I’m sorry I don’t update this blog very often anymore. Third year nursing is a lot of work, and I’m still working at that damn grocery store every week, so I don’t have much time to do other things anymore. But I’m here to update you on my bunion chronicles, as tomorrow will be eight months since the surgery!

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Well the pin has been out for three days and my foot is feeling great! Okay, well, maybe not great, but much better than when I had the pin in. As soon as I got home from the pin removal I exfoliated my foot, because the skin was dry and rough and disgusting. That felt so good! It seems to be healing well although I am still covering up the incision and the pinhole when I have to walk somewhere. I have an Air Cast… but more about that later. Here are some photos of my foot just before and just after having the pin removed.

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I got my pin out yesterday! It was epically exciting! My foot feels sooo much better! And I took a video of it!

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I think I did too much walking yesterday. I’ve been so tired of being in the house and yesterday I really wanted pancakes. So Steve and I took two buses and went for breakfast, and the place we went was right across from the mall. After breakfast we went to the mall because I just wanted to look at a couple of things, but that ended up turning into me wanting to look at everything. The entire breakfast/mall journey was only about 3 hours in total, which may seem like a lot for the condition my foot is in; however, it is my good foot that is sore and not the one I had surgery on!

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So on Friday I had another dressing change by Dr. L. He said that my foot is healing nicely and that I may be able to get the pin out next Friday! So that would be August 14 instead of the original date of August 17. So, only three days difference but that’s an exciting three days for me because the pin is driving me nuts. It’s mostly the fact that the skin around the pin hurts like hell, and well, who enjoys having a metal foreign object sticking out of their skin (besides piercings, of course!)

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I’m trying to stay out of my being-stuck-in-the-house funk, but it’s tough. What doesn’t help matters is the fact that we’ve had the biggest heat wave here for centuries, with the temperatures being 40+ celsius for an insane amount of time. Apparently we’re breaking records from the 1960s. It’s hard to not be able to just go out or go swimming or to the lake or jump in a cold shower. I also think I’m gaining weight due to not really being able to exercise. And I was actually losing weight before my surgery!

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Finally after almost 3 weeks my stitches are OUT! I am very happy with that, even though my foot hurts a lot after getting them out. Dr. L is a good guy but he wasn’t very good at taking stitches out in my opinion; being a nursing student I have learned how to take stitches out and he did not do them the proper way. Also he didn’t really sterilize his equipment properly. When he took the stitches out, he was ripping at my skin so much, it hurt like hell. I was squeezing Steve’s hand so hard I put dents in it. I haven’t had anything that painful for a while. Don’t think stitches are supposed to hurt that much, but anyways.

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I got my dressing changed today! It was a little bit painful, but not too bad. I didn’t realize quite how much gauze had been on there; there was about 18 layers or so and it had bled through every single layer. When he changed the dressing, he left the bottom layer of gauze on because it was some special “silk gauze” and he said that ripping it off may rip the stitches. It feels good to have a new, fresh, non-bloody dressing on. I couldn’t see too much, but I did take some pictures.

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I have a long day ahead of me… I actually have to work a full shift until 6:00pm, and then I catch the ferry to head to Vancouver for my surgery (I live in Victoria B.C.). My parents are in Vancouver, so my mom is picking me up tonight, taking me for surgery tomorrow, and then driving onto the ferry with me and taking me back to Victoria.

Instead of having to buy crutches, my grandma had a pair from when she broke her hip, some very nice, aluminum, barely used, adjustable crutches. They are at my parents’ house, so I haven’t had a chance to practice using them.

I had better get ready for work now. It will be sad saying goodbye to all my co-workers; I work with some of the nicest people in the world. Hopefully some of them will come visit me.

I am so nervous about tomorrow! Wish me luck!

The type of surgery I’m having is called an Austin Bunionectomy, where basically they shave off the bone of the bunion, cut the tendons and the bone in my first metatarsal, realign the bone, and hold it in place with a long pin. There are not too many good websites that I can find describing it, but a lovely (not graphic) youtube video here: Austin Bunionectomy Demonstration.

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