Post-Op Day # 66 - See Ya Soon

Well Tuesday we were leaving on the 7pm Victoria Clipper so we had to get our stuff organized during the day. Poor Adam had the worst case of hiccups, they went on for HOURS!
It was so bizarre plus he had a bit of a cough so that was triggering the hiccups when they'd finally stop. Ack, he was a mess!

I got the stuff packed up and decided Id take advantage of the decent weather and the few hours I had left to go visit Frosty one last time.

My foot was definitely tired Tuesday, all that moving about over the weekend, the bike riding etc... so I didn't move around too much at the barn.
I didn't have time to groom so just put Frosty in the round pen and free-longed her for a few minutes so I could get some action shots.
I can't get over how amazing she looks for 31, its crazy -- she really doesnt even look half her age or ACT IT! LOL I love it, she has a real ZEST for life :-)
I'll add a bunch of pictures for you to see!!

After I left the barn I decided to go visit The Cowichan Therapeutic Riding Association in Duncan. I worked there for 6yrs(till 2001 I think it was) , I miss it so I try to visit whenever possible. My ol boss Michelle was working so that was great, it was fun to chit chat with her for a few bit before heading back to my moms.

I got back home, Adam was finishing up work for the day, gathered the rest of the stuff and head out with my moms friend Mary down to Victoria to the Clipper terminal. :-)
I made sure to take my 10mg of Warfarin in my purse so I could take it at 8pm! Phew, good thing I remembered! LOL

The boat left on time at 7pm, the ride home was smooth and we got back to Seattle around 9:35pm so not too bad.

It was great to see my mom for a few days, she's progressing so well with her stroke recovery(been over a year now).

We're going back to VI soon for my good friend Tessa's wedding on July 18th so it'll be nice to see everyone again so soon!

Well that's it for the VI trip, we had a lot of fun, saw some friends, had a nice visit with my mom and saw Frosty quite a few times! :-)

Thanks for checkin in

Post-Op Day #27 - Follow Up Ultrasound

Today I had my follow up ultrasound and it showed the clot was the same size so that is good. They were checking to make sure it hadn't gotten any bigger since I was there last week.

I go back in 3 weeks for another one, they said that we might see a decrease in size but hard to say.

My foot feels pretty good, it still gets swollen/purple if I don't elevate it enough but I've noticed I can keep it down for longer periods of time. My toes move awesome, I can even move the ball of my foot a bit now. :-) Very good news, I think I'll be able to bear more weight over the next week or so --it'd be great if I could almost walk with my KAM boot by the time I go back to Dr. Chi on May 21st.

I took my Lovenox at 7pm and in a few minutes I'll take my 7.5mg of Warfarin. I have to do tomorrow mornings injection then go to the ACC in Bellevue for INR testing.

Guess we'll see what tomorrows results are.................fingers and toes crossed we're up to 2.0 INR!

I'm hoping to see if I can drive soon, now that I have more strength, less tenderness in the ankle it might be possible. Don't worry I won't push it, it's not worth getting my ankle aggravated.

I took some new pictures of my stomach........haha, 14 injection sites and almost all of them have bruising. haha!

Thanks for checking in on me :-)

Post-Op Day #7 - One Week

Well today is exactly a week since I had my surgery and things are going well. Thankfully today I didn't have the sweats or feel weak but I was really tired.

I slept well last night, though experienced some weird sensations in my foot around 11pm when I took my nightly dose of Neurontin(aka Gabapentin). I take 2700mg of Neurontin per day(900mg 3x's), that is a high dosage but it's needed or I'm in a lot of pain.

It's a medication I've been on for over a year to deal with Post Herpectic Neuralgia; basically like having Shingles(I've had them 4 times, chicken pox 2x's - NOT FUN) without the physical outbreak of blisters on the skin but all of the severe pain. It's makes daily function very hard if you're not enough medication.

