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i've been a little behind in my blog-keeping, so here's the catch up:

(click photo for close-up)

on oct. 8th i got my stitches out, all 50 of them! (that's 2 more than the other foot had). it hurt so much less this time than my experience with the last foot stitch removal. it didn't kill this time, so my dear friend who took me to my appointment and i went out for burgers & shakes at the local burger joint, sparkey's, who's strawberry shakes are my absolute favorite post foot-appointment treat/reward.

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here is the most recent foot progress photo. taken on oct. 15th, and only a week later now, it looks waay better, no more scabs (the dark spots) and only a couple "problem" areas (areas where the incisions aren't completely tight together and still healing). i keep wanting to wiggle the little piggies, which to me is a good sign that everything is healing quickly on the inside as well, but doctor's orders, don't wiggle the toes while you've got pins in them.

next visit is in a week and if my x-rays show enough fused progress i get my pins pulled! if that happens, it's all uphill from there!

.feets.

early morning photo a few days before left foot surgery.

.your foot looks like a crazy quilt.

doc visit 10.01.09

my mom keeps telling me she thinks my feet look like crazy quilts when they're in this phase of having stitches. when the stitches come out, my dad thinks it looks like i stuck my foot in a blender. i think my toes look like little shish kabobs.

i thought i was going to get my stitches out this visit, but alas, the docs want to wait another week, give the skin time to bond a little more, you could say. at least lefty got a breather from all the gauze and splint and ace bandages.

i think it all looks so weird, a lot better than the last foot at this stage, but still weird. the big toe looks a tad crooked to me, and the two littlest toes look as if they've got too much skin, but you never know until all the swelling goes down, because when i look at my right foot pictures post surgery compared to how it looks now, the transformation is unreal.

so i finally found a pain pill that doesn't make me break out in hives, good old tylenol with codeine. not as much bang as those other narcotics, but a good deal more power than the ibu profin i pop on a regular basis. i sure hope there will be a day when my RA is so under control i won't need to pop these pain pills, for the sake of my kidneys and liver.

i saw a special today on pbs about this woman with one leg who was the world's fastest downhill amputee skier. she seems like such a beautiful and strong person inside and out. wow, if she can downhill ski with one leg, i can do this, no problem.

i wanted to see the underside of my foot, and i can't bend that much with pins in my toes so i took a picture. it's scary to think back to the day when my feet "blew up" (over a year ago now), but here you can see the calloused spot where my metatarsal heads busted thru the bottoms of my feet. this will soon be all healed because i no longer have those pesky metatarsal heads...

i have been so thankful for the internet lately. between facebook, online scrabble, blogs, skype, IMing, netflix, i can't imagine going thru these surgeries and all the down time without these forms of entertainment and distraction. and most of all, my amazing family and friends. thanks everyone.

.surgery day.

september 14th 2009, my mom's birthday and date for foot surgery #2, left foot.

happy birthday mom! i'm getting a new foot for you for your birthday!

my surgery was supposed to be at 10:25 am, arrive to hospital 2 hrs early at 8:25 am to fill out paper-work, get prepped, yada yada. got a call says to arrive at 7 am instead (i'm thinking, great! i got bumped to an earlier time slot, good thing since no eating after midnight the night before makes for a very hungry sarah). arrive at 7 am. paper work ("i promise not to sue the hospital if i wake up and have no foot"). waiting room, sit and wait to wait some more, do crossword with dad and neighboring weird guy who seems to like crosswords as well. finally called in, i'm sure it was well after 10:25 am, in fact, no one knows why i got a call to come in at 7 am, could have slept another hour. disrobe, put on pretty little cotton hospital gown (see above) which is better than the synthetic one last time. answer a bunch of questions, lay in bed and wait some more. finally get that pesky little IV in the arm, wait some more. anyhow, ended up waiting hours and hours because they had at least two emergencies, one of which was someone getting their foot amputated (no problem, i'll wait, i'm just happy i'm gonna "walk" out of here). get the ipod playlist set, and away we go! post surgery, eat as many graham crackers and drink as many tiny cups of apple juice as possible, i was sooo hungry. wait for the lower half to come-to and somehow i'm in the van on my way home texting people (which i do not remember, equivalent to drunk dialing). home. eat some soup, take some drugs, pass out. that was my experience. lovely.

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.1st post-surgery doc visit.

post-surgical nasty gauze peeled off so i can get cleaned up.

(note doc's initials and arrow indicating "slice this foot").

after getting all the gauze off, get cleaned up, new wraps on, these are the fun highlights, you can see my stitches, my bright yellow betadine leg. everything looks as it should, amazingly. my big toe got pretty banged up this time around, all bruised i mean. the toes are straight, waaaay less swelling than last time and once again, those cute little pins. they say i'm good to go for two weeks (i've peeked once so far).

so, all in all, i'm pretty optimistic that things are going well. aside from the allergic hivey outbreak to darvocet which i am still trying to get out of my system, things are going pretty good. haven't had to take as many pain pills this time around, perhaps my brain remembers the pain so it isn't as bad, or maybe last time that pesky fourth toe just made everything worse.

next visit i'm due for stitches out (which last time was worse than the pins coming out if you can believe it), and the pins don't come out for 8 weeks post surgery, i'll start feeling loads better after that. good thing i've got all my "sarah on crutches" systems down already makes that part easier too.

i can't wait to take a nice long walk... patience...

these were/are my feet before. this is what 12+ years of RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) did to my feet. time to get them fixed. off to see the wizard.

this is what they did to my right foot (pan metatarsal head resection and first metatarsophalangeal fusion), and what they will do to my left foot in a few days.

pins & stitches galore.

and many doctor visits.

the fourth toe had problems and had to get the pin pulled early.

the before and after picture.

and lots of healing time.

and now to do it all over again... put your left foot in.