Home From Surgery, All Is Well

The toes only popped when I thought I was done with the drawing.  Then there’s the left foot, right foot thing, I’m good at getting that wrong.

I got the idea of the flower toe when Jon first decided to get his toe amputated.  We were leaving his podiatrist’s office when I saw it clearly.

A flower where his toe used to be.

I was prepared for a long wait this morning.  But the whole process took three hours and we were home just after 11 am.  Jon’s surgery was done with efficiency and professionalism.  And everyone we met at the Wilton Surgical Center was friendly and kind.

It all went well without any problems.

One of Jon’s first writing students, John Greenwood met us at the farm.   Jon and I couldn’t imagine how he’d get up the two steps on the back porch when he wasn’t supposed to put any weight on his left foot.  Having John there gave us both a feeling of ease.  He’s bigger and stronger than I am and was able to give Jon the support he needed without us having to worry about anyone falling.

Now Jon is safe in his chair, his foot resting on two pillows propped on the ottoman. He’s a little dopy from the anesthesia but eating and resting.  I’m icing his foot every twenty minutes which isn’t as difficult as it sounds.   The ice pack fits nicely in the surgical boot.

By sometime tomorrow Jon will be able to get up and walk.  We’ll still ice his foot, to keep the swelling down, but we’ll do less of that with each day. (we were told by different people at different times that we should ice his foot from one day to three weeks, so we’ll use our best judgment).

We are both more relaxed than we’ve been in days.  Even though there are three weeks of recovery for Jon which includes limited movement and no showers, there is relief in the surgery being over and having gone so well.

I’m also feeling relief that the toe is actually gone.  Maybe because there’s no going back and we can move forward.  I think I also felt a sadness about Jon losing his toe.  But like in the vision I had a few days ago, nothing has really changed except that Jon no longer has a left great toe.

It also helps that amputation is that the amputation will allow Jon to walk more easily, (because of the structure of his foot, the toe was hindering his movement) and not have to worry anymore about the toe becoming infected.

In a few minutes, my timer will go off again.  I’ll remove the ice pack from Jon’s foot and feed the animals.  The donkeys are already braying, I fed them and the sheep early this morning.  It was still dark out, the moon a soft smudge high in the misty sky.

Jon and I will have a gentle afternoon.  He’s content napping and blogging from his iPhone.  With Bud on his lap and Zinnia on the floor next to his chair.

Somehow they seem to know to be careful of his foot.

We’re waiting for the nerve block to wear off.  Jon doesn’t want to take the hydrocodone he was prescribed.  He has a high pain tolerance so maybe the prescription of Ibuprofin will be enough.  We won’t really know until he starts to get feeling back in his foot. But we’ll work it out as we seem to do.

It feels sweet to be home together.