nose pliers to twist it out. Otherwise things went well. They gave me some prescriptions and directions, and I actually remember them!

The eventually wheeled me out in a wheelchair to my waiting husband and quickly I was in the car and on my way home (it was roughly 11 am)! Zach dropped me off at home and went to get my drugs and some jell-o. We got my foot up on the couch, and the animals came to smell what was going on with my foot. Once Zach was back, I hit up the jell-o and some pudding to see if I could keep some food down. SUCCESS! Given the failure last time I had surgery, I was thrilled to be able to eat. Next we hit up the soup, and decided to take the antibiotics and anti-inflammatory, to see if I could keep it down. SUCCESS!

I thought they said the numbing agent would last 8 - 12 hours (but now I'm thinking it was 8 - 24 at least!) I followed all the directions I got (foot up, ice 20 minutes of every hour, take the meds, eat). The nurses said following the directions should make the numbing agent last longer. I would have done anything she said!!!

Around 7 pm I had the hubby make some dinner (frozen bertoli pasta in a bag) and scarfed down some food. Once again, no sickness!! We decided to split one of they hydrocodone I was sent home with, to see if I could keep it down. Once again, SUCCESS! I figured the numbing agent would start wearing off soon, so I decided to take 1/2 a hydrocodone every 4 - 6 hours (in accordance with the directions, but they actually recommended the full pill). I eventually fell asleep on the couch around midnight, still with a numb ass foot. I woke up at 3 to take the next anti-inflammatory and another pain pill. Foot still number, life was gong well! :)