Well, this is it. All the reading in this forum and listening to everyone's advice. All the research & preparation and now the time has come. I've been instructed to get a good night's sleep. Ha! Have any of you ever gotten a good night's sleep the night before your surgery? It's bedtime now and I am still finding things that I'd better do while I still can. I'm still running up and down the stairs and making my husband dizzy from all the back & forth & to & fro-ing..
I figured coming here, to this forum, would calm me a little.
Thank you everyone for all the advice you didn't even know you were giving, by sharing what you've been through.
I think I'm ready! I think.....

You sound like I did 8 weeks ago. There is no such thing as a good nights sleep, but believe me, there is nothing to worry about. I wouldn't even listen to my own advice had I not had the surgery!

You'll wake up all nervous, wanting to cancel (well I did!), but I thought thought, I've come this far and the people here on the boards have helped me so much. Once you arrive at the hospital, gone through the paper work, you'll be wheeled in (I was laughing and crying at this point!), you'll have a nurse with you to keep you company and then before you know it you'll be asleep. Next you wake up and it's over, you'll be then concentrating on your recovery.

So, good luck and try not to worry and I look forward to hearing how you got on when you return home :)

Hi Pohtr, I hope everything went great with your surgery and that you are home & tucked in bed (or recliner) :). I hope you got some sleep last night. I remember feeling the same way and actually posting to this board for the first time the night before my surgery, so you're not alone about not being able to sleep.

I know what you mean about this board being great - I might not have even had the surgery if I wouldn't have read so many helpful & informative posts from so many supportive people.

Get lots of rest, keep your feet elevated & don't be worried about asking your family for help. Now is the time to be a princess & get waited on (wait for it...) hand and foot (sorry! I couldn't resist!) :)

Take care & let us know how you're doing when you feel like it.

Kathy :)

hope all is well and just sleep as much as you can. glad its over!

I hope things went well! Now, remember to elevate, elevate, elevate and if it isn't higher than your heart it doesn't count.
Ask your dr for the best way to handle questions that pop up during your recovery in between follow up appointments. You will think of things later when you are doing nothing, but staring at your feet. :)
Some drs will accept email while others will talk with you personally on the phone. My dr has me fax him questions when I can get to a fax machine. Other times I can leave my questions on a voicemail and his nurse will call me back with the answers.
And - remember we are here for you There is no such thing as a stupid question. And any thought you may have that you think is crazy is not anything at least one of us hasn't thought of before.
Good luck and keep posting!
Step

hello everyone, I am still alive. This is the first time I've left my recovery room. The surgery went fine I had the austin bunionectomy and also had a lot of bone spurs removed and arthritis they couldn't do much with. I just hope that the pain I had before surgery wasn't from the arthritis and that this surgery will have fixed the problem.
You all were right about the numb feet. I didn't feel any real pain at the surgery site til 36 hours or so after. It's mostly uncomfortable. The first day & a half was reminiscent of standing in slushy snow all day and thinking you'll never have your feet warm again. But thats better than pain. Once the pain started I found that the one percocet (5mg) wouldn't last long enough. I tried to keep ahead of it and have a notepad right beside me, writing down the pill times. One percocet would give me 3 hours. So I'd take another. The pain isn't really that bad though, most of the time, and I'm only on day 4 (with surgery day being day 1). I'm waiting for all the pain to be gone. Right now I've had 2 percs and feel fine. I tried to get across the house in the wheelchair and couldn't make the thresholds. My hubby came and pushed. The crutches work the best for me for short distances anyway. I've even been able to wash my hair by having a shower stool in front of the sink and kneeling on it. That works real well for face washing, etc too, kneeling is o.k. for 5 min or so.
My pod said to ice on one hour off one hour and off for the night, and only for the first 3 days. Tomorrow I'm going to call for clarification. I know the mantra here: ice & elevate!!
Time to start the trek back to bed. Thanks for checking on me.
Marjorie

Glad you're doing so well, Marjorie! :)

I know what you mean by "the long trek". Everything takes so LONG. Going to another room is like going on a cross-country trip! :)

Take care!
Kathy :D

Day 5.
O.k., I'm ready for this to all be over with. I'm ready for a bath. I'm ready to scratch my feet. Mostly I'm ready to sit normally! My back is killing me! Never mind the feet, what do we all do about our poor stressed out backs? I even think I pulled a muscle in my stomach from the weird positioning and trying to reach for things. I'm at the puter with my feet on the floor for a few minutes just to give the old back a rest. I've typed just this far and I can feel the feet getting tight....o.k., now my feet are up. Feet better, back worse.
Managed to be outside for a little while today with the help of a friend. It was warm & beautiful. Good for the spirits.
Have any of you had really strange dreams while you were recovering? I guess even without the meds this is a weird & unusual thing for a body to go through, and that could cause weird dreams.
Another odd thing...The night after surgery when I was ready to sleep for the night, I was getting little nerve twitches, needing itching, every 15 seconds or so and all over different places on my body. Just enough to keep me awake for a while. it was very peculiar.
I hope you all are recovering nicely. I'll check in again tomorrow.
Marjorie

