just realized

that walking now hurts less than walking did before the surgery! Yay for medical science!

more out and about

Out by Ralph's:
Near my house, taken for the lavender lovers out there:
Just tylenol today, so out and about again. It's nice.

on food

I've been asked often recently about what ever happened to being vegan. I'm not eating vegan right now, not because it was awful or because I got sick, but because it was so time- and finance-consuming. In order to eat as much as I needed to eat each day in order to not get sick, I was really struggling. So I stopped. I still eat mostly vegetarian, and vegan where possible, but I'm not so picky as I was for a while. And really, I think that's important.

I'm reading The Omnivore's Dilemma right now, and really feeling amazed at the politics of food. Like that more people in the world right now suffer from obesity than are malnourished; that's a fact that is scary. I blame the Nixon administration for putting into effect government subsidies that indirectly make it so that, in today's market, one dollar buys 1,200 calories of potato chips, but only 250 calories of carrots*. I still prefer to not chow down on the flesh of dead animals, but life isn't a perfect system, so I occasionally do, because sometimes, food is just food.

So there ya go. More to come on this, I'm sure.

my first outing

to Sizizis with Abby. Much fun was had, and I enjoyed being in the company of strangers.

hobbled crafting

This has been my hobbled crafting project, the mermaid quilt for my niece Sarah. It's almost done by now, just a few touch-ups to be done. I'm very pleased with how it's turning out.

On the foot front, I am considering switching to Tylenol from vicodin, as the pain is not very much, and vicodin seems overkill. I'm also trying to keep in touch with the pain, low ache that it is, to keep myself from become active prematurely. I feel that the pain is my body's way to say, "slow down," and if I mask it I'll be suddenly doing too much and hurting myself in the process. I've been amazed at how quickly the recovery has been going. I imagined at least a week or two of drugged up sleep, where that really only lasted a few days.

I'm glad now that I have the option of going back to work a little early to do some training. I'm pretty sure that will happen now, and all the better to have something not so intense to do for that week. (I am scheduled to have three weeks off, with the option of training in the third week if I'm up to it. I'll still be resting for another good week before I return, so don't worry that I'm taking it too quickly...)

recovery log 2

Just got home from bandage change appointment with my podiatrist, which came with interesting information. He said that when they got into the big toe joint, they found a sizable chunk of bone loose in the joint. Once it was removed, the flexibility was improved, so they removed the rest of the spurring and did some magic on the joint to prevent further spurring, but didn't need to make the cut in the first metatarsal. This means I will have a quicker recovery. Yay! They also repaired my big toe so that it points forward instead of slightly out, which will help with my pesky ingrown toenails. Overshare? Perhaps, but oh well. So that's the latest. Later!

recovery log

No late-breaking news, just another post about the surgery now that I'm a little more coherent.

The surgery went smoothly. I was in "twilight" for the surgery, so I drifted in and out of consciousness during the procedure. There was no pain, as they used a local block to numb my limb. I remember hearing a saw-like device and thinking it was like being at the dentist for a filling. (how weird is that?) When it was over, they had me walk to a post-op room, where I got a warm blanket and snacks until my ride arrived to take me home. The doctor cam in and talked a little about how successful the surgery was. He was able to manipulate things so that the first metatarsal bone allows free movement of the joint without having to cut through the bone and screw it back together, which means my recovery will be that much faster. He also removed the bone spurs on the top of the joint, and straightened out the tip of my big toe. (Not a problem having to do with hallux limitus, but has been causing me troubles with my nails getting ingrown, and he had time to do it because the other part went so well, so he did it.)

Once home, I began to de-numb, so I started on my pain meds, which have been great for me. No nausea or anything. Starting this morning, I decreased my dose a little so that I have some more hours where I'm not so sleepy. There is some achy pain, but nothing too horrible. I have this nifty machine that hooks up to a pad inside the cast boot that pumps ice water; keeping my foot nice an regulatedly cool and comfortable. Kudos to whomever invented it! In this photo you can see the tubes that connect the pad to the cooler:On another note, I have had a great few days for another reason... My dear friend, Chris, came to stay with me for a few days before and after the surgery. He arrived Friday and (sadly) left this morning. Also, Justin came Saturday and Sunday to hang out and help with food prep for the days where I am hobbled. All told, we had a great time bumming around Oly and eating and cooking. My house feels very quiet today...