Recovery - Day 10

Had a Dr. appt today to see the nurse and have the stitches taken out of my foot. It was like something out of a 50's horror flick, I swear! I had stitches all down the side, in the middle, across the toe knuckles at both joints. YIKES!! And she had to take them all out - which freaked me out so much! There was one stitch that gave her AND ME some trouble. It was 'ouchy" to the max. But once she got that done, it wasn't so bad, so maybe it was good that it was toward the beginning. I don't know how many stitches there were, but I could guess over 100.

Plus I got to see my toes - pins sticking out of the ends of toe #2, 3, & 4. The pins go through my toe, through the joints to help the joints heal straight and proper. Then in toe #1 (big toe) there was a pin in the toe by my joint of the toe and foot. That one came by surprise, I thought I'd have a screw in that joint, so maybe there was less damage in my joint and he was able to fix it with only a pin. I'll be sure to find out when I see him in January. That pin will come out in January, the others will stay in until Feb/Mar timeframe, I'll find out in January.

So after the stitches came out, she wrapped my foot in gauze, leaving my toes exposed. Then an ace bandage went on over the gauze. That will stay on until I go back to see him in January. Well, with one exception, I'll go back in a week or so (before Christmas) and have her remove this bandage and put on clean after some more of the swelling goes down and the stitches are healed.

In the meantime, I thought I was getting a cast BUT I was surprised! He decided to order a special boot for me to wear. It's designed so all the weight goes on the heel of your foot and your toes don't even touch the ground. Now my foot's still bruised, swollen, but as the swelling goes down and the bruising gets better, it won't be so bad to walk on that. So in the meantime, I can use either one crutch with the boot, or my walker with the boot and still use the wheelchair to go out in or hang out in the living room.

All-in-all, I didn't know what to expect, so here's what I saw:
1. straight toes - don't remember when I ever saw that on my foot
2. still a hump where my bunion was, but I suspect it will go down as the swelling goes down
3. pins in 4 toes
4. still don't have all the feelings in my foot and toes everywhere, but it will come back as it heals
5. swollen foot, ankle
6. bruising, but not as bad as I suspected

So far, so good! Thanks Dr. Pfeiffer!!