Before anyone becomes alarmed, it was only foot surgery.
What do you mean, only foot surgery? And is that the ceiling?
I didn’t mean to imply foot surgery is minor, but in comparison to heart surgery, it is. And yes, that’s the ceiling. Since I had to lay flat of my back with my leg elevated for 48 hours, it was the only way I could get a picture of the cute face the doctor drew on the bandage. 😉
Anyway, back to the title of this post. What I learned. I think I’ll do bullets since that’s what I’ve been biting lately.
- When doctors say this won’t hurt much, they’ve never had foot surgery.
- When doctors say you have to lay flat of your back for 48 hours, they actually mean 60 hours.
- When a doctor prescribes pain medication in doses of 1 tablet every 6 hours…well, see bullet #1. The prescription didn’t last the 48 hours.
- I don’t care what the doctor says, it hurts to resplint the toe.
- I bet it’ll hurt when the pin comes out, too. Did you know they don’t put you to sleep to do that?
- It’s impossible to redress the foot once the bandage is off. I should know–I tried it today and ended up back in the doctor’s office…where she wanted to take the stitches out. Early.
- You can talk a doctor out of taking out the stitches.
I expect to be back to normal, whatever that is, in a couple of weeks. Thanks for stopping in, and I’d love to know if you’ve ever had an operation where the recuperation wasn’t quite what you expected. Leave me a comment, letting me know, and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a $10 Amazon gift card or a $10 iTunes gift card…or a copy of Shadows of the Past–The winner’s choice. Follow my blog or newsletter and it will earn you more entries. Drawing will end next Monday night.
Oh! Wait…I think I’ll use Rafflecopter! That way there won’t be any mistakes!
But first, here are the 5 winners of the Christmas anthology, A Heartwarming Christmas which will be sent via email when it releases:
Karen
Kathryn Albright
Cynthia A. Lovely
Flichen1
Nicole Pyo
And the winner of Rebecca DeMarino’s To Capture Her Heart is: Bonnie Engstrom
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Comments 26
I agree. Foot surgery, even toe surgery because of the many nerve endings, is more painful than pacemaker surgeries I’ve had.
Author
Even so, Dee, I think I’d take the toe surgery over the heart surgery. 🙂
I think the harder question would be: WHICH surgery would I like to tell you about? I’m not sure that ANY of the recuperation was what I expected, which for me is best!
If I’d known I would have to continually put MYSELF in excruciating pain to go through the knee replacement therapy, would I have wanted stronger drugs?
If I’d have known the shoulder replacement would be not quite as bad as the knee, plus help me to become a bionic super power, would I have done it sooner?
If I’d have known discovering and removing the 30 years + bacteria in my gums would have enabled my dentist to tell me I can have on my tombstone “See, I told you I was sick” would I have balked at the price?
If I’d have known it would take eight people and thirteen sticks to get my IV started for one surgery, would I have planned some jokes ahead of time to cheer up the hospital staff?
If I were smarter, and possibly a better planner, would I go ahead and have personal business cards printed which would read “Medically speaker, abnormal is normal”?
I could go on, but in the interest of friendship and PR, I won’t.
Author
Oh, Jan, now I feel terrible grousing about my little bit of pain! Thanks for stopping by.
Glad you are recovering well! The hysterectomy that I had at age 29 was not what I expected in recovery time…. 😉
Author
Caryl, I don’t know that we would ever agree to surgery if we knew what was waiting on the other side. 🙂 Which is probably a good thing sometimes.
You had me squirming away for you–all over again!–Pat. Hope you’re feeling much better.
Author
I am feeling much better…until next week when the stitches come out, then a week and a half later, the pin comes out, But I’m over the worst of it and will be able to wear boots this winter!! And enclosed shoes!!
Plus, I finally figured out how to subscribe to your blog! Yay, me.
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Actually, Elaine, yay me! I discovered I was using the wrong subscribe button. This one is much easier. So it wasn’t really you at all. lol
Oh, Pat. Ouch for you in this situation. I’ve had two foot surgeries. (Bunions and a neuroma and a foot/toe infection) I remember walking (crawling like a crab, actually) across the kitchen floor and up the stairs with my foot in the air because that was the only way to get around. I hate hearing that you’re in pain, but you made me laugh about “what you learned.” I pray that you heal quickly. Keep telling yourself that this will all pass–which you know, but still…it’s frustrating to sit around and hurt, too. At least your butt is in the chair. You’ll be able to write about pain in the foot. Hugs, my friend. Thinking of you. XO
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Thanks, Michelle. Since it’s hard to walk in this beautiful black shoe they gave me, I’ve stayed home and tried to write. Unfortunately, they didn’t return my brain until this week and the fog finally cleared so I could write again!
The operation for me is the easy part as I don’t do the anesthesia well and can’t take the good pain pills. Seems like I’ve had more than my share so far related to injuries. Hope everyone is keeping healthy. Here’s to your successful recovery.
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Thank you, Karen. I don’t think I would’ve made it the first 48 hours without the pain pills!
Thankfully I’ve not had a lot of surgeries, but I do remember waking up after my “tubal” to start puking my guts up. Didn’t expect that but it wasn’t even close to what you’ve been through. I’m even MORE impressed with your thoughts and comments during our discussion this past week!!
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Aww, thank you Holly. I enjoyed the book discussion! Actually, the foot surgery–after the initial pain–has been more an inconvenience with having to wear the clunky black shoe (even in bed)! Thanks for stopping by.
Patricia, I broke a little toe years ago. The doc gave me the choice of surgery or him manually putting the toe back in place. I didn’t do surgery, but maybe I should have–the doc putting the toe back where it belonged hurt worse than the pain when I broke it. I just followed your blog–don’t know what took me so long to sign up!
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Oh, that hurts just thinking about it, Jo. And thanks for following and for the comment!!
The doc said I’d be “back to normal in 2 weeks” after my knee surgery…harharhar…2 MONTHS later, I was still traversing ice on my crutches to get to the class I was teaching and having someone drive me around…but I DO have to say, the surgery worked, and some sort of new cartilage stuff grew and I REALLY enjoy my walking.
Loved reading about your experience, Pat, and I think Jan Ballard ought to win the “survived the most surgeries” prize…and write some Erma Bombeck-type memoirs!
Author
Glad you had such good results with your knee surgery. I’m looking forward to knee replacement one day. NOT! And that’s a good suggestion about Jan. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks for the opportunity to win! Thankfully, I’ve not had many surgeries. Only wisdom teeth removal and while it took a couple of days to recover, it was not so bad…
Author
Oh, Staci…I have a story for my wisdom tooth extraction…the dentist could not get me deadened and ended up pulling one of my wisdom teeth without the benefit of novocaine. Not fun. But it was a long time ago…Thanks for stopping by and I’m glad you haven’t’ had many surgeries!
Patricia, my heart goes out to you for the pain you’ve endured. I’ve had foot troubles in the past, and it wasn’t any fun. Like Staci, I’ve had wisdom teeth removed. The operation was fine and the recovery would have gone without a hitch except that I experienced an allergic reaction to the medication (itchy rash over my body). When I had my babies, the nurses seemed surprised I didn’t want to take any pain killers–I was terrified of discovering a new allergy. 😉
Blessings ~ Wendy
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I don’t blame you, Wendy. You certainly didn’t want to go home from the hospital with a new baby and an allergy! Thanks for stopping by!
It must’ve been awful lying flat on your back for hours and hours, I can’t imagine.
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It wasn’t fun, but actually, whenever I lowered my foot, it hurt so bad that lying with it elevated was the only option. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Laurie!