Goodbye Again

The beauty of insurance requirements has pushed my 2nd surgery on my left foot up to December 29th. Within the last few months my hardware has given me a significant amount of difficulty. The bottom screw has backed it's way out and is putting pressure on my skin, causing a bruise. Although I am managing to get some occasional runs in, there is noticeable pain and discomfort. Not to mention I still have a fat bunion.

My hardware removal and 2nd bunionectomy attempt are with a new surgeon (duh), who has operated on my Mom multiple times, and is highly regarded in her field. I made a huge mistake by not going to her in the first place, but I have faith she will get these two feet where they need to be.

My husband is looking forward to me wearing shoes other than Birkenstocks and Asics... until next week, when my percocet induced posts begin!

cheers and Merry Christmas
xo

modern medicine

went to see dr. C yesterday and he removed my stitches. i was lucid enough in the early days of surgery to save a pain pill for the event. i have never had stitches, and had terrible anxiety over them being pulled out. the man took a half day at work and we drove over to the coast to CORE orthopedics. we got right in and were shown to a curtained room for stitch removal. Cesar rolled in and cut off my bandage (me wincing) and removed all the tape. there were only 11 stitches, but it looked like a lot more. removal was easy and doc said my healing progress is excellent. i was too squeamish to look down, so i had justin take a pic.

as you can see from the photo, the skin around the incision is really damaged from being kept under a bandage this long. girl gonna be doing some serious exfoliating in the near future. overall though, my foot looks amazing. having the stitches out feels like a huge step in my recovery, and seeing my new foot made me feel like this is worth the down time.

my procedure is called an "open base wedge osteotomy" . you can see an animated version of the surgery HERE .it is a newer procedure for bunions that has really only been perfected in the last couple years. in my metatarsal wedge, the doctor inserts a bone graph that he took from my bunion that was shaved off and then he adds stem cell to encourage bone growth and speed up healing. it's pretty amazing. i can say that choosing the right surgeon is absolutely the most important step in deciding upon surgery. don't choose the person who over promises and assures you that your recovery will be easy- because that's a lie. choose the person who is going to stay in that operating room until they see a perfect x-ray.

so it's day 12 today, stitches out and i will be able to get my foot wet in two more days. the boot will be my shoe of choice for 4 more weeks approximately, and then i will most likely graduate into a comfy running shoe. my pain is almost completely gone, aside from some swelling after being up and around a lot, it is insignificant.

i won't be running a marathon anytime soon, but i am pretty stoked on my new wheel.

xo