There has been some intense fascination surrounding the pictures of my foot that James has been documenting. I'd be interested too. If it wasn't my limb that looks like it's going to fall off. At the doctors office I sometimes can't look at the photo until after we leave because I think it'll make it hurt more. So mind your stomach if you choose to scroll down.
Jame is a mini celebrity at my doctors office. The medical assistants fawn over him as "that wonderful husband that saved his wife's life by rubbing her feet." And he's carting our newborn down the hall at every appointment too. I think one of the younger assistants ovaries popped as he walked by.
So here are the photos- scroll down at your own risk- they get worse as you go so beware. I warned you so if you lose your lunch its your own fault. Final warning.
This is the day of my melanoma surgery.The day we kissed cancer buh bye. This photo is of my foot after the pig skin graft has been sewn on. We were not able to take a photo of the hole in my foot without anything on it. Probably because I had the shakes and was in the process of cutting off the circulation to James' hand. The night of my surgery was when I had my bleeding episode and had to head into the doctors office the next day. That was when I got my first Unna boot on. I take home antibiotics and pain meds. Which just make every breast feeding mother thrilled.
The Unna boot is a soft cast that is supposed to promote healing. It leaves white, chalky marks all over my house. It can't get wet. It prevents the movement of my ankle. It gets very tight when my foot swells. It gets sticky when my yoga pants rub against it. It's basically a finicky little girl.
This photo was taken a week following my surgery. I had some bleeding from some bumps and bangs so that's why it looks icky. The skin around it looks white because it's been sealed in my cast and its puckered because of the stitching of the graft. The graft looks purple because the pig skin is dying (its supposed to.) At this point I'm feeling good about my foot. I feel like things are looking good and I hope that I'll only have the boot on for two more weeks. The doctor doesn't want to really comment on my recovery time at this point but says it looks good.
Here is my foot on my 2nd week back. I feel its looking good. Still a little bleeding but not much. It's extremely tender, especially on the inside of my arch. The doctor is concerned that there has still been bleeding and there is blood clotting beneath my graft. So the graft has to come off. I'm very upset. I feel like this is going to set me back in my recovery. Which I feel should only be 2-3 weeks. Oh sweet naive girl.
The doctor is now concerned about infection so I'm put on a second round of antibiotic. They soak it in some antibiotic solution and pack it with some cream of some sort. It's back in the boot for a third week. I see the photo of my foot without the graft and lose my mind. It looks horrid. Straight out of a horror movie. The doctor wants to see how it looks in a week. I'm unconvinced that I'll get any good news. I trade a Hulu password for some free advice from my friend that's a doctor. He remains unconvinced that I'll be walking again soon and wonders why I didn't get another graft. I think maybe a few more weeks and I'll be up on my foot.
And we're back. Again. My foot is very tender when they are attempting to clean it. I almost kicked the medical assistant in the face when she touched the wound. They scurried off to get some numbing cream in order to clean it after that. It was that tender even with a whole pain pill in me before coming. James is impressed at the growth of my leg hair over 3 weeks. I threaten to keep it if he won't leave me alone.
Here we are after I'm cleaned up. It's not infected but it's not looking good. The doctor tells me it will be 2 to 3 months before I can walk again at this rate. I break my usual stiff upper lip in the doctors office and I tear up. This is not what I wanted to hear. I'll also probably require treatment on the scar tissue to be able to function normally. And running. HA. That won't happen for up to 6 months. Glad we didn't buy that double jogging stroller. I'm told that if they take a skin graft from my hip that it will speed up the healing, cut down the risk of infection and cut down on the risk of the skin around the wound dying. My choice of course because the skin graft is painful. And if I was older then they could take the graft from my face and give me a mini face lift. But I'm too young for that so it's the hip if I want to do it. I'm considering proposing taking the graft from my stomach since I've just had two kids in two years and they can tuck some of that extra skin. Maybe she'll go for it. Getting the graft sure doesn't feel like it's a choice- it feels like my only option. So on Monday we go in to get the graft but until then, back in the boot. I'm not looking forward to the pain and healing time that the graft will bring but I'm hoping it'll get me on my feet sooner. The doctor can't seem to understand why I can't elevate my foot more. I have two reasons. Their names are Fox and Bee. I'll work real hard to get the self sufficient by Monday.
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