The podiatrist was very interested in Matt's toe- he'd never seen someone who had the ability to disjoint his toe at will. The surgery was scheduled but the doctor said the prognosis for a complete recovery was only about 50/50.
We took off for the surgery, Matt driving because it'll be the last time he can for the next 6ish weeks...
At the office the nurse cleaned up his foot...
Matt tried to distract himself while having the numbing shots. I didn't get a picture of that because I didn't think of it. But there was a golf-ball sized bump on his foot from how much liquid was shot under the skin. It looked really weird.
The doctor got all cleaned up and ready for the surgery... (I have to point out that this is not a sterile room and there is a huge, dirty fish tank right behind the doctor. When planning for the surgery, I pictured a hospital surgery room, not the doctor's office... so that was weird). The next picture after this starts the yucky-gory ones so don't look if you don't want to.
From there they cut open his toe and started poking around.
Most of these pictures were a point and shoot with my eyes closed because I didn't want to see it in person...
So it turns out that the ligament in Matt's toe had been stretched. What the doctor was expecting to see was that the ligament was torn and he'd need to sew it back together or sew a new one. Hence the low prognosis on his complete recovery. When the doctor saw that the ligament was stretched rather than torn, he was again Really surprised- he'd never seen or heard of this happening before!
Matt is trying to keep himself occupied while feeling tugging on his foot...
What the doctor ended up doing was sewing a pleat into the ligament. If you aren't familiar with the sewing term, basically he folded the ligament over on top of itself and sewed it together. He said that it would create scar tissue that would help keep the ligament tight from here on out.
He had Matt try to bend his toe several times- which I must say was amusing to see. Where he was previously able to bend his toe so it was completely under his foot, with the pleat in the ligament, he was only able to slightly bend it down- less than a 'normal' person should be able to.
They sewed him up!
He's as good as new! (almost :)
We then had to shove him in the back seat while I drove around trying to get his prescription. We went to K-mart because the pharmacy on base was closed already. I was told the wait time would be 45 minutes. Ugh. So we went to pick up the girls and then back to K-mart, where I stood in a line 6 people deep before getting to the counter, only to be informed that they did not have any more of the medication that I needed. I was quite frustrated only because that whole trip to and from K mart took and extra hour and a half. Poor Matt had to sit in the back seat with his legs up like that the entire time!
So far, the medications from yesterday's surgery still have not worn off. We have an appointment scheduled for Friday to get his foot checked on and then we'll have 3 appointments the next week to keep tabs that its healing right. He then has to stay off his foot for about 6 weeks while it heals completely. That'll be the real adventure!
At the office the nurse cleaned up his foot...
Matt tried to distract himself while having the numbing shots. I didn't get a picture of that because I didn't think of it. But there was a golf-ball sized bump on his foot from how much liquid was shot under the skin. It looked really weird.
The doctor got all cleaned up and ready for the surgery... (I have to point out that this is not a sterile room and there is a huge, dirty fish tank right behind the doctor. When planning for the surgery, I pictured a hospital surgery room, not the doctor's office... so that was weird). The next picture after this starts the yucky-gory ones so don't look if you don't want to.
From there they cut open his toe and started poking around.
Most of these pictures were a point and shoot with my eyes closed because I didn't want to see it in person...
So it turns out that the ligament in Matt's toe had been stretched. What the doctor was expecting to see was that the ligament was torn and he'd need to sew it back together or sew a new one. Hence the low prognosis on his complete recovery. When the doctor saw that the ligament was stretched rather than torn, he was again Really surprised- he'd never seen or heard of this happening before!
Matt is trying to keep himself occupied while feeling tugging on his foot...
What the doctor ended up doing was sewing a pleat into the ligament. If you aren't familiar with the sewing term, basically he folded the ligament over on top of itself and sewed it together. He said that it would create scar tissue that would help keep the ligament tight from here on out.
He had Matt try to bend his toe several times- which I must say was amusing to see. Where he was previously able to bend his toe so it was completely under his foot, with the pleat in the ligament, he was only able to slightly bend it down- less than a 'normal' person should be able to.
They sewed him up!
He's as good as new! (almost :)
We then had to shove him in the back seat while I drove around trying to get his prescription. We went to K-mart because the pharmacy on base was closed already. I was told the wait time would be 45 minutes. Ugh. So we went to pick up the girls and then back to K-mart, where I stood in a line 6 people deep before getting to the counter, only to be informed that they did not have any more of the medication that I needed. I was quite frustrated only because that whole trip to and from K mart took and extra hour and a half. Poor Matt had to sit in the back seat with his legs up like that the entire time!
So far, the medications from yesterday's surgery still have not worn off. We have an appointment scheduled for Friday to get his foot checked on and then we'll have 3 appointments the next week to keep tabs that its healing right. He then has to stay off his foot for about 6 weeks while it heals completely. That'll be the real adventure!