Progress after my foot surgery

I thought since you've all been praying for us, that it was about time for an update. I'm going to do it by category, with photos mixed in, just to change things up a bit. :)

Pain: the worst was Tuesday night and Wednesday during the day. Since Tylenol with Codeine didn't seem to be doing it, the doctor called in a prescription for Vicodin, which didn't feel any different. So I just learned to deal with the pain. In the middle of Wednesday night, I felt like the pain became more bearable, and I haven't taken any pain meds now for almost 12 hours.

It feels much better to have my foot elevated, even three days after surgery. The bandage I have now is smaller, but looks essentially the same as the one in this photo. Just a bit less white gauze.

Mobility: I've been lying in bed with my foot elevated, icing it off & on, since the surgery. My big "excitement" has been hobbling on crutches to our bathroom several times per day. Just before bed last night, I discovered that I can walk on my foot without using crutches!! I had been hibernating upstairs after almost falling down the stairs on Tuesday evening. So this is truly wonderful. :)

Here I am on Wednesday, with my feline sidekick, who was eyeing up the beautiful lunch Marissa had just brought me.

Kids/food/household misc.: David & Marissa really have stepped up and helped a lot with things around the house. Marissa became my personal chef, bringing me trays arranged beautifully with delicious food she prepared herself. (Homemade bread, pancakes, beef roast, etc.) Matt & I were both impressed!



David helped a lot with entertaining younger siblings and making sure the bedrooms were picked up and orderly. Our friend Shanna organized meals for us through Sunday, which has been great. :)

Follow-up appointment: Matt took me to my appointment this morning, where they changed my bandages and took new x-rays. Everything looked great, and I will go in on the 13th to have my bandage & stitches removed. After that, I can get my foot wet and take showers again. Until then, it's baths for me, with my foot hanging out of the tub!

Joshua & Jesse watched closely as the nurses took off my old bandage.

Here's the new x-ray. You can compare with my old one and see that the big bone spur on top of my big toe joint is gone!

I'm trying to be kind to those of you with weak stomachs here. Matt took a much closer, better photo of the incision... but I wasn't sure if it might be too gross for some of you folks! (If you want to see the incision better, just email me and I'll send you the other photo.)
Well, that's all for now! Thanks so much for praying for us. Everything went well, and the kids & Mark had a good time here at home during my surgery.

We really appreciate you praying! :)