There you are! I was anxiously awaiting your first post-op post. ~*wink*~ Glad to hear that you got through it ok and are recovering at least semi comfortably at home. I toootally had crazy dreams after my surgery. I'm STILL (5 weeks later) having crazy dreams. And I was only on pain meds for three days. As a matter of fact, I kept having strange life-like hallucinations during the first week (I think I posted something about this). I think its just my body reacting to a change in schedule. Since I'm not working my sleep habits have changed drastically and I can probably attribute my vivid dreams to the fact that I'm actually getting good solid rest these days.

Now, about the back pain. I suffer from a chronic pain syndrome and was very very worried about how my back would take all the bed rest. I, like you, used my first post op visit to the board to vent about all the pain I was experiencing. It'll soon go away. I think at first we're so paranoid about turning the wrong way or rolling over in our sleep that we tense up. Your muscles will soon start to relax, I promise... If not there's always that handy-dandy big fat stash of pain killers you've got.

Anyway, good luck with everything! Keep those posts and questions coming!

~*Emma

I'm glad to hear that your surgery went well.
RE: "What do we all do about our poor stressed out backs?"
Is it your lower back? I had surgery on both my feet and keeping them up put great stress on my backbone-- my lower back/upper butt hurt. Like you, I felt like it was sometimes worse than the pain in my feet. I found that sitting on (in?) an innertube helped. (Just a cheap child's beach toy) I got the idea from remembering how my sister sat on a donut-like pillow when she got hemoroids after childbirth. A good pillow behind your back might also help. I used a wedge pillow under my lower legs, a cylinder shaped pillow under my knees, and one of those chair like pillows with arms behind my back. They all really helped.

Hi there! I'm sorry your back is bothering you so much. I went through the same thing, and it was no fun. I agree with Emma that it will get better. I found that alternating the number of pillows & even putting a couple of pillows under the rest of my leg (from hip to knee) so I could slightly bend my knee to the side helped, too. It decreased the steep angle that my leg was forced into by making sort of a pillow "ramp" from my butt to ankle. My hip really hurt, too, until I started bending my knee to the side.

Another thing that helps is taking an Ibuprofin 800 mg. every day (almost). My dorky self was so glad to be off of the pain pills after a few days that I wasn't taking anything at one point. My husband reminded me that the Ibuprofin would help with my back and hip, too. Duh. :D

I remember just this past Sunday I was upset & telling my husband that I wanted this to be overwith, so you are not alone. I promise you it will get better. As Tom Petty says "the waiting is the hardest part." :)

Take care!
Kathy :)

glad to hear your surgery went well. it seems like you are recovering fast. there has to be some kind of stretches you can do to loosen up the back.

My back was so bad last night that 2 percs5m & 800 ibuprophen wouldn't kill the pain. Finally I got to sleep and by morning it was better. Today I decided that I had to do something different. The pain of my back was way worse than my feet. It is mostly lower back but to the sides and very deep, kind of into my stomach. I've lowered my legs closer to the hip position and not heart and that helps. I've been up more often but not for long before my feet ache. Up and down, up and down..seems to help the back. And moving as soon as the ache starts. I checked with my pod and lowering my legs was o.k. there.
I should remember to keep up the ibuprophen everyday. oops.
I think maybe we should keep track of these dreams for possible writing material. And I too have had a few unusual visions/halucinations but I attributed them to weird light and wearing my glasses.
Time for feet back up.
Oh what an experience this whole thing is. ++wimper++

I just came back from my 1 week followup with my pod. Everything looks normal, especially if you like yellow feet (bedodine?). I am very happy to be out of the bandages. I have socks on!!!!! :) :) My toes are warm. And my ankles are warm too. :D It takes pressure off my feet too, they don't feel so tight. he also took out the end stitches which didn't hurt a bit. The little sticky bandaid looking stitch strips are still in and he said they would probably fall off soon.

I still have to use the sandles always whenever my feet are on the floor. I'm practicing walking normally a little bit, rocking with the sandles from heel to toe and not just heel walking. That feels very funny; tingly. I was told not to overdue & to heel walk also til my feet get used to it. I have the Darco sandles. I can have a bath tomorrow even though it is upstairs. Maybe we can move back into our own (upstairs) bedroom soon!

I feel almost normal. Except I know this is temporary and I am NOT normal yet (we're talking feet here btw). It will be a long time til I can do whatever I want. Driving is still not recommended I think as long as I have to wear the sandles, 3 more weeks. Sounds like a good excuse to get my sweet hubby to take me out. ;)

Marjorie