Pre-surgery

I spent all day in pre-surgery meetings today planning the operation to remove two of my toes and getting approval from my cadre of doctors for the procedure. Cardiology, pulmonology, nephrology, and podiatry all gave approval.

The dead tissue on my toes is really painful and won’t stop bleeding so removing them will reduce the risk of infection and hopefully speed my recovery. It’s not clear how much of the two toes will need to be removed. They need to cut off all the dead tissue and leave enough skin to create a “flap” to cover the amputation site. I’m nervous that will need to take some of my foot – up to the first metatarsal - as well as the toes to get it done. We won't know until the event how far the amputation will go.

Unfortunately, I’m also going to have to stay in the hospital for a few days after surgery for “observation”. What a bummer. I’ll admit that after my last, extended stay I really don’t like hospitals at all and the idea of going back sucks. 

New Pix

Toe-tally recovering

Here is a pretty gross picture showing an pretty awsome event - the dead cap (and toenail) came off my #4 toe. It's a little shorter now but should recover almost completely.

Recovery time

It is at times difficult to appreciate the depth and speed of my recovery. I frequently get down as it seems to be taking forever to achieve even the most basic level of fitness and mobility. Tonight I was happily reminded how far I have come.

I remember the first time I tried to use my iPad in the hospital -- I struggled forever with a plastic spoon to pry-off the cover of the Otterbox and couldn't open the thing. After some help opening the case I wasn't even strong enough to hold it upright. While progress seems glacially slow, it's quite easy to forget how bad things really were.

This little piggie

It's been a couple of months and my toes are still a problem. I think I've been hoping that somehow they would heal but now it's clear they will not. The dead tissue between the #4 and #5 (pinkie) toe cracked during PT a couple of weeks ago and won't heal. I've seen a podiatrist and a vascular surgeon in the last couple of days and both agree the crack won't heal (because the tissue is dead) and that removing all the dead tissue is the best was to help them heal.

That means removing parts of 7 toes -- not an easy thing to accept. I''m getting more used to the idea but it still sucks to loose parts of your body. Depending on my mood I alternately feel angry, sad or accepting of this news. Next we we will schedule the procedure -- hopefully this will help then heal.

Pull-up

Wee setback

After a month of consistent progress I've suffered a bit of a setback as my toe has gotten infected. I'm to go for x-ray tomorrow to see how bad it is. It looks horrible.