1st Day After Surgery - LEFT FOOT

I haven't done much as you might have guessed. My appetite is gone. My mom had to bathe me. (brought back memories ;o)

Although the bathroom was very near by, it became necessary for a bucket to be placed near my bed so I could do urinate. Doing this was a great help. I have disinfective wipes for my hands and my mom faithfully emptied it daily. (Tip: if you're going to do this, fill the bucket with some water first!)

My leg feels very heavy and every movement is cumbersome.

You may have noticed smalls tube coming out of my bandages in my last post.... well, that's the Infusion Pain Pump. I had asked my surgeon if I could control the amount myself (with a max-cap of course), I wanted this control because... what if I didn't need it as much? (Again, I hate pharmaceuticals!) He stated that this would not be possible. So be it.

(Tubes from Infusion Pain Pump)

(There are no needles under the tape. )

I have one pump, but two tubes. This was necessary I think because I had so much done on one foot, the two bunionectomies and Brachymetatarsia correction.

The pump is a round ball. (It has to be carried around by you.) I was given a small fanny-pack to carry it. I use it around my waist and/or neck when walking around on my crutches. The ball is warm.

As the days went by it administered Bupivacaine on a set auto-cycle. I had this on for 4 days. I hardly felt it when it administered. I had to be very still and it had to be completely quiet for me to feel a vibration inside my bandages for me to feel it administering. No pain with this.

 As each day passes, the ball shrinks inside.

Incidentally, inside the fanny-pack I found a brochure that shows that the infusion pump comes in 3 controller types. "Select-A-Flow®",  OnDemand™,  or  Fixed Flow Rate. So perhaps your doctor may choose a different flow than the "Fixed Flow" my doctor insisted on.

Note: I only felt nauseous once during this whole thing. Today was that day. It was just for a few minutes. I had one dry heave and it was over. I think it might have been because I took a pain killer and antibiotic at the same time.

Tootles.