Day 2 After Surgery

It was Day 2 after surgery and as time passed, the pain was less and less. After about mid-day on day 2, I opted to not take anymore of the pain medication they provided. One, I didn't feel like I needed it and two, the codeine in the medication gave me nausea. I had brought some Advil with me so I felt that if I needed pain medication, I'd prefer to use Advil instead. Again, I was surprised that there was not very much pain. At rest, the pain had dropped to about a 4-5 level already by Day 2.

The nurses came in, early in the morning, to change the dressings on my feet. I was briefly allowed to see my feet post-op, but was only able to snap a couple of quick pictures. Changing of the dressing was not bad and was not very painful.

 

Dr. Wu then visited me soon after the bandages were changed. He took notes on my pain levels, how I was feeling, and re-wrapped some of the bandages around my feet. He also said that it was important to start my physical therapy exercises today. I was to do three exercises, three times in a row, every 30 min. You can say that I definitely kept myself busy on Day 2! The three exercises he taught involved bending the toes backward and the goal was to get them to 90 degrees over time. This was where it tended to be more painful - when I started doing these exercises. Dr. Wu acknowledged that I needed to work through the pain because as I did the exercises more often, the pain would eventually decrease. He was right of course and by evening time, the pain had lessened and I was more flexible than I was in the morning. He also advised that I wiggle my toes as much as possible to help with the swelling and tightness.

The other good news about Day 2 is that I could get off the bed and walk for the first time, post-surgery. Hooray! I could use a regular bathroom :-) My friend who did the surgery a year ago, paid me a visit in the hospital. She showed me some good ways to use my crutches to help me get up and down. Walking for the first time was not difficult and I mainly needed to be careful to take things very slowly. My feet were a little tight when I walked, but overall the surgical boot helped mask a lot of the "impact" from walking. I was able to walk to the bathroom and back to my bed without much problem. I ended up doing that, on my own, during the rest of the night too. We were allowed to take a shower on Day 2, which was a nice treat. The hospital provided me with these two plastic covers to wrap over my feet and ensure that no water gets in. These were professional grade foot covers and they were very good. I'm so happy I have these and know I will be using these for sometime throughout my recovery.

I was fortunate to have more visitors throughout the day and evening. Family and friends brought me lots of food to eat, including dessert. I definitely was not going to go hungry :-) I had to spend one more evening in the hospital and then I was okay to go home the following day.