Until this bizarre foot injury, the most invasive procedure I’d experienced in my life was having all four of my wisdom teeth removed. I know that surgeries are performed every day, but there is something very eerie about having medicine injected into you, passing out, having some cut your foot open to insert a few screws, and waking up 2 hours later with no memory of it.
The surgery was scheduled for Tuesday, February 8th, midmorning. It was snowing out on this particular day, which should come as no surprise to my fellow New Englanders reading this entry. This winter was out of control and potentially the worst winter EVER to of had to be on crutches. Not sure if I was more observant because of my own situation, but I noticed so many people trudging through the snow this year on crutches. My sympathy goes out to these people on crutches during the 2010-2011 Winter, it sucked. There is no other way to describe it. At any rate, the snow on February 8th caused traffic delays which morphed my quiet, internalized panic to something a bit more noticeable to those around me - I morphed into a raging B. My poor parents – Patrish and Bri have been wonderful, I will write another post in the future about how important it is to have a support system through this type of injury.
We safely arrived at the surgical center and I got myself checked in. Waiting and anticipating was the worst part for me. I hate not knowing what is coming next – fear of the unknown. Luckily, I only had to sit in the waiting room for a few minutes before they took me in so I could get changed into the lovely johnny. It took a while to get changed, because I was still new to the balancing on one leg act – this gets easier with time. They did give me a fun slipper sock (yes, singular) so that I wouldn’t slip on the tile floor…that was fun! I was weighed and asked a lot of questions before they had me lay down in the bed. The anesthesiologist came over and started my IV – I’m sorry to admit I have forgotten his name; he was so cheery and perfect for his role. I’m very afraid of needles so he didn’t have the easiest patient in me, but the anticipation of the IV was worse than the actual thing. They started to feed me the ‘magic juice’ so I would stop shaking like a leaf. It worked for a little while.
I opted to receive a nerve block. I’d recommend getting this done for any type of surgery. The actual process of receiving the block was not very fun for me, but it definitely minimized the pain after surgery. They had me roll onto my stomach so they could find the sciatic nerve on the back of my calf – they used a sonogram machine and found it no problem, I didn’t feel a thing. After that injection was done, I rolled onto my back again so they could do another injection on the side of my lower left thigh. They located the nerve, but the actual injection brought me to tears. The pain was really, really bad and although they injected me with more of the magic juice to help with the pain, it was still an unpleasant moment before surgery. With the nerve block complete, I was all set and ready for surgery. The magic juice had worked and sent me into care free mode, although I was still shaking like a leaf, not from fear at this point but because I was freezing (weird side effect I guess?). I was wrapped in blankets by the very friendly nurse. My parents came in to sit with me while I waited for my time. My care free feeling from the meds had me sitting there pretending to read a book – kind of funny. Dr. Kwon came out to say hello and let us know that the surgery should take two hours and during that time my parents could pick up my pain meds and that there was a café for them to grab some food. We said our goodbyes and I was wheeled down the hall to surgery while they gave me more meds through my IV. It took only a minute or so for the meds to set in. I remember being wheeled down the hall into the operating room and being put on the table, but after that I’m blank.
I woke up in recovery to another friendly nurse and Dr. Kwon who was letting me know that everything went great. He told me he only had to put in two screws as opposed to the original 3-4 with some pins. One thought had been weighing on my mind for the last week was the Celtics/Lakers tickets I had purchased 9 months earlier. The game was two days away and it was my goal to be at the game. In my medically induced stupor, I had to ask the doctor if I could go – he delivered the bad news that it wouldn’t be possible. I started crying and the nurse said emotions usually run high when you are coming off of the anesthesia…well that might be the case for some, but I would have cried regardless of the drugs I was on! Oh well, maybe I’ll get to see them play when the Lakers come to town next season. Though, I won’t get to see Ray Allen break the 3-point field goal record next season, damn it. I guess my post op anesthesia story isn’t as embarrassing as some others that I’ve heard.
I had some ginger ale and graham crackers while I was waking up. The numb sensation and warm/hot feeling in my foot was very weird and I was also feeling a bit nauseous at this time. I got dressed and was brought to the car in a wheel chair. I was feeling OK at this point and requested a Friendly’s Chocolate Fribble as a post surgery treat. My Dad stopped and got me the chocolate Fribble and we went home and that is about all I remember from that day.
Actually, the next few days of recovery are a bit of a blur as I was in and out of sleep and on the pain meds. Dave came up from Philadelphia the day after my surgery because both of my parents had to work – he stayed for two days and helped take care of me – bringing me food, drinks, and making sure I stayed on schedule with the medication. I highly recommend staying right on schedule with the pain meds – my post op pain was minimal because I didn’t miss a dose. The drugs keep you in a weird, dazed state but it is better than the other option. The nerve block stayed active for right around 24 hours – I remember I absolutely hated the feeling of it, but if I ever need another surgery I’m getting it again – this definitely kept the pain minimal, too.
Overall, the surgery ended up being very successful and although anxiety is normal, it was a much easier process than I anticipated. The pain of walking around NYC and Boston on my injured foot was much worse than the post op pain for me – maybe I have a high tolerance, who knows. I think the moral of this blog entry is to have a great support system, a great surgeon, and make sure you keep up with your medication to stay ahead of the pain.
I think my next post will talk about the day to day living with a long term non weight bearing injury...how to use crutches, how to shower, how to do anything for that matter....
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