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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.