Entry from June 9, 2006

As many of you know, I went in for surgery on my toes on Wednesday morning. Not to say I was nervous, but my stomach started acting up the minute we pulled into the parkinglot and I had a stress headache started. Once we entered the building, my poor Babe had to practically drag me down the hall. Yes, my toes have been hurting for a long time...very long time....but the thought of having the nails yanked outta my toes was much more frightening to me. When I got in the office, they greeted me with a smile, but dang I was whiter than a sheet and already shaking. The head nurse saw this and got me in and set up right away...or at least mostly set up. We had to wait on the anathesiologist to come and get me put under. Normally, the nurse would have gotten my IV started but I was so dang scared that my veins in my right arm (the arm that I usually have blood drawn from) decided to play hide and go seek with the medical staff. *SIGHZ*. They ended up using a butterfly on my hook up. I told them to bring me a whole bottle of Riesling and I'd be fine...LOL. The surgery that was supposed to take only 15 minutes ended up lasting nearly an hour. I guess the dr figured while he had me sedated he may as well take care of the ingrown toenail problem as well so he not only removed the nails completely but trimmed the edges of the toes and stitched up the corners to help prevent the nails from becoming ingrown again. I came out of the surgery really easy. This surprises me because the last time I had to be put under, they used sodium pentathol and I dont wake up nicely from that...not at all. This time I woke up easy and with no tears. They called in my Babe and went over the care for the wounds again and outfitted me with these ummmm (sarcasm alert) very classy black toeless shoes with velcro fasteners....yeah real classy...LOL. I was also given 3 prescriptions to have filled (yep...more drugs...). We went to WallyWorld and got them filled and picked up a few groceries. Thank goodness for those complimentary wheelchairs....I dont think I woulda made it otherwise. When we got home Babe banished me to bed. Felt pretty good the rest of the day considering my body had been violated and all. Propped my legs up and went to sleep around midnight or so. At 4am I woke up screaming in pain. I was in so much pain I felt like I was going to vomit (thankfully I didnt do this) and pass out (which I eventually did do). Not to say the pain was bad...but like I told TexSis when she called.....normal pain for these toes has been like an ingrown toenail been stubbed real good.....this pain was more like an ingrown toenail with a grand piano tossed on top of it. So I took another pill and passed out. I was awake around 8am to take another pill...the pain was a bit less by then but still not bearable at all. By noon, the pain was manageable. Every 4 hours I took my meds and pretty much fell asleep. I was told to increase the pain meds a little bit before going to bed and maybe I'd sleep thru last night. Well, I didnt sleep thru but I did manage to get thru the night relatively pain free. When we did the first foot soak today, it actually went better than yesterday's two soaks. In fact, the bandages practically floated off on their own. There is still drainage and some blood, but that is to be expected for the next 2 weeks. I really hope to get up and around soon because my legs and butt hurt from being seated in this bed. I am, however, feeling better. Alot around here I wont be able to do for a long time (like the cat litter and hauling the laundry to the kitchen). I am beginnin to wish we had hardwoods in the house so I could at least shove myself around in an office chair. I guess I will need to make due with this laptop for a while. Well, I better scoot...the Vicodin is kicking in and making me drowsy again.