Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Game’s Afoot!

Well, the surgery went well yesterday. I think it took the orthopedic surgeon like 15 minutes to do the cutting and stitching. I remember the anesthesia doctor telling me that he was going to start giving me the sedative and the next thing I knew, it was an hour and a half or so later and I slowly awoke. Wow, whoever invented anesthesia and the proper medical techniques so it does not stop your breathing – a huge thank you! Can you imagine having surgery 200 or 300 years ago? Lots of whiskey, a stick to bite on, and some very strong people to hold you down.

My foot was numb for several hours afterwards, which was fine. When it was no longer numb, if I hadn’t been able to see, I would have assumed that a half dozen or so very mean tiny guys were whacking on my foot with little knives, saws, and pick axes. I finally took one of my 30 prescription pain-reducing tablets, which enabled me to sleep for a few hours on my back on our sofa.

So today, I am just taking it easy at home, and still adjusting to being an invalid for a few weeks. I am getting used to crutches, and trying to combine trips if at all possible, like holding off brushing my teeth until I have to pee, that kind of thing. I am really glad that I have strong legs from all the walking and running because I can push myself up with just my right leg using the crutches for balance. And I can balance very lightly on my left heel if I have to stand in place for a little while, like in the kitchen, while leaving about 95% of my weight on my right leg.

Less than 24 hours of inactivity, and I can’t wait to be active again. But I also know it will have to be a while unless I want to screw up the results of the surgery.

Here is my left foot, in a big bandage and with an even bigger ice pack. I like the purple skid-resistant socks that they gave me – pretty cool, and a TNT connection, I think!

3 comments:

Kerry said...

Art...Good luck with your recovery. I got a feeling you will allow this to heal well. Simply because you love to run and the reasons why you run. Just take it slow and take care of you.

TNTcoach Ken said...

Now I'm going to think about brushing my teeth every time I pee! LOL.......

o2bhiking said...

Thanks Kerry. I hope to be back walking and then running again as soon as I safely can.

Hey Ken - it's called energy conservation, or maybe in this case, armpit conservation (from those crutches). Art