I neglected to mention that Doc One administered a cortisone shot at my first appointment to see about taking down the inflammation in the joint. Man did this thing H U R T! ER Pain Scale 7.5. Whoa. The Doc suggested some ibuprofen and ice if it started hurting later... no prob. I went on my way running errands and and before long was howling in pain and noticing my foot swelling "through" my gym shoes. I got home and took a healthy dose of Advil and grabbed an ice pack and elevated for several hours. ER Pain Scale 8+. I'm pretty good at dealing with pain, yet I was hoping this was as bad as I could expect it to get post-surgery. The next day I was back to my normal daily pain level and wondered what was so great about the cortisone shot!?
To budget accordingly and determine my insurance coverage, I called the doc office to get the name of the procedure(s). And then I had the fancy doctor terms to Google about my surgery... "Hallux Rigidus," the "OsteoCure Plug Implant" (this thing is pretty cool, actually), "Austin Bunionectomy" and "Radical Cheilectomy." Hmm. Below are a few basic info links if you're interested...
I'd like to offer a disclaimer that "Google-ing" any medical procedure/symptoms/diagnosis can be dangerous if you are not a physician. And it can be gory, as search results don't include a warning like "this is a surgeon's page, not a patient's page" and you might just click on some graphic surgery images you really don't want to see.
I'm one of those "planner"-type people. I started the search on those terms to learn more about the recovery process and timeline. The surgery is one thing, but the weeks/months following is what I'm most anxious about. I also wanted to figure out how much this is going to affect my husband and his schedule, as I'm really going to be relying on him the next few weeks. I am thankful for his support and preparation (and muscle strength, and patience of a saint) to help me get around during recovery.
What's the rush?
I opted to do the surgery right away, as I've been laid off for most of this year and didn't see job prospects suddenly picking up in December, aka National Layoff Month (I made that up), so will recover through the hiring-free holidays and get back to work early in the New Year. I also didn't want to start a new job and have to take two weeks off for this for obvious reasons. The time is now!
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