Doing it all again

At the hotel on Thursday night

The surgery has come and gone and I am back at home. Dr. Stevens said the surgery went beautifully. He was very proud of his work on the bunion. Apparently, when the small bones in the mid foot let go, the forefoot shifted and turned out. Now when the pin was established mid-foot, he was able to turn the forefoot back to it's correct position and pin it there. So no "ectomy" was required! Pretty cool.

Getting prepped

Also, I do have the same fiberglass cast like last time. The staff at the pre-surgery clinic had told me that they wouldn't be able to use a cast because the forefoot must be allowed to swell. I asked Dr. Stevens about that and he said the pre-surgery people don't know what goes on in surgery and they didn't ask him what to tell me. Interesting to experience staff dynamics as a third person.

In my room, feeling no pain

All the staff I interacted with were very good - pre-surgery, day surgery nurses, operating room, recovery room, floor nurses and physio. Even after I scared the day surgery nurse by telling her that for my first surgery, three nurses had tried to set up my IV and all failed after much stabbing and prodding. I wanted the anesthetist to do it because that had gone very well in July. She eventually relented and had an IV nurse give it a first try - and by golly, it worked.

It's easy to believe the bunion is gone

Another fun event was that they woke me up before surgery was complete. Apparently my breathing had become erratic. The spinal and nerve blocks were still in place so I felt nothing. It seemed as if they must be working on somebody else. When the cast was on, Dr. Stevens lifted my leg so I could admire his handiwork, and it still didn't fell like it was my leg he was holding.

Shepherd's pie

Some of the renovations in the hospital had been completed by now, so Dr. Stevens was able to find Krista to give her a status report immediately after surgery. After a couple of hours of "defrosting" I asked a nurse in the recovery room to give Krista another update. I felt better knowing she was informed.

Scooting for the physio nurse

They waited a bit longer before bringing me to my room because a bed wasn't immediately available. When they did bring me up, it was to a four person room. Having a semi-private insurance upgrade doesn't help when a room isn't available. My roommates were decent enough fellows though, and all was well. I even got a window corner.

Even so, my goal was still to go home at the earliest opportunity. The nerve block hadn't worn off all the way the following day by the time the physio nurse came to see how I would get around at home. We had brought my knee scooter, so I had to reschedule until Krista could bring it in. Anyway, I was fairly pain free and impressed the physio nurse that I would be fine at home. We made it home by 3pm on Saturday.