Week 50 - Hammer Toe Surgery

When I was in London, I was answering Teams messages about rearranging my schedule for the 3 days before surgery. They needed to schedule interviews for my replacement (yay!) for Monday so had to reschedule one of my trainings. My 3 days were now jam packed and would be crazy but I'd live.

I started the week with a mammogram at the clinic first thing then a mad rush to campus for the first interview. We then took Ben, who had gotten a promotion and so was no longer our boss, to lunch. We went to Honest Abe's for burgers, which I split with Cindy. I felt like I'd eaten a side of beef and didn't eat again until Tuesday morning. We interviewed the second candidate that afternoon and I bolted home to get to knitting by 6:00. One day down, 2 to go.

Tuesday was crazy too. They had rescheduled my Monday training to Tuesday morning, which meant I trained from 10:00-12:00 and 1:30-4:00. During the first training, my doctor's office kept calling. Apparently they got called on their lame pre-surgery physical and the surgeon was demanding an EKG and blood draw. The minute my training was done, I ran to the clinic for both, gobbled lunch and was training again to an overfull class (I'd let in everyone on the wait list) at 1:30. When that was over, I ran to my eye doctor appointment, ate dinner and then went to a library board meeting at 7:00. Sheesh!

By comparison, Wednesday was a cake walk. I started at NebOrtho at 8:00 to meet the surgeon, dropped Darla's Christmas present on the way to campus and went right to the church where we were having our office Christmas party because I was on the set up crew. We had a lovely party and after cleaning up, I went to the office for an afternoon free to get some work done. I hit Super Saver for my final pre-surgery grocery run, did some last minute chores and set an alarm for 4:00 since I had to be at the surgery center at 5:30. I'd made it through 3 super hectic days and was ready for surgery and recovery.

I drove myself in and Anne came after her workout. The morning was a blurr (anesthesia will do that) and I was discharge before noon. Anne drove me home in my car and Rene followed in her car to drive her home. They set me up with a few things I'd forgotten (refilling the birdseed buckets) and food. The next days were a blur as I was taking pain meds around the clock and doing nothing but streaming and knitting with my foot elevated. When the nerve block wore off Friday morning, the pain level shot up but I lived. Better living through chemistry.

I have the best friends. Andrea came by the afternoon of my surgery and Lorri the next day, doing little things to make my life easier. 

The boot they had sent me home in was absolutely useless. I wasn't supposed to do any weight bearing on my toes but they didn't give me a slanted boot that would force my weight to my heel. Even using my cane, I every step was a chore. I emailed to ask if I could get a different boot, which they said was fine so I ordered a boot and a cast cover from Amazon. When they were delivered on Sunday evening, I took my first shower since Thursday morning, put on a fresh nightie and took the first non-wobbly steps in the new boot. Much better! I'd also been waiting longer between pain meds and was fine with that. I also ate 3 meals on Sunday for the first time since getting sick in Estonia. I was down 20 pounds! Losing weight is always good but not like this.

So, I had finally wised up and taken the rest of the year off so was facing weeks of sitting, knitting and streaming. I wonder how much weight I'll gain back? Only time will tell. And for those wondering why I scheduled surgery right before Christmas, it's the ever so broken American health care system. I'd met my maximum out of pocket on my health insurance so this surgery was 100% free. And it will be nice to be able to wear regular shoes again and hopefully not suffer from the ridiculous toe cramps I've been having. Wish me luck.