Bits about the Bitzes: Toes and other Goings On

Well, the Bitzes have had a busy go of it in the last month or so. I had my surgery on both my toes and it went great. It's hard to tell much of an improvement at this point since it is still a little difficult to walk normally but the doctor is very pleased with the results. It was quite an interesting week after surgery. Luckily my mom was hear to help us out and boy did we need it.

The day of surgery was fine. I became best friends with my anesthesiologist and after the surgery invited her to come stay with us so she could continue administering those fabulous drugs. The day started bright and early with us getting to the surgery center at 6:30. They did all the pre-op stuff and while I was waiting in my chair with my IV in my little gown, I started to get pretty nervous. They asked if I wanted some anti anxiety meds but I declined. I had Henry come sit with me but then I got even more nervous and started crying. At that point they called for the happy juice and let me tell you , I was happy. Henry said I went from crying, to being dizzy, eyes rolled back in the head, then rolled forward and I was smiling. I think if I was an anesthesiologist I would be a total junkie.

There were some fun moments: the anesthesiologist (Lauri) had a great sense of humor. She had chocolate Halloween toes that were the same size as toes and we decided to tape them to my actual toes to give the doctor a surprise when he took off my special socks.

It was pretty funny when the doctor found them and he did say he has seen toenails that look like that. Scary! Everyone had a good laugh. Me especially since by that point I was pretty loopy.

I had local anesthetic with IV sedation for this surgery which means I was awake for parts of it and apparently quite talkative and active. I do remember waking up and wanting to see what was going on. I tried to sit up and pull down the sheet they had up so I could see my feet. I guess I did that quite a few times. I also remember getting irritated by the oxygen thing in my nose and pulling that out. Lauri and I had quite the battle over that one with me continuously pulling it out and her putting it back in. I guess I kept asking the same questions over and over again. At my follow up appointment, the doctor told me I was talking so much she finally decided to put me to sleep. The doctor said it was nice and quiet for about 15 minutes and they got a lot of work done and then I woke up again. So between my yammering and trying to get off the table, they were able to actually do their job and do it well. :)

Afterwards I was very happy and relaxed and made some phone calls to my friends who later told me they couldn't really understand what I was saying but I was laughing a lot and sounded really happy.

I had some pretty rough days after that though. The pain meds were not agreeing with me and I had some pretty bad reactions. On Tuesday morning (the surgery was Monday), I took it without food and was so dizzy I thought my head was going to fall off and roll away. We were able to get some food down me and thought solved that. However, Tuesday night, I woke up in the middle of the night and spent about 3 hours throwing up. Not being able to get up and walk to the bathroom, I did throw up all over myself. My poor husband who does not have children, babysat, or had a puppy did not know what to do. Luckily, mom was there. Then I spent some hours laying on the bathroom floor throwing up into a bowl. It was such a fun night! The next afternoon, I actually passed out from the meds and at that point we decided to call the doctor and get a new prescription. He switched my meds and after that all was well.

I went back to work about a week and a half after the surgery and it has been going pretty well. I used a wheelchair for about two weeks and now I am walking around all on my own. Each day is better and better but it is still hard to be on my feet for a long time. I have pins in my toes that are holding them straight which causes me to not be able to bend my big toes which means I walk on my heels and the outsides of my feet a lot which can make them really tired and painful. I got most of my stitches out about a week ago. He left a couple in but a few days later I was bored and ended up taking them out myself.

Here is an after picture of my feet so far - tomorrow will be four weeks out from surgery.

I'm really looking forward to getting the pins out in a few weeks and being able to bend my toes again.

In the meantime, Henry has been busy with school and taking care of me. He finishes his first term next weekend and will have his first batch of finals! Then he will immediately start his second term and then have a break at Christmas. He's really excited to get through these first 3-4 terms when he gets core classes out of the way and can really focus on the programming. I'm so proud of him.

We also had our first snow! Here are some pictures from October 5th, our first snow this year.

Our house ...

My roses were blooming at the time.

Siri was confused/excited as he always is with the first snow.

These pictures were taking with my phone so sorry if they are a bit blurry. I can't find the camera charger to take normal pictures.

And finally, one last picture of cuteness which is how I spent my Saturday night last night: