ProfessorTomoe

I certainly hope you are right! Surgery went very smoothly. I was literally in and out in 15 minutes. I woke up feeling great. The only downside is that the doctor had to take two bones instead of just one - the second bone was just too far gone. I'll hear about the pathology reports at my follow-up appointment on Thursday. Meanwhile, I'm allowed to put weight on it and walk around without the surgical boot inside the house. I only have to wear the boot outside the house.

Had my pre-op visit on Friday. Everything was the usual stuff - blood/urine test, chest X-ray, and so on. At the end, they gave me a bottle of antiseptic soap with some odd instructions attached. I'm supposed to get a wet washcloth, squeeze some of it on there, then turn off the water and lather up from the neckline down, avoiding the genital area and any open wounds (e.g., my toe). If I do get it in either of those areas, I'm supposed to flush said area with a steady stream of water for 15 minutes. Otherwise, after I soap up, I'm supposed to stand there for a minute, then turn the water back on and rinse. I'm supposed to do this twice: once before I go to bed the night before the surgery, and once the morning of the surgery. Considering that I've got to be at the hospital at 5am for a 7am operation, that means I've got to get up around 3am to get ready to go. This is going to be a rough preparation for a nasty little surgery. As much as my toe hurts, I'm not looking forward to the process of having it removed.

I just got back from the podiatrist. The verdict is in: it'll be partial amputation of the second toe of the left foot. He plans on taking just the first joint, but if he gets in there and finds that the toe up to the second joint is too far gone, he'll take it too. I won't be wearing just a short boot afterward, either - oh, no. I'll be wearing the knee-high boot that I wore after I broke my ankles. Surgery is scheduled for 7:00 a.m. CST this coming Monday.

DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT The tip of the second toe on my left foot has become infected again. While I'm on Keflex to knock out the infection of my pinky toe. That does not bode well. I've got a back procedure (i.e., radio ablation of my lower back nerve endings) scheduled for the 14th, and now I'm going to have to reschedule it. AGAIN. I had to reschedule it when I had the bone infection back in August/September, since you can't have this procedure done while you have an active infection anywhere in your body. Hence all of the swearing at the top of this post. Another reason for swearing is that I may have to have another PICC line put in so I can have stronger IV antibiotics administered. The Keflex should be keeping any infections from sprouting, but it's not. There's not a lot stronger that comes in pill form. I'm going to have to get in to my podiatrist's office early and see what he recommends in the way of antibiotics. I'm not looking forward to that appointment. The alternative treatment, of course, is to amputate the toe. I'll consider it. It's already a hammer toe, and it hurts any time I step wrong on it. Maybe I don't need it.

SECONDED

Saw the doctor today about my toe. He says it's warmer than the neighboring toe, signifying infection. He prescribed Keflex (oral) and Silvadene (topical) to knock out the infection, saying it shouldn't interfere with planned back surgery on the 13th (can't do back surgery with an active infection anywhere in the body). He also said that there is still a chance that the nail might grow back if even the tiniest bit of the nail bed remains after the injury.

Welcome back indeed, old friend. I'm extremely glad to see that you've pulled through. E.coli is a very nasty infection. You are lucky to have survived it. Avoid the Romaine lettuce at all costs.

I made my first foray outside without a walker in months just after I ripped my toe open - used a cane to get around. Ironic that I'd learn that same day about the injury.

... and now, my toe is swelling and oozing. It appears to be infected. I'm going to Care Now for urgent after-hours care later today.

Once again, I can't win for losing. As I was getting ready to go to an appointment to get an ultrasound done on my left leg (to diagnose swelling in my left foot/ankle), I caught my sock-enclosed pinky toe on the base of a cat scratching post at the end of the main hall of our house. It hurt, but not terribly. I noticed a bruise on the toe while I was showering and thought that I might have sprained it or possibly (at the extreme) broken it. However, when I got to the ultrasound appointment and removed my sock, I saw blood in it. I looked at my toe and saw that a good chunk of the nail was hanging by a thread of skin. I pulled the chunk off and examined it. Turns out that I'd caught my toenail and ripped both it and the entire nail bed out of my toe. I showed the chunk to the nurse doing the ultrasound and she concurred. I now have a gaping hole at the tip of my pinky toe, which has fortunately stopped bleeding now. I will never have a toenail on that toe again. I need steel-toed socks.

My album is up on Bandcamp! Calibrations is available at https://leejackson1.bandcamp.com/album/calibrations . It contains the entire soundtrack to “Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour.” It also contains a track included with the game but not used, plus three new songs exclusive to the album. There’s also an interview with yours truly conducted by Jake “The Voice” Parr of The Cyber Den radio show, and a reading of liner notes and special thanks by Jake and myself. There are big advantages to buying Calibrations at Bandcamp versus Amazon or CD Baby. You can download the album tracks in lossless WAV, AIFF, or FLAC formats if you want. Also, you’ll get bonus content, including high-resolution pictures of the cover, back, liner notes, and CD art, plus a bonus track of The Cyber Den Theme. All of this, including the bonus content, costs just $10. If you don't already have a copy, please consider buying one. Thank you!

I will soon be ingesting some cloudberry (a.k.a. bakeapple) products from the Dark Tickle company out of Canada. I just finished ordering a bottle of cloudberry sauce and a bottle of cloudberry vinegar (with real cloudberries inside it). I left them a note, asking if they'd ever get seedless cloudberry jam in stock. I would pay seriously good money for a supply of that, since cloudberry seeds are a major nuisance relative to the heavenly flavor of the berry in which they come.

I am now walking sans surgical boot! Huzzah!

Today is hopefully the last day that I have to wear a surgical boot on my forays out of the house. I'm going to the podiatrist for a followup visit on my broken foot repair surgery. As far as I can tell, the thing is healed - I can walk on my foot just fine inside the house. Doctor's orders have been to wear the boot outside, though. Let's hope today's visit changes that.

You're lucky your doctor has good aim. My former doctor missed the joint space once. I had a knot in my knee that hurt like hell for a week or two afterward. Hence "former doctor."