Post op

~Getting prepped for surgery.

I'm 2 days post op. The surgeon said everything went really well during surgery. I was awake for the entire 2 hour surgery, if you can believe that!! The anesthesiologist felt it would be better to give me an epidural and then a nerve block because in his words "you're going to be in immense pain when this is over; a nerve block is really the only way to try to control that". So although I was terrified about being awake to hear them sawing and drilling, I agreed. I asked if they had headphones I could listen to so I didn't have to hear the drilling & bone-crunching....he said no...but when I got into the surgery suite he turned on his blackberry to Country music and laid it next to my ear on the table so I could have some distraction. What a sweetie!! Even though it was just an epidural, I got horribly sick afterwards. My body just can't handle drugs very well. They worked all night to control my nausea. But the pain wasn't bad.....until....the supplimental pain meds they were giving me had a very rare reaction and worked as an antagonist against the nerve block. What that means is that it pulled the nerve block out all at once like someone flipped a switch! I literally thought I was going to die. I even told my husband I thought I was dying. I just couldn't believe someone could hurt so badly and live. After they maxed me out on morphine they were finally able to get the pain under control again. The nurse said to be sure I never take nubain in conjunction with a nerve block again because although it's a rare reaction, I'm one of the few it happens to. They sent me home Friday night on oxycodone. So far it works pretty good but it keeps me awake. Although I'd much rather be tired then feel that pain again so I'll keep taking them.

Here's a few pics my hubby took when they wheeled me back from the recovery area. You can see that the ends of my toes are still white in the pics, that's because they use a thigh tourniquet and exsanguinate the leg to avoid excessive blood loss during surgery and to give them a visually clearer surgical field.

Notice the pins sticking out of each toe?

The blood is coming from the big toe. A more substantial screw was placed in the big toe rather than a pin. You can see bruising where the thigh tourniquet was placed.

Feeling very very ill coming out of surgery......then......Feeling a little more human after several rounds of anti-nausea medication. FYI...no, I did not gain 50 lbs the day of the surgery. They blow you up with IV fluids which makes you appear very bloated but it goes away over a week or two.