Surgery accomplished! Thursday was a day full of anticipation and multiple trying moments, especially for me and definitely for Chris. Overall, the surgery went well and now we begin the recovery phase.
Many things did not go as planned on Thursday, but not necessarily in a bad way. First off, the surgery was about two hours late. The anticipation was excruciating! Probably the most unexpected thing was the anesthesiologist coming in about 20 minutes before surgery saying he was doing a general anesthesia on me (versus the epidural I had been mentally preparing for). This definitely shot my blood pressure up. I probably asked him 832 times if it was safe for baby. The issues with the epidural were a) it may not last long enough and b) the tendons and nerves in your foot get complicated and it's hard to assure the drug gets all the way in there. Both those things (plus I'd be awake), pretty much sealed the answer for me.
The surgery itself went super fast (really fast for me)! The actual procedure was probably only 30-40 minutes. Two screws (and a washer) in my foot where the bone was broken and anchors on the ligaments in the ankle. Coming out of surgery I immediately asked about the baby and they had the fetal heart monitor ready. Of course, he was a total champ... just sleepy like his mama. After surgery, my pain was pretty moderate and my throat was KILLING me from the breathing tube.
X-ray of foot with my new carpentry
They sent me to the High-Risk OB ward where I would stay the night. The nurses and OB hospitalists were amazing at Plano Presbyterian. I had two bouts of nausea from the anesthesia (never got physically ill, but really wanted to). That evening I had a horrendous episode of pain around 11 p.m. Between my sweet, amazing husband holding my hand and helping me through it, to a fabulous nurse (Terry) giving me morphine and Ambien, I made it through the night.
We were at the hospital until about 2 p.m. (needed several rounds of antibiotics in the IV). The pain is pretty much always there, but minimized by some pain pills. Getting up and around to use the bathroom is like running a marathon :)
Partial cast and ace bandage. This weighs approximately 9 million pounds.
As for recovery, I see the doctor on Monday to get in a full cast for four weeks. We'll have a better idea of the healing time after he looks at the foot then. Originally he said "active and mobile after 6 weeks", so I'm still hanging on to that.
I can't express how much I've appreciated all the messages and visits and help from everyone. Chris has been beyond exceptional through all this (and continues to be). I can't so much as move from a lying to sitting position without supervision...let alone all the other things we do in a normal day! It's ridiculously humbling. My family (including in-laws) and friends have just been outstanding. I appreciate everyone's positive thoughts and prayers! They are working!
Amazing care package contents from my Grammy Girls.
