Frankenfoot

First off, this is what my foot looked like from about Noon on Friday until late this morning. The bandage was ginormous and wrapped all the way up around my ankle. It left a lot to the imagination about what was actually going on under there... but I wasn't allowed to peek until I went back to the doctor this morning. Like Christmas... do not open until...

So this morning I went to see my surgeon, Dr. G. I found that I was more nervous about this appointment than I had been about the surgery. OK. Maybe not MORE... but at least as much. What if the scar was huge? What if the bandage stuck to the incision and it hurt when he took it off? What if, what if, what if? Luckily I didn't have to wait to long to see the doctor once I got there, so I didn't have time to work myself up too much. :-)

He unwrapped what seemed like miles of ace bandage, tape, and gauze and revealed... FRANKENFOOT!

The incision, as you can see, IS quite large. Lots of stitches inside and outside. Turns out he found more than he bargained for when he got in there. First off, the cyst was growing toward my toes instead of toward my ankle, as he had thought. Second, it was under a tendon and pushing up on a muscle, making the muscle bulge. And lastly, as an added extra bonus, he found a bone spur under all of it, which is what likely caused the cyst in the first place. Ding, ding... we have a winner! Lucky me!

So it's a little swollen, a little bruised, a little stained with the stuff they clean the area with before surgery. In short, a little gross.

And what of all the "ink" you might be asking. Well, in pre-op, I was told to write "yes" on the ankle of the foot I was having operated on. When the doctor came in to talk to me before surgery, he initialed the top of my foot to confirm my choice of feet. I guess this is a CYA measure to ensure the doctor doesn't slice into the wrong foot. That would be bad. The smiley face... well, that was Dr. G making fun of me. He laughed at me when I took my Blackberry out to take a picture of my foot before he re-bandaged it. So he added the smiley face and told me to go ahead and take the picture.

Then he re-bandaged. Smaller and pink! Practical AND stylish. He gave me a choice of pink or green... both were the bright colors of the 80s. Perhaps I should've chosen BOTH and made my foot look like a watermelon? Anyway, this bandage stays on until next Thursday, when I got back to have at least some of the stitches removed. Still can't get it wet, which means at least another 10 days of shower aerobics and bagging and taping. And the oh-so-stylish shoe, which you can see in the picture above, is a new fixture in my life... at least for the next month or so.

And now Frankenfoot and I are back on the sofa. The sofa nest will be dismantled after today. Life resumes to mostly normal tomorrow. Back to work on Thursday. It was fun while it lasted...

Inventory

In no particular order, here are the things I have been surrounded with in my sofa nest for the weekend.

• Fleece blanket
  
• Pile of pillows
  
• Bottles of water
  
• Cans of Diet Coke
  
• Chapstick
  
• Catalogs
  
• Television remote (and DVD remote and cable remote)
  
• Notepad
  
• Bottle of Tylenol III
  
• Bottle of Motrin
  
• Dayplanner
  
• Laptop
  
• Cell phone
  
• Blackberry
  
• House phone
  
• Books (three of them)
  
• Tissues
  
• Pens
  
• Cupcakes
  
• Cookies
  
• Tootsie rolls
  
• Rice Krispie Treat
  
• Briefcase
  
• Purse
  
• Bag for trash and food wrappers

I think that about covers it. I can conquer the world from my sofa nest!!

That was that

I am home and snuggly ensconsed (sp?) in my "sofa nest" (and have been since about Noon). The surgery went fine. The only snafu was that since I was somewhat dehydrated (yes, I KNOW I don't drink enough water), the nurse couldn't get the IV in the back of my hand. The vein kept rolling/ receding/ something. (I'm sure I'll have a lovely bruise from that.) She was very nice, she just couldn't get the needle in my vein. She finally called someone else in, who had no trouble getting a vein on the side of my wrist (and I should think not considering how tight she had the piece of rubber tied just above my elbow). I was visited in the prep area by two anesthesioligists, an anesthesiology nurse, my doctor, and three other nurses. They wrote "yes" on my left foot and the doctor initialed it. Liability CYA, I guess. I've heard of too many people who had the wrong limb amputated! Anyway, I confirmed my name, birthday, and what I was there for about 17 times, and then I was walked back to my OR and Hubby went out to the waiting area to ... well, wait.

I laid down on the operating table, which was only about as wide as was and hoped I didn't do a big twitch while I was out or I might have ended up on the floor! They strapped my arms out to my sides and put something in my IV to relax me. Didn't feel any difference. Then she said she was going to put the actual sleepy stuff in there momentarily. Missed that part. :)

I was under "twilight" anesthesia, so there's always the chance that you'll wake up during the procedure. I did wake up toward the end and had a conversation with whomever with in the room. I really remember what we talked about, other than the fact that I made a comment that I could feel I had a sock on my foot so the bandage must not be too big. Some replied that, um, no... there was no sock and my foot was still numb. Oh well. In my defense all of this conversing was going on with my eyes closed.

Anyway, I was chatting away and the next thing I knew, I was in the recovery area. Guess I went sleepy again for a few minutes. The nurse asked if I had to use the restroom, and I did. Not shocking since they pumped a few liters of fluid in me during the 90-minute procedure. They put a lovely orthopedic shoe on my foot and I hobbled to the bathroom, where I almost fell into the toilet as I was still a little dizzy from the anesthesia. But all was well. When I went back, I got to sit in the rolling Barka Lounger. And I got pretzels and Diet Coke! I had joked with the doctor prior to surgery that I hoped my growling stomach didn't distract him from the task at hand! I was HUNGRY!

In the less than five minutes it took me to scarf down my bag of pretzels, the dizzyness went away and Hubby joined me. I got dressed, the nurse when over some stuff, and I sat in a wheelchair to be discharged.

So the verdict was that I did, indeed have a ganglion cyst in my foot. I didn't ask how big it ended up being. I need to ask him that next week when I go back for my follow-up. But he also found a bone spur, which he said is likely what caused it in the first place. So he shaved that down and removed the cyst. That's why it took longer than anticipated, I guess. But's all's good. I go back to see him on Tuesday for a follow-up. I have to keep the ginourmous bandage on until then. Fun, fun.

I have been sitting/lying on the sofa nest since about Noon. I ate, took a Tylenol III, read a few chapters of my book, read my email, read the latest People Magazine, took a codeine-induced nap, and now I'm watching Keeper Boy play Backyard Baseball on the Wii. J-Mav is playing at a friend's house.

We are going to order a movie on TV and some pizza and just hang in the sofa nest tonight. So far, I feel good. I've had my foot elevated all day, which I'm sure helps. I will likely take another Tylenol III soon. I decided there's no point in being a hero. I wasn't when I had children, and there's no need to be now, either. Not that this pain could be anything near THAT pain, but why deal with pain at all?

Still undecided about this weekend's activities... I think I'll remain on the sofa nest at least through tomorrow, which means I'll miss J-Mav's soccer game and end-of-season party, as well as Keeper Boy's hockey game against his team from last year. We'll see what Sunday brings. I may feel the need to fly the coop by then.