Tune-In-Tuesday: May 2

Evidently, I still need to learn patience. Patience may be a virtue, it’s just not mine! However, God is determined to see to it that it becomes mine! Why do I fight it so?! If you’ve followed along on this blog for any length of time, you know that I struggle with patience.

I had a return visit to Dr. Gardner today to check on the progress of my toe surgery and get the stitches out. He is now thoroughly immersed in how impatient I am. ;) His last words to me as I was leaving his office were, “Just be patient!” Haha. All went well during the appointment. I can now officially say I’ve had stitches removed. It hurt a little, but I’ve been through worse, so I’m not complaining. My foot and toes still look gross – maybe even worse than last week - because two of them are really swollen. Yesterday, two of my co-workers asked to see pictures of my foot, so I showed them. Evidently, I should have showed the pictures a lot sooner and I would have gotten a lot more sympathy – haha! They were impressed and said it looks like it really hurts.
I was going to put pictures up here on the blog last week, but when I wrote my entry, I was tired and impatient (imagine that!) and didn’t do it. I also thought people may not want to see them! But, this week, I’ve changed my mind and decided to post them. So, if you’re squeamish or just don’t like to see gross feet, here’s your warning.

(This warning is for you, Kristen!)…



This was from last week:

This is from today (before the stitches were taken out – Dr. Gardner walked in on me taking the pic, so I got a little embarrassed).

Like I said, the appointment went really well. Dr. Gardner’s nurse removed the boot and the gauze and the Ace bandage. She commented that wearing the boot has shrunk my ankle. I told her that I couldn’t believe she liked looking at this stuff all day long. She replied with, “the gorier the better!” She’s in the right profession! Dr. Gardner came in and removed the stitches. At first he said he was a little concerned about the swelling, but as the appointment went on and he looked at it more, he said everything looked fine and that the swelling will go down. I do have to wrap those two toes together in those bandages you get after getting blood taken.

He showed me how to make a mock Ace bandage with them.

He said I could get those bandages at any local drug store, but at the end of the appointment he gave me the rest of the roll. ;) I can finally get that foot wet! I asked if I could ever take the boot off and Dr. Gardner asked what I wanted to take it off for. I said, “Well, to take a shower.” His response, “Well, of course.” Then I was about to ask him about taking it off at night and he read my mind. I have to wear it at night. But that’s OK. I have to wear the boot for at least the next two weeks. I see him again on May 18 and maybe then, I’ll graduate. ;) The callouses on the bottom of my feet have been really hurting. He said that the one that’s worse than the other is healing and getting better. He said all the callouses should be gone shortly. He asked how I felt in the boot. I knew what he meant and had to concede that I actually feel a lot steadier in it then in real shoes. That’s exactly what he thought I’d say. This is where I “impressed” him and told him about my ability to walk on sand with absolutely no problems. We may revisit the whole brace thing again. I don’t want to, but he does. At my next appointment, I’m going to bring him the brace that I already have (that I don’t wear because it’s clunky and I can’t fall in it correctly. Seriously, I can’t. I get hurt worse than if I just fell not being in it!), just to show it to him. He said it’s probably not the same thing he wants to put me in. We’ll see where all this leads.

Other than wearing the boot, the only other restriction he’s given me is that I can’t exercise for at least two more weeks. Oh, he said I could do sit-ups or push-ups (core body strengthening), but no (stationary) biking. I told him I didn’t want to do sit-ups or push-ups; those were too hard! ;) All I want to do is bike, but that’s what he told me I couldn’t do. Ugh…so again, patience. I need to learn patience. It was kind of funny, because Dr. Gardner asked if I had any other questions. I thought about that for a second and then said, “When can I exercise again?” Umm…who is this person?! If you had told me 7 or 8 years ago that I would be asking when I could exercise again, I would have called you crazy. But there I was today asking when I could exercise. I think Dr. Gardner was surprised by that question too because he started laughing. Of all the questions, I ask when I can exercise.

One good thing about wearing the boot is, I don’t have to worry about finding two shoes. I told Dr. Gardner that my heel was finally fitting all the way down the in boot. I was proud of myself (because last week, it wasn’t doing that and it was causing problems) until he said, “the boot may be stretching out”. Yeah, that’s more than likely what’s going on. Oh well.

I’ve been working from home (well, my parent’s home) for the past week.

Trying to keep my foot elevated above my heart while working from home was kind of uncomfortable!

While that’s been great, I’m still going a little stir crazy. I don’t remember feeling that way when I had the deep brain stimulation surgery. Maybe that was because I wasn’t feeling so good. But, this time around, I want to get out of the house. For the past two weeks, the only place I’ve gone is to the doctor. The first week was because I wasn’t supposed to walk at all on my foot. The second week was because we were all being very cautious not to do anything to mess up the surgery or the stitches. (I did have one little accident. I was balancing on my good foot and it just crumpled over. I heard things crunch. There’s a big bruise on that foot. I told Dr. Gardner all of this. He looked at it and wasn’t concerned about it and since then, it’s completely healed).

I didn’t even go to church! As much as I’m an introvert, I still need to be around people. I’m thankful that I’m not completely alone – Mom and Dad are here, but I’m ready to get back to work and church. It has been extremely nice though to have been waited on. Mom makes my meals. Dad goes and fetches prescriptions and my mail. That part of it has been awesome!! Don’t get me wrong – I love being in the company of my parents, but I’m also ready to see other people and not just lay around the house.

Someone asked me if I ever turned by deep brain stimulation device back on (after I had to turn it off for surgery). I guess I forgot to mention that I did turn it back on the second I got home from surgery. So, it’s on and working. I haven’t done any other adjusting to the settings though. Talking about that reminds me that my “Vanderbilt” neurologist is now here at UT! I think his first day was yesterday.

This whole deep brain stimulation thing is an on-going journey. (As a side note: thank you to all who still follow along on this journey and still (at least fake) enthusiasm when hearing about it! Also, thank you to all who have sent cards and checked in with me.) Dr. Gardner and I were talking about the journey. It’s amazing what the brain can do. It’s also amazing what the body can do. My foot issue is a direct result of the dystonia. We “fixed” the brain issue (so it’s not perfect, it’s still a thousand times better than it ever was!). And a year later, now we fixed the physical issue. Let’s hope this is all the “fixing” both need! I really hope this is it for surgeries and bionic things, but even if it’s not, I’ll still be OK because I know the Healer of all ailments and I know He’s Got This!