The deed is done

Yesterday was surgery day. I went in at 11:15 to find out I wasn’t on the day list because someone ballsed up and put me down for the day before! It was all sorted out in the end  and I made it to the admissions ward. It was a bit of a rush there because I’d been so long in reception but everything got completed.

I walked to theatre admissions next. The surgeon came and marked my leg and discussed the surgery including where she’d take a bit of bone to graft if necessary. It was the top of my tibia and the first place I looked after surgery was there. No dressing so no graft, yay.

Then the anaesthetist came and discussed my anaesthesia. He decided since I had MS a general was the best option. Funny how it differs from doctor to doctor! I told him I needed to avoid overheating so he promised they wouldn’t put the heat blanket on on top heat.

Once they were sorted I was walked into the theatre. It was freezing! The operation table was so narrow but they had arm rests so it wasn’t too bad. The anaesthetist said he was going to put a cannula in my hand and I thought “you’re welcome to try.” He obviously looked at the veins and decided that my one drain pipe vein in my left elbow was a far better idea. The last thing I remember was him saying he was giving me a relaxant and looking around at the theatre noting I did feel relaxed.

I woke up in the recovery room in full MS blow out. My legs were spasming like crazy and my teeth were chattering. I had the usual fight about it being a normal side effect of a GA and the nurse wanting to warm me up and me saying if she did I’d get worse. We worked out a compromise. 

I had local in the site in theatre but when it wore off it was very painful. They kept topping up my morphine but it was still sitting at a five (someone has hit me very hard with a hammer). The anaesthetist was called and he ordered oxycodone. I was warned it would make me drowsy and it did but it hit the pain beautifully. I don’t remember anything more in re overly,I just magically appeared in my room.

I had a pump on my left leg to help prevent blood clots. Every three minutes it would feel like someone had grabbed my ankle. I also had my moon boot on! I thought they were a bit confused taking it to theatre with me but no, they were right. When I had the calcaneal osteotomy I had a soft cast but this time it’s just bandaged so the moon boot forms the support.

Pump on the left and moonboot on the right.

It’s really weird trying to sleep with a moonboot on. I was a bit drowsy but watched some tv and waited for dinner since I hadn’t eaten since 6:45pm the previous day. They have fabulous food at Mercy but not after a GA. After a GA you get a light meal. It wasn’t bad at all and if I hadn’t seen the full menu today I’d have never been the wiser. Dinner was good but breakfast was cold toast and porridge with stewed apple and apple juice. Since I’m allergic to eggs I couldn’t have the hot breakfast which was scrambled or poached eggs. On the full menu the cooked breakfast included delicious offerings such as French toast with bacon, banana and maple syrup as well as the cold toast and cereal. I had the chicken salad for my main meal with pumpkin soup and the entree and creme brûlée for dessert.

Delicious salad but not the best for someone with an egg allergy!

I struggled a bit with pain during the night but tramadol and paracetamol seemed to ease it. I was really tired but the foot pump kept waking me up when I drifted off. I had a book and I found reading a paragraph or so sent me off to sleep. That worked until 4:15am. From then on I was wide awake and unable to even snooze.Fortunately the night nurses were characters and entertained me. They also gave me another oxycodone when I said it felt like someone hit my foot with a hammer. One of them joked that it was a baseball bat. We decided the other night nurse had done it and hidden the weapon. 🤪

I was being closely monitored and once they got over the fact that 100/50 is a normal if even slightly high blood pressure reading for me they settled down. The real concern was my oxygen saturation’s. I was sitting at 93% so I spent a fair bit of time with first the mask and then the nasal prongs delivering delicious oxygen.

I was released just under 24 hours after I arrived. I had the surgeon and anaesthetist visit but didn’t see a physio so I’m struggling to go upstairs if I’m using crutches. The I-walk is no problem but it’s a bit difficult to put on in a hurry. I remember good leg goes to heaven but I’m not sure how everything else fits in. When I went down to do something in the kitchen then I ended up crawling back up the stairs. Not the best when our house is accessed 

So that’s about it for now. Once I get a clear head and stop sleep typing I’ll do another entry.

Six weeks

While my leg was in the cast I had no problem with swelling but after being freed my foot went crazy! Initially I had ankle swelling - a cankle - and it felt like I had a sprained ankle. Later on that day the whole foot swelled up and went a dull reddish colour. It continued to protest about any use of the ankle or toes. It had been perfectly happy sitting at a 90degree angle to my leg and would like to continue to be so.

I propped it up on a few pillows whenever I was sitting down or lying down, pretty much what I'd done initially post surgery. I did have a bath and it was divine! It was also pretty gross by the end. I used a loofah and a pumice stone to sloth off as much of the gross scaly skin that I could. The area around my screw insertion point was too tender to attack and the tendon resection spot above my ankle and the bone cutting point along the side of my heel where both covered in steristrips so too hard to get to. 

It was a success and now my leg is smooth, hair free but also scrawny.

Today I drove and that was fine once my brain got back into driving mode. I walked the dog with two crutches and a moon boot - fun! I also had a walk around the neighbourhood with the moo boot and one crutch and did a small supermarket shop. My foot still appears to be normal sized and happy. The only time I hurt it was when I whacked the heel against the shin of my other leg. My advice is to look after your heel. It will be tender because, as the registrar said, someone bashed around in there with a saw and cut it apart.

I am certainly enjoying being able walk relatively normally and being able to put my foot down on the floor when I hop out of bed. I also enjoy being able to wear jeans instead of sweats and yoga pants, being able to put a sock on my foot since it's felt like an ice block ever since the surgery.