I went to bed and was prepping to get up at 4:00 in the morning. My surgery was scheduled for 7:00 in the morning however I had a consultation prior with Dr. K at 6:00 and my hotel is in Anaheim which is about an hour away. I arrived at the outpatient surgery center on time and went inside. I had to fill out and sign some paperwork. I was then brought back into a bathroom and given a locker to put my things in, a gown to change into, foot booties, and a hair cap. I then had to pee into a cup for a pregnancy test because I am a woman. I then took everything off except for my underwear, I was able to keep those on (bra off though). They work under x-ray through the entire procedure so no metal at all, no piercings or jewelry. I then walked out and sat down in their bed and got a warm blanket put on me. They put an IV in and had fluids going while they went over more things with me and had me sign some more papers. I met the nurses, anesthesiologist, Dr.K, and his doctor that he was training who was just watching the surgery who is eventually going to join his practice! They asked some questions and then got things ready. There was a total of 6 people in the surgery room.
Dr. K talked to me and said I actually have a more mild case of brachy than a lot of others do. He mentioned that he has done over 150 of these surgeries which made me feel extremely comfortable. He talked about what he would do in the surgery. He makes a short incision to be able to make an osteotomy in the metatarsal. That's basically a break in the bone. He said that 4 pins would go into the bone and then a fixator on the top. He then would put a wire in through the tip of the toe to keep it straight and from flexing up or down how these toes tend to do that when you lengthen your toes. This is because when you are stretching your toe you are also stretching the muscles, skin, blood vessels, ligaments, and tendons. Tendons are very stiff and rigid and take longer to stretch. You need to go slowly and let it stretch so that it doesn't bend up or down. It will eventually adjust and be straight along with stretching afterwards. I then walked into the surgery room and laid down on the table. They are doing my right foot today, and next week my left. They then laid my arms out they strapped me down to the table and put oxygen over my mouth and nose and said that you will start to feel sleepy. I don't even remember getting tired and the next thing I know is I'm waking up. They also blocked my foot which means that they completely numbed my foot so I couldn't feel anything afterwords for a while. I laid there for a while as they took my vitals every so often. They gave me crutches and they gave me a DVT machine. They wanted me to get an ice machine as well but my insurance wouldn't cover that and I brought my mothers friends from her knee surgery which I got very lucky I had the option! I highly suggest you get one of these as well even if your insurance doesn't cover it. You can rent it for 2 weeks for about $300, Dr. K patients get it cheaper. They sat me up and made me walk with the crutches to the bathroom to change. There was a wheel chair in there to sit down on and change and the nurse offered to help me change but I felt fine! I changed and peed (they make you pee due to the fluids given to you, you have to anyway). I then opened the door sat down and they came and wheeled me out. The pharmacy is downstairs from the surgery center which is really nice! They prescribed me Vicodin.
They wheeled me down to the parking garage and I headed home (hotel home). They told me to keep my foot raised to help reduce swelling. My foot is all wrapped up and they said do not unwrap it or get it wet until the doctor takes it off and tells me I can. I put my DVT machine on which is a machine that basically massages your calves every so often to help prevent blood clots (deep vein thrombosis) which is caused from siting around and not moving as much. This machine is very VERY important. Blood clots tend to sit in the lower extremities such as your calves. If one forms and gets loose it can travel to your brain and cause a stroke, or it can travel to your heart then into your lungs and you can die from that. This machine helps prevent that and it also feels pretty good! I also put the ice machine on it but because my foot is so wrapped up so much my actual foot wasn't really getting the cold to really help like it should so when I get the wrappings off I will use the ice machine to make the swelling go down a bit.
When I got back to the hotel I got set up to relax in bed and elevate my foot. My foot was numb for hours and it started to feel a little on fire when the feeling was coming back which is completely normal. So far I'm really not having much pain at all! Just a little dull ache and heat at the wire through my toe. It's probably a 2 on a pain scale. I have a high pain tolerance however so it may be a little worse for you. My foot is wrapped tightly and is kind of pushing my pinky toe on top of my brachy toe which is a little uncomfortable but I can get over it for now and it will relax when I get the wrappings off. I have a tiny bit of blood and fluid leaking out of some spot but nothing crazy or abnormal. I have a background in the health field, I'm a cardiac sonographer and my mother was a nurse so, so far everything is normal and looking good! They said that with this surgery you can walk to an extent. Start off on your heels and slowly as the time goes on you can put more weight on your feet as you feel comfortable and as long as their is no pain. I will start turning my fixator in a week and because I don't have a crazy amount of length to go because mine isn't as bad/short as others so I may be done turning either while I'm still here or a week after I get back! So I may only need to turn for a month! We shall see. I'm so excited. I will get a call tomorrow to see if he wants to see me before my next surgery for my left foot on 11/4/16 or if he just wants to see me before the surgery. Hopefully it's before so I can get this damn wrap off!! So far so good!! He's very nice and knowledgeable. I'm very happy. And this is a nice trip to be away from crappy Chicago weather!!!!
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| Before surgery!! |
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| In the hotel room after surgery on my first foot! Have the DVT on and Ice Machine next to it. My poop emoji pants! Super wrapped up!! |
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| Me pulling back the bandage a little to see my toes. This is the K wire in my toe a tiny bit of blood and my pinky pressing over my brachy toe which is bugging me a little!! |
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