Surgery Progress Oct. 29th, 2012

     Today is my three week mark, I'd have to say I'm pretty pleased with my progress over the last week. My pain has come down enough to where I'm not needing to rely on ice nearly as much. To me this is a good sign of improvement. If I get up and try to be normal, like go to my boy's football games, then yes, I come home and break out the ice. And no, I did not sit at their games, in case anyone was wondering, I stood the whole time. I'm still very sore and extremely sensitive in the in-between area, I'm not quite ready to take this step yet. Hopefully soon.

     So yesterday I had a very busy day. It started with a doctor's appointment and then a funeral, (very sad) which between the two took up a big part of my day. I came home and laid down with some ice, but after a hour was back up, and spent most of the night down stairs with my family. I was really surprised that I had gotten through most of the day being up. I realized that I had gotten through the day without any of the terrible burning pain that started back up just before getting released from the hospital. I hope, after two weeks of intense burning, (and the last 20 month's before surgery) that this has finally stopped for good. It is really hard to say for sure, because it was for only one day, but I hope this is the first of many more days to come. Now I am waiting for that raw, sore, super sensitive and tender feeling to leave, and the pressure that comes with the unavoidable trips to the bathroom, and also standing too long. I still have some numbness in the in-betweens, but for now, it looks like I'm heading one step in the right direction, and I'm so happy!

     I wish I could be as excited about my leg and foot. Unfortunately, my leg has started to become very painful, it burns, throbs and aches all the time, sometimes it feels like someone shot a bullet right through the middle of my foot. Nothing I take touches the pain, and the pain keeps me up most of the night. I am starting to get a little worried, as I can see a familiar pattern of nerve pain begin somewhere new on my body. Some may think this is a good sign and that this means my leg is healing, but I have not been told by any doctors if this is the case yet. We went for an ultrasound last week, and just not your average everyday ultrasound. When we left the physiatrist, his office was going to call the Riverton hospital to set up the ultrasound appointment. A couple of hours after getting home I received a phone call from his office, explaining I only had two options for the type of ultrasound ordered. I had no idea there was options or a difference, strange. She explains that the doctor ordered a musculoskeletal ultrasound and that there was only two places in the Salt Lake Valley that could perform this. My choices were the Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, or the University Of  Utah Hospital. Knowing that I am not covered through our insurance at the U Of U, I chose Salt Lake Regional. I went up on Wednesday morning for what I thought was just an ultrasound, but once arriving I learned I had an appointment with a sports medicine doctor? I asked "why am I seeing a doctor?" "I thought I was here for an ultrasound?" They explained he was the only doctor trained to perform this type of ultrasound, and so my appointment would be with him. I was not impressed, after waiting for a very a long time while they worked on getting my medical records from the other office, all I learned, was that I have a very swollen peroneal nerve. He offered to do a cortisone injection, but really wanted me to try some sugar injections instead. This is not covered by insurance, and it is not a cheap treatment. It does sound interesting, and I would like to do some more research for this type of treatment, but not interested in this route until I learn more. He also does Regenerative Medicine with Platelet Rich Plasma, this was not offered to me, but I am very curious about this treatment, and would like to do some research for this type of treatment as well. I told him I would think about it and call back for an appointment if I decided to do the injections. I walked away feeling very frustrated, obviously my nerve is swollen, did I really need to go through all of that to hear something we already knew. For now I am waiting for my follow-up with the physiatrist this Friday. Feeling like this isn't really going anywhere either, I have made an appointment to meet with a neurologist on Nov.8th. I hope I soon get some clearer answers about the issues with my leg, and we can get to work on a treatment plan.