Cast is off………Quartzsite Trip is on!!

Last Friday, I went to the Doctor’s office for my second checkup since my foot surgery.  It had been only 16 days since the surgery, and she originally told me to expect the cast to stay on for 4 weeks.   At the first checkup, she said that things went really well, and that she might take the cast off earlier.  I went with my hopes up!!

Sure enough, they took x-rays, and decided that the cast could come off to inspect the wounds.  Once off, the incisions looked good, and they removed the stitches and got me fitted for an after-surgery walking boot.  I was really pleased.

I only have a picture of me in the ‘cast removal’ chair, and all of the cast removal is on video. 

The exposed area of my foot was starting to look pretty nasty, and I was not sure that my toes would not fall off, if hit!!  Once the cast was off, it really looked bad

They said the nasty looking scaly white stuff was from not being bathed for over two weeks, since I could not get the cast wet.  If this looks “good”, I don’t think I want to see “bad'”….. at least not on my foot!

In a previous post, I posted a picture of what “my view” was for most of the day with the cast on the foot, and laying on the bed watching TV or using my Laptop.  Here is the new view……… not much different except for the boot instead of the cast………

Although I was excited to get the cast off, and the ‘walking’ boot put in it’s place, the euphoria quickly evaporated when I found out that the term, ‘walking’, was a great big lie.  The boot is only a substitute for the cast, and must stay on 24 hours a day…… even while sleeping! 

Not being someone who follows rules that I don’t like, I sorta’ kept the boot off a lot during Saturday, while laying on the bed, and even went to sleep without it under strong objections from my in-house doctor, Patsy,

I woke up about 2:00AM on Sunday morning, and the foot hurt like HELL, and Patsy also told me that it was quite swollen. We consulted and decided that the swelling was probably the cause of the pain.  We put the boot back on, and I took a dose of the narcotic pain killers that the other doctor gave me for after the surgery.  Except for my shower this morning, the boot has not been off since early this morning, and the foot feels pretty good. 

It looks like I will have to use a rolling walker or a cane to get around in Quartzsite, but we are STILL GOING.  We leave on the afternoon of Thursday, Jan 10.

I have one more doctor’s appointment for Jan 8, just to make sure that all is well, and we can leave town.  My next post will probably be while on the way to Quartzsite.

Later……..

Christmas 2012 – A Real Bah Humbug!!!

As I stated in a previous post, back in September, I fell down some stairs and injured my left foot.  Thanks to the incompetence at the radiology department of our local hospital, I spent 2 1/2 months being told that there was nothing wrong with my foot.

After complaining to my family doctor, he set up an appointment with a Podiatrist.  She did not get a copy of the x-rays, but looked them up on the internet with her laptop.  What the radiologist could not see, she saw right away in a very small picture of my x-ray!!  I had three broken or dislocated bones.  The pictures below are an x-ray of the foot before surgery, and an after look with all the ‘scrap’ metal that she had to put in it!!

Two screws and a plate!!!!  I had the surgery on Wednesday, Dec 12, 2012, and have been off the foot every since……..Therefore, the Bah Humbug!!  I am not enjoying being waited by my wife/nurse as much as I thought, and I am really bored!!  During a visit to the doctor last week, she did tell me that instead of being in a cast for 4 weeks, she plans to remove it next Friday, Dec 28, 2012!!  She said the surgery went better than she thought it would.

As usual, we are planning our annual visit to the desert in Quartzsite, AZ.  The original 4 weeks in a cast schedule had the cast coming off on Jan 9 and us leaving home in the Bus on Jan 10 with my foot in a “Boot”!  Now, I will have the foot in a boot for a little over a week before we leave, in case there are some problems. 

I am bored and want to go someplace!!

My grandkids thought is was a little funny, at first, then they found out how hard the cast was when I kicked them with it!!  Their mother also had a little sick fun with it…… see the pictures:

Can’t leave out the other granddaughter.  She did not laugh, make any comments, or draw on the cast……… she just sat there and looked pretty, kinda like her grandpa!!!  Of course, she lives in Little Rock, about 600 miles away, so that might have helped her. 

I will close with my view most of the day and night………

Merry Christmas everybody, and I know the New Year will be better………..it occurs after December 28!!!