The medication helps the brain and the nerves in the skin send the proper signals, somewhere along the way something isn't doing its job right(nerve damage) so I'm getting severe pain when I really shouldn't be.

I could feel the Neurontin activating the nerves in my foot. WOW, what a crazy sensation to say the least.
It felt like small electrical sparks were going on in my foot, I could feel them shooting around my foot, especially the bottom.
This went on for about 15minutes and then everything settled down. PHEW!

It makes sense because the nerves in my foot are all messed up from the TTS and surgery; the medication was trying to do it's job, help them function properly.

It'll be interesting to see how often I experience this, I mean if it happens once, it's bound to happen again.
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Dr's actually Rx this medication for issues like TTS so guess I'm good to go! HA HA!


My ankle felt good today, a very small amount of pain on and off but nothing that needed any medication for, not even an Advil! :-)
I tried to give my toes a massage a few times throughout the day to help get the circulation.
My foot tends to get cold quickly if I'm on my feet too much or have the leg down.
I've tried to adjust my bandage a few times to loosen it a bit and that helped a bit.

I think a lot of it is just part of the healing process so I'm not too worried about it. I have most of the feeling in the toes, a few places can be a bit tingly/numb but that is normal with this type of surgery.


I spent most of the day on the couch with my leg elevated while I finished reading my book (Prime by Dr. Pepper Schwartz - an interesting read to say the least HAHA!) or sleeping.
I didn't have much energy to do anything else which totally sucked because it's been SUNNY ALL DAY! Oh my, could SPRING actually be here? Umm ya, I'm not going to be placing any bets on that! HA HA!

I can probably fit in a quick ride around the block in the wheelchair before it gets too late, the sunset will be awesome tonight!!!

I hope I have more energy tomorrow because I'd like to go to the ranch for a visit.
My friend and riding partner Helene is going to the ranch in the morning so I might go -- If I'm up to it. Fingers crossed, it'd be nice to see everyone again and maybe groom Karma.

Adam just asked if I want to go for a ride around the block so I better hop my way to the door! haha! I can't wait to get some fresh air and spend some time with my wonderful hubby. <3

I can't beleive it's been a week already! I have my Post-Op appointment with Dr Chi in 6 days(April 21st) so I'm anxious to hear how much damage he found and to get the stitches out. :-)

Thanks for checking up on me :-)

Post-Op Day #6 - Highs And Lows

Well today was interesting, I woke up and felt not too bad but as time went on I started to feel sick.
I started sweating and feeling very weak so I laid in bed for a bit to see if that would help.

The feeling wouldn't go away, no matter what I did(eat, sleep, shower etc..)........ugh, it was awful!

Finally I figured it out, it was my body having with drawls from the Percocet! UGH! Today I didn't take ANY(YAY FOR NO PAIN but oh man, my body was PO'D!) because there was no need to :-)

Thank goodness I've been reducing the amount of Percocet I've been taking over the last day or so -- I think if I had just stopped and not started to do 1/2 doses the last 2 days I would have been in really bad shape today. Not that it didnt feel horrible! HA HA!

I managed to get through the day and not take anything so I'm thrilled.......I think if I do have any type of pain I will just take an advil.

I hope that I don't feel like this again tomorrow but if I do, I won't be surprised, Percocet is strong stuff.

On a better note, I got to use the wheelchair and go for a nice ride around the block with Adam. It was great, the air felt soooooooooo good and the sun was trying to come out(BONUS! seeing how it SNOWED this morning! UGH!).

Later on I decided to take off the bandage and see if I could change out the dressing on my ankle and I DID IT! WOOHOO! Yay me, no getting queesy or passing out! HA HA HA!

My ankle looks really good, still a bit swollen, bruised and some dried blood around the stitches --as you can see, the incision is quite long(3.5 - 4inches). It hasnt even been a week(tomorrow will be), I cleaned up some of the area with a damp cloth but not by the stitches.

I will add a few pictures of my ankle, I will try to put the least gross ones on here. ha ha!


Thanks for checking up on me :-)