Pictures included at the bottom of this post.
The surgery center gave me an information packet a while back that details how you should prepare your body for surgery in the weeks and days prior to surgery. For instance, I was given a prescription for Vitamin D to take once a week, beginning 8 weeks before surgery. I was given a prescription for Celebrex to take two days before, on the day of, and two days after surgery. I was instructed not to eat after midnight (my last bite was around 9:20pm) and I could have up to 16oz of water the day of surgery. I was not to drink any alcohol 24 hours prior to surgery. The surgery center gave me this special soap to use the night of and day of surgery. I had to shower the night of surgery and use this soap and let is sit on my skin for 3 to 5 minutes. In the morning I had to do the same thing. They don't want you putting in deodorant, lotion, make up, contacts in, etc. for your surgery.
May 21, 2013
Today is surgery day. First off, you should know I am having my surgery performed by one of the inventors of the procedure itself: Dr. James Nunley, head of Orthopaedic Surgery at Duke University. He has performed all of my surgeries to date. He developed what is called The All American Procedure (because it's basically three operations in one, Cotton Osteotomy, Lateral Column Lengthening, and stretching of the ligament or tendon to make the arch higher). Dr. Nunley is ranked in the top 1% of the nation!
I took my morning shower, gathered my things and went to the surgery center at 7:30am. I checked in and almost immediately they called me back to prep. This is vital information for ladies- I was on my period so they gave me special underwear, kind of like men's boxer briefs, and they were very comfortable, to wear because you have to wear a pad during surgery, NOT A TAMPON :( So that was the first thing I did was put all that on. Then I put my gown, red cap, and socks on. A lady came in and started taking my vitals. She left. Then the nurse came in and set up my IV, she missed the first time and it ended up leaving a huge bruise on my arm, but I bruise easily (I hadn't had problems with this the last two surgeries so I just think she was a shitty nurse). She reviewed some paper work with me. She left. Then Dr. Nunley came in to talk to me and my parents. He initialed the foot he was to operate on, answered some of our questions, then left. Then Anesthesia came in to talk to us and we made sure they were repeating exactly what they had done to me last May- they weren't and they didn't know I was staying over night so it's a good thing we crossed our t's and dotted our i's with them. Then they left to get all the materials. After 20 minutes, anesthesia came back in and reviewed the paper work with me one more time, then they inserted the nerve block into my right butt cheek, then put the twilight sedation mask on me and that was that. I had the surgery. It last ~2 hours. I woke up shivering and super cold and they piled warmed blankets on top of me. Once I finally settled down, they wheeled me back to the recovery room.
In the recovery room, they run a constant supply of the numbing medication through your IV. They helped me pee in a bed pan too. After surgery I was able to put tampons in so I did that. They also monitor your vitals and administer your medication too. It's not common that you stay over night, after all, this is what they consider an outpatient surgery, but we don't live close to the surgery center, so to be safe, we decided it would be better for me to stay over night.
It's super important to elevate your foot the first week after surgery and to also wiggle your toes and move your leg some up and down so that blood gets to it and you don't develop a clot!
May 22, 2013
I was woken up at around 6:30 or 7:00am and my vitals were checked and medicine was given to me and breakfast brought to me. The nurse went over all the care instructions with my parents and then she disconnected my IV and hooked me up to what they call a "pain ball" which has numbing medicine in it to last for two days. I changed out of my gown and into street clothes. I was finally able to use the actual toilet today so that was nice. Then I was wheeled out to the car. I was pretty tired from all the narcotics so I slept most of the way home. When I got home I peed and got straight in bed and slept. My parents administer my medication in a timely fashion. Since I'm hooked to this pain ball, you have to carry it with you wherever you go, but it's put in this purse like pouch you can put over your shoulder. But your leg feels like dead weight and it's incredibly hard to walk on one leg and not let that foot drag, for long distances, so be prepared for that. That only lasts until the pain ball runs out of medicine. I mainly slept all of today.
May 23, 2013
Pain is still managed by the medication and pain ball.. I'm a little more awake and alert and coherent today. I still slept a lot but there's not been much change in my pain level.
May 24, 2013
My pain ball ran out of medicine and was taken out of me at around 12:30pm. It didn't hurt at all. The tape coming off my butt was itching me like crazy though. It was nice to be able to have more control of my leg. I feel stronger crutching to the bathroom now. Still haven't left the bedroom yet. Still haven't showered. Probably wont' tackle that until Sunday or Monday. I am starting to feel the pain where the incisions are. Right now on a scale of 1 to 10 I'd rate it at 2. My foot feels like it's on fire, like it's sitting in Icy Hot- waaaaaaaay more Hot than Icy. The pain is an aching feeling. It hasn't really ramped, vamped, amped? up yet. We'll see as the days go by.
Before Surgery- Prepping Me
Dr. Nunley's initial
Wrapped in warm blankets after surgery
Failed IV insertion
At home elevating the leg- The dressing is as heavy as it looks.
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