Run Halstead Run!: They done broke me

Two weeks. Its been two weeks since I had surgery on my foot. What was wrong with it? To call it a bunion would be a mild description of the foot problems I was having. I'm liking this to reconstructive surgery of my foot. Take this bone, move it here. Now take that other bone and pin it over there. Pull that, yank it over here. What next?

About ten years ago I noticed that my left foot didn't quite look like my right foot, that the knuckle bone of my bit toe really pushed outward. This made wearing high healed shoes uncomfortable and standing for long periods of time quite unpleasant. It wasn't until I really became active again, that my foot began to down right hurt. I could run a all the live long day and it would be fine, but as soon as I stopped, that protruding knuckle bone of my left foot would scream like &*%!@)! After putting up with two seasons of too much pain for no good reason I decided to see an orthopedic surgeon, actually, one of the best in the state. The picture that she showed me made it look like my foot was already broken. There wasn't a "growth" on that left foot, but rather my left toe was turning in towards the other toes, pushing that knuckle bone out - way out. The long and the short of it was that if I didn't have this taken care of there might not be many more "seasons" of running left. I sat with it and realized the best time would be in the Fall. The summer season of triathlons would be over, and a winter of crappy movies and red wine was ahead of me. Let's do it!

Before...

After...

The surgery went a bit longer than expected. They had to cut into my achilles tendon. That's right. When they were getting ready to wrap up my foot/leg my achilles was too tight to stay in the position they wanted for healing. There shouldn't be any repercussions from that. Runners tend to have tight hamstrings and achilles to being with, so this is a good reminder that in the future - there will be MUCH more stretching.

Megan was the most amazing person to bring to the hospital. She asked all the right questions, made sure I understood what they were telling me, none of which I remembered later of course. And she reiterated everything to Pete precisely. I was in such great hands. She brought me magazines, the new Dan Brown book, treats, nail polish (blue of course) and lots of hugs and kisses.

They gave me lots of drugs including a wonderful catheter that they stuck directly into my sciatic nerve. The very nice anesthesiologist bore a hole through my hamstring to put the catheter in. I was awake for that lovely part. This is what's called a block. Basically blocking the nerve impulses below my knee. I went home with that block in place and Pete got to take it out a few days later. I thought he might barf on me, but he didn't.

I was put in a cast that weighed more than I do. I looked like I had a ginormous club foot. The cast went all the way up to my knee. As you can see from the photo, this did not lend itself to mobility. So I stayed in bed. Happily.

Day two or three? Or was it four. The Oxicodone was at work...

Pete had to help me do everything, including walking me to the bathroom. Luckily I could pee on my own, but just barely. I didn't leave the back bedroom for days. Tigger, my main man, was curled up with me day and night, the way a good orange tabby does.

Yesterday, the cast was taken off. I had absolutely no idea what to expect. What was under this monstrous beast of a cast? What was it going to look like? As the doctor cut in the cast and pealed back the layers, my little foot began to appear. I was so happy to have that big thing come off, but as I saw more and more of my foot, I was a little scared. They cleaned it up and removed the stitches, a lot of stitches, and gave me a removable boot. They said that it was healing up really well, probably because I totally kick ass and did everything that they told me to.

I'm not allowed to put any weight on my foot for at least another four weeks, at which point I'll go back and they'll have another look. In the meantime I'll keep it up, ice it, and pretty much treat it like a damn Faberge egg. I'll spend another month or so after that learning to walk on it.

Its worth it though. I'm looking forward to a winter of upper body and core strength training. I'll be looking at the Spring season from a vastly different perspective. There are a lot of people that are going to have to put up with me over the next few months, and I'm grateful for each and every one of them.

Don't look any further if you think you might barf at gross pictures...

Day 12, the cast came off....