Surgery Progress Nov. 14th, 2012

     Well all my friends and family, I have made it through one more week. One more week closer to an end all has been checked off the road to recovery. I've had a lot going on over the last week, starting with doctors appointments, physical therapy, thermal compression therapy, and finally getting some sleep. YAY!

     I'll start with the PN pain, Oh you guy's and girl's, I really don't no what to say about this. I still have numbness, but I've had more pain this week than last. I thought maybe this was due to more areas waking up, but the numbness seems to be the same. More areas seem to be going through what my foot has been experiencing, but not nearly as extreme, thank goodness! However, super sensitive to the touch, like one big giant bruise. I'm a little confused by this, because it seems areas that felt fine are now acting up. Who knows? Nerves really do have a mind of their own, and I give up on trying to make sense of this anymore. I'll tell you all one thing, patience and pain are the worst of enemies, and I just happen to be right in the middle of this battle. Pain is definitely kicking some butt right now (literally)!

     As far as the sitting goes, I sit mainly in the car, going back and forth from appointment to appointment. A few things I have noticed since surgery and riding around in the car the last couple of weeks is, I find myself not leaning or tipping up on my hips to sit anymore. Ya, you heard it right, I sit flat, on both my cheeks, like a normal person. This actually feels better than on my hips. I've noticed that it no longer feels like I'm sitting on a golf ball anymore, and I don't notice that terrible stretching or pulling sensation anymore either. I know, wow, right! I'm wondering if this is because I still have some numbness, or if this is something the surgery has corrected. Now, I just need all the soreness to go away, and I really want the numbness to leave too, so I can get a better idea of what's really going on down there.

     Okay, finally my darn foot and leg. I'll start with my neurologist appointment. It was a good appointment, he was very thorough, but he kinda just said everything we had already been told. He was not able to give us a clear answer on when and if  I would regain the motor function and sensation in my foot and leg. Back to the nerves, you just never know? He said it could be up to 6-12 month's before I regain normal function and sensation, and there's a small chance it may never fully get back to normal. We had some encouraging things come from this appointment. First, he seemed pleased with the slight progress my foot and leg had made in the last 4 weeks. He compared my exam with the physiatrist notes from when we first got home. Second, he felt due to the progress, surgery was not something we needed to do at this time. As long as my leg and foot keeps improving, this will not be necessary, only if the improvement stops will we need to consider going this route. Third, he then wrote out a prescription for physical therapy, finally, someone to help me with range of motion, my foot is pretty pathetic right now.

     Over the last week I have had two physical therapy appointments. I now have daily exercises that I can do at home to help with motion and regaining strength. So far physical therapy has not been terrible and unbearable, everything about it has been good.

     The pain in my foot is still so intense. Last week I had a very good friend of mine brainstorm with me. She is always so good to do this, she hates seeing me in pain, and she's good at coming up with solutions that may not have crossed my mind. Thanks Kate! She knows how bad nerve medicines affected me over the last year, she knew this was not a road I was willing to travel again. I told her how ice was my only relief, but icing the top of my foot is not so easy. I was putting a hand towel across the top of my foot then an ice pack, and then would wrap it up with an ace bandage. Not bad, but it doesn't last all night, after a couple of hours I would remove the hand towel so the ice pack was directly on my foot. This process of too much cold, and not enough cold, to no more cold, was keeping me up all night. She told me about a ice machine her neighbor had brought home after a knee surgery. I knew exactly what she was talking about, because a few years ago I had ankle surgery, and they would hook me up to one of these machines during physical therapy.

     Neither one of us knew the name of this machine, but I thought I would start checking onto it. I called medical supply stores, and ortho supply stores and was not making very much progress. Finally I reached a company that knew what I was talking about, only issue is they did not rent them out, it was for purchasing only. Over a $300 dollar unit, not interested. She told me they use to rent them, but only with a doctors prescription. She told me the one they carry is called the Ice Man, she told me it is a cold therapy treatment unit. I gave my physiatrist a call and left a message explaining what I was looking for to see if they could help. Something very ironic, this was last Tuesday I left the message, she called me on Wednesday to tell me someone had just came in on Monday with this very item I was looking for. She said if it wasn't for that she would never have known what I was talking about. She contacted the company for me and after a couple of days for insurance approval, Matt my man, brought the unit out to my house, and I will get to use it for the next four weeks. His is a little different, his is called a thermal compression unit. No need to feel it up with ice and water it has a built in refrigerator and keeps the temperature at a constant 49 degrees. It has three tubes that run from the unit to the foot cuff. One tube for bringing water in and the next for taking it back, the third is for air that slowly compresses the cuff and then releases. It continuously circulates cool water around my foot and leg. I can wear the foot cuff all night long because it runs for thirty minutes and then rests for thirty minutes. I have finally had a couple of good nights of sleep, it has been so nice.