The Checkup
Here we are at D+10 and time for my first post-op checkup. My first trip since going under the knife and was nice to get out and feel human again! Unfortunately this visit also included X-Rays. This was probably the most painful moment since the surgery. The technician had to help me pull back my toes so my big toe (aka First Hallux) was by itself for her to get a good picture for the surgeon. Suffice it to say, my entire foot and ankle were very stiff and painful to move. After several minutes of trying to manipulate my foot, ankle and toes, we finally got a good picture. Unfortunately, I did not take any pain meds before the visit, nor did I bring any to take after today's poking and prodding!
Anyway, this is what my foot looks like at D+10. Funny, one can still see the surgeon's initials on the top of my foot. Dr. C warned me about the surgical site looking worse than it really is. The dark black lines are actually the ink she used to mark the incision site, it is not dried blood!
The incision starts at the medial side of my big toe, comes across the top of the IPJ, and continues down towards the lateral side of the toe. This allowed the surgeon to open up the joint, remove the cartilage, ream/drill the intermedullary canal where the screw will go. The second incision is at the tip of the toe where she will continue to ream the canal where the screw would be inserted and drilled through the Distal Phalanx, through the IPJ, and into the Proximal Phalanx. The screw would be counter-sunk into the Distal Phalanx so as to not 'stick out' and cause problems with wearing shoes or running.
It looks worse than it feels!
The screw would naturally compress the two bones together at the IPJ and over 6-12 weeks would heal like any broken bone would do. So, over the next six months, the joint will continue to heal and become one fused bone, rather than a distal and proximal phalanx, it will be distimal phalanx!
Dr. C was pleased with the healing, but the stitches were not ready to come out. She replaced the Steri-Strips and re-bandaged the foot and ankle. Her only concern was there was no signs of bone healing yet, but no worries. Everyone heals at a different rate. She reminded me to not poke or scratch at the foot and ankle. And continue to obey her (and my Wife's) instruction and NO WEIGHT BEARING!!!
It is probably all in my mind, and when talking to Dr. C and reading up on ORIF (Open Reduction, Internal Fixation), I realize the sensations I feel are part of the healing process. When I think about the 2" Screw in my foot, I can almost talk my self into feeling the screw. I know that I can't really feel the hardware, but I swear I can feel it! It is a weird sensation in the foot, but those sensations will gradually go away.
The Screw, and it is not loose!
This is why they want the patient out during these procedures! Being in a dentist chair and hearing the drill is uncomfortable enough! I could not imaging the sensation, albeit only pressure with no pain, of seeing the surgeon pull out a big ol' Black and Decker drill and drill out and ream a bone in your body. Ugh.
Not the Actual Drill...
We Have Come a Long Way
Go back only 150 years to the U.S. Civil War and think about how we conducted surgery. It was rather simple:
1. Get Shot by a musket ball.
2. Hope not to bleed to death as you are carried back to a barn, house or church.
3. Lay in line hoping the surgeon sees you in time, again hoping not to bleed to death.
4. Buddy lays you on the blood-stained kitchen table or pew.
5. Surgeon says, 'the leg has to come off before infection sets in!'
6. One person gives you a big stick to bite down on and gives you a big swig of whisky to help with incoming pain. Another soldiers lays on top of you to keep you from moving.
7. Hopefully you pass out at this point.
8. The surgeon wipes off the saw from the last amputation and begins to saw...
9. If you survived this far, and haven't bled to death you would possibly still die of infection.
One of My Convalescent Leave Tasks
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