I want to say thanks to everyone who inquired how I’m doing after surgery. The surgery went well. The biopsy came back just fine. Evidently the damage to my toe, from wear and tear, caused damage to the cartilage, which caused (if I remember what the dr said correctly) some extra soft cartilage growth, which is what the “tumor” or growth on my toe was. He removed that, cleaned out the damaged cartilage and removed the bone fracture. Oh yeah, he also drilled some holes in the bone to relieve pressure. Just saw him today for a follow-up, and he said it all looks good. Could cause me some problems 5, 10, or 20 years down the road, which if it does, at that time is when I would probably have to have the bones broken, a small section taken out, and reattached with screws.
During the surgery, I just had the type of anethesia where I was out for 5 minutes or so while they numbed my foot, then I was awake and talking during the entire surgery. That part was very strange, but it didn’t bother me. It made it so much easier after surgery, as I often get sick from anesthesia. I was in recovery and wide awake and feeling great this time. Didn’t have any pain until that night when the numbness wore off my foot. I had Darvacet for pain, but it didn’t even touch my pain. So, unfortunately, I had a lot of pain that first night because no pharmacies are open 24 hours here, so I had to wait until the morning to get a different prescription. In the meantime, the next morning the Darvacet began making me violently ill. So that was not good. By early afternoon it was all out of my system, and the new prescription for Vicadin began working. It controlled the pain if I took 2 of them, but then I got another side effect that can happen with pain meds-horrible itching all over. I thought I would scratch my skin off, so I tried to cut back on the pain meds, but at that point I still wasn’t able to, so I added Benedryl to the list of meds I was taking. Still itched, but not as bad, and I’ve now been able to cut back to 1 Vicadin every 4 hours. With this dose, I don’t itch, and I’m much more coherent.
Today is the first day I’ve been up for more than 5 minutes at a time. It’s nice being out of bed, but I still have to sit with my foot elevated most of the time. I know it’s getting better as each day goes by, and the doctor said I’d see a big improvement this next week. I’m going to try to read this next week-I think I’ve seen enough TV to last me for a while.
And here’s a photo of Bella. With all of the different things going on in the house, the poor thing was just so worn out. And where did she decide she needed to be? Right next to my foot, on the soft squishy pillows.

One more thing-you’re not going to see a lot of blog entries from me in the next week. I will participate in some of my ongoing groups, like Sunday Salad Samplers, but will be late with my posts. No standing on my feet cooking for a while.