Day 4 post op - Foot Problems Message Board

mmr7 · 06-24-2008, 06:43 AM

Hi everyone,
I had my surgery Friday night and have been home since Saturday afternoon. The surgery went well. I had to have my PTT amputated and sent to pathology. I forget what word the doctor used, but the tendon was pretty much mangled up. I also had my heel cut and re-aligned so my foot will not be as flat. I had another tendon transfered to take the place of the PTT.
Worst part...the nerve block put in behind my knee by the anasthesiologist. They hit a nerve and I couldn't help but yell out!! I must have scared the other patients in pre-op, but OUCH....I was told that the block should wear off at midnight. I could not move any toes at all and still coudn't throughout the night. I thought they had cut my nerve or something and my toes would be paralyzed. I finally got feeling back at nine in the morning. I have some type of morphine based pain killer that at this point is too strong. I have not had to take a pain killer in the past 12 hours. I have a call into the surgeon to get a pain killer that is not as strong.
Most surprising...that I have to give myself s shot in my stomach twice a day to prevent blood clots. I didn't find this out until the nurse came in to give me the shot and explained that the shots would be coming home with me! Good thing I am not queasy about needles!
I have kept my leg up all day except when I go to the bathroom. I have also had a shower using the shower chair.
I have a heavy plaster cast that will be replaced by a fiberglass cast in two weeks. This thing is heavy!!!
All in all, things are going well....I say with my fingers crossed!!!
Mary

smcatharine · 06-26-2008, 06:25 AM

Hey, good luck! I went through almost the same procedures on April 23rd. I was in a splint for a week and then got a fiberglass cast. I remember that the trip to the drs for that was exhausting!
I didn't have the nerve block and I was in quite a bit of pain the first 3 or 4 days. Plus the narcotic didn't agree with me! The morphine pump was basically useless and finally they gave me dilaudid which is stronger.

Keep that foot elevated and ice, ice, ice! It will love you for it! And wiggle those toes and keep a sense of humor!

I'm amazed that you are actually taking a shower! I didn't do that til last week when I got a boot at 8 weeks post-op!

I tried to keep busy in whatever way I could, including wasting time on the computer and I tried to avoid naps during the day so I'd sleep at night. I found that trying to live as "normally" as possible helped a lot but everyone is different! I also took advantage of the time to catch up on all the books I wanted to read!

e265rho · 06-26-2008, 08:25 AM

good luck to you. although my surgery was different I found the pain killers helpful especially to sleep as the pain lessened. I then switched to benedryl to sleep at night. My doc recommended a cold therapy machine that keeps your foot at a constant temperature which was amazing. I had if for four weeks. It provides relief and allows for the swelling to go down significantly. You might want to ask your doc his opinion on that.