First Toe, Left Foot!

So I had my first toe (2^nd left) done on 02/10/2015. I got off work, and got to the Dr’s office at about 4:30pm. The procedure was done in his office. I walked in and they took x-rays of both feet. Then the Dr. came in and took some “before” pictures and looked at my x-rays to see where he would be making his cut. 

My before GLAM shots, lol

I've never liked how my toes look! 

Notice the nice corn! LOL

Right foot x-rays. Notice the bunion.

Left foot. Bunion not as bad as the right one.

 He made some markings on my toe. Keep in mind that they will be cutting a piece of my bone out in order to shorten the toe. He then proceeded to explain in detail what he will be doing, what outcomes we can expect, and asked if I had any questions. I did not, so they proceeded to prep me for the procedure. The medical assistant began by washing by foot with soap and water. They then installed a curtain (at my request) so that I wouldn't see anything from past my knee. Spare me the visuals please!

Then the Dr. came and gave me two injections of Novocain just below the 2^nd toe, to numb it out. I must say they were a little painful, but I was able to get through it. I think this was actually the most painful part, lol. The Dr. walked out and said “We’ll give that a few minutes to take effect”. Then, the medical assistant came back and she proceeded to lay out all the “surgical instruments” that the Dr. would be using. I kind of started to freak me out! I hear metal instruments clanking on the surgical tray….not a good sound when I’m about to be cut open, lol. The Dr. then came back to the room and did a pinch test to make sure my toe was numb. I could feel the pinch towards the tip of my toe, so he injected more Novocain (which this time I did not feel because the upper part of my toe was already numb. We waited a few more minutes, did a pinch test again, and were ready to begin.

They placed a tourniquet on my ankle (to prevent bleeding). It wasn’t painful, just uncomfortable.  During the whole procedure the Dr. kept me engaged in a conversation, so I was able to relax a little. Then he said “you’re going to hear a sound” and POP. It was the sound of him breaking off bone. Then I heard another POP and the Dr. said the tiny piece of bone was out and he was ready to stitch me up and bandage my toe. And then we were done! The whole thing, from the time I got the Novocain shots to him stitching me up was less than 20 minutes! The medical assistant cleaned me up, took the tourniquet off, and put down the dividing curtain. I must admit, I was afraid to look. I expected my foot to look like Frankenstein. To my surprise, it looked normal, with just a skin colored surgical tape on it.

They then told me “we need to take x-rays of your foot”. I got off the chair and hesitant to step down and put pressure on my foot, but when I finally stepped down, it did not hurt at all. They then gave me two options of shoes to pick from. One was a black, closed toe, Croc and the other one was a close toe with Velcro opening, similar to this one.

Not ugly, but not very stylish.

 I opted for the Crocs, but since I live in Chicago where temps get down to -20 degrees and there is currently snow on the ground….Crocs would not work. So the Dr. told me I could actually wear my own boots since they were sturdy enough to protect my foot and just wear the Crocs at home and work. So off I go with a prescription for 600mg of Ibuprofen and for Vicodin in case the Ibuprofen was not strong enough for my pain. The Dr. mentioned that the Novocain would start to wear off in about 6 hours, so he suggested I take an Ibuprofen in 6 hours whether I needed it or not, just so I would not be in pain. By the time I left his office, it was close to 6:30 pm. I was able to drive myself to Walgreens on my way home to pick up my prescription, get home and give my kids a bath, put them to bed, and out a load of laundry in the wash. This just shows that I was in no pain whatsoever and able to walk and go up and down stairs just fine.

My foot right before I went to bed.

I went to bed wearing a sock just because I was afraid of stubbing my toe with the blankets. I set my alarm for midnight and took an Ibuprofen. I must say, I expected to be in a lot of pain, but I was fine and was able to sleep through the night.

I will provide another update tomorrow!