7 Days Later

Today (tonight at 8:05 p.m. to be exact) marks day 7 post surgery, and things are going as well as can be expected. I'm still having to elevate my foot to keep down the swelling, and if I don't, I get the wonderful sensation of my foot filling with blood — and the feeling that everything is about to burst through my stitches. It's not a painful feeling — but it is most certainly uncomfortable. Kind of like the stitches are the cork that's keeping my insides from gushing out, and all that pressure is building up in that little toe. A Hoover Dam, of sorts. The only "pain" I've been feeling is a searing, burning sensation‚ and that chimes in every 3 and half hours or so, like clockwork. Thankfully, I take my pain pills every 4 hours with Tylenol in between, so I can manage it pretty well. So really I'm mostly just incredibly uncomfortable all the time, as far as the toe goes.

What hurts are the spots where they removed lymph nodes. CRIPES! It's like I've been hit with a bat, and they're swollen in kind. They hurt if I look at them! I also had a small mass removed from my left arm, right at the bend, and it's driving me nuts, too. I can use that arm now, but I'm ready for the Steri-Strip to come off so I can survey the huge gash it seems I have (but scars are cool), and get my range of motion back.

Another issue I'm having to deal with is nerve damage from the lymph node removal. From my inner thigh, down to about half my calf, I'm pretty much numb — and this is one reason walking is so difficult right now. I'd say about 80% of my leg is dead weight, and that's a lot of weight to lug around. The vast majority of the nerves should heal up within 6 months, so it's just a matter of waiting.

As fas as me getting around, right now I'm on crutches — and only getting up under necessity, and to get some circulation flowing in my leg for a bit. I'm hoping that after my stitches are removed in 2 weeks, I'll get to where I can put more weight on my foot and downsize to using just 1 crutch. If my nerves are cooperating and that happens, I'm hoping I'll be able to downsize yet again to using just a cane by October's end. Sometime after this, I hope to be able to return to church and start playing in the band again — as long as Bunker and Phillip will be my roadies and carry gear for me. Then maybe — just maybe — I'll pretty much be able to get along without a cane by Thanksgiving. But again, my nerve regrowth will dictate all this, and while I want to get back to playing at church ASAP, I won't walk up and down the steps until I'm 110% confident I can manage without falling. We'll see.

So that's it for now, and how things are going 7 days after my toe amputation. Now, a lot of people are wanting to see what this little bugger looks like, but I've been hesitant to show it to the public — not because I'm embarrassed or anything (I think it's kind of cool, personally), but because it's pretty freaky looking. I mean, the human brain just expects to see all 5 toes when it see "A Foot," and when one toe is just cut in half, it's kind of jarring at first. Couple that with my toe still having the big, black, and wiry stitches — and it's pretty crazy to look at.

So here's what I've done: I took a pic of my feet today and blurred-out the amputated portion — so if you want to see it unfiltered, you have to click the picture. Let the blurred image serve as a warning. Also, any redness you see isn't blood — it's just swelling skin. You'll also be able to see the start of the wonderfully huge bruise that will soon cover my foot — as well as some writing they did on the side of my toe pre-op. It's not gory or anything, it's just really unusual. In fact, it looks just like you would expect it to if you were to imagine a toe cut in half. So, here's the pic...

Are you awake yet? You didn't pass out and hurt yourself, did you?

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 09/23 at 05:33 PM

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