WWTBAM Bored

OK, it's now like this: have you ever dropped a sledgehammer on your foot, after you have already broken a toe on the same foot? I have done that, but that's another story. But that is what my foot feels like now. Darling Pat ordered me to take some of the pain-killing drugs they gave me, which I would rather not do because I do not want to become a junkie like Rush Limbaugh, but when I found I could not move at all because my foot hurt so much, I decided the risk was worth it and actually took one of the pills this morning. Darling Pat was also annoyed when I made the bed this morning (after taking a pain pill), because that involves walking around, back and forth, to get it right, and I'm supposed to take it easy, but part of my OCD is that unmade beds make me nervous.

The surgery went really well. He did not have to take out any bone, it was all just, um, meat, so I am a little less meaty than I used to be, but just a little. The surgeon seemed to enjoy himself, because he does not get to work on feet all that often (if bone had been involved it would have involved an orthopedist). It was all done under local anesthetic (a LOT of local anesthetic, several syringes full of stuff were injected into various places on my foot, and I got to watch the whole thing. In a previous life I worked in a laboratory and did some occasional surgery (on rats; I got to where I could in stitches with just one hand), but it is very different watching something being done on you rather than on a helpless third party.

Anyway, the good news for me is that everything came out that needed to come out, and the likelihood of any adverse consequences (like death) is very remote-- I don't have to have chemotherapy or radiation, and the only follow-up necessary (other than that I am supposed to make sure I get looked at annually as part of my usual physical) is to get the stitches removed in two weeks. In the meantime I cannot run or do any real exercising (my daily gym workouts are out), and no heavy lifting (I guess I can't use the urinal for two weeks), so I will probably gain 10 or 20 pounds. I'm in the office today, not getting a lot done since I spend most of my time trying to get comfortable, but my colleagues are impressed (I may have mentioned before that I can very stoically bear the tortures of the damned without complaint, so long as everyone knows that I am stoically enduring the tortures of the damned without complaint).

And I must say that I do NOT understand how/why people can elect to do unecessary elective surgery, like nose jobs or boob jobs that are done for purely aesthetic reasons, or any other surgery that is not really necessary. I don't care how much anesthesia you get, it HURTS, and unless you need surgery to save your life or to fix something that is actually broken, surgery is something a rational person should avoid like the plague. It's like voluntarily entering a political thread. Insane.

I would like to thank everyone for their kind wishes. It is nice to know that some people seem to kind of like having me around.

wintergreen48 wrote:The surgery went really well. He did not have to take out any bone, it was all just, um, meat, so I am a little less meaty than I used to be, but just a little. The surgeon seemed to enjoy himself, because he does not get to work on feet all that often (if bone had been involved it would have involved an orthopedist). It was all done under local anesthetic (a LOT of local anesthetic, several syringes full of stuff were injected into various places on my foot, and I got to watch the whole thing. In a previous life I worked in a laboratory and did some occasional surgery (on rats; I got to where I could in stitches with just one hand), but it is very different watching something being done on you rather than on a helpless third party.

I'd say Bruce probably thinks they should have taken out a bit more meat.......

Glad the surgery went well. The pain sucks, but laughter is truly the best medicine, and it appaeas your sense of humor came out intact, so that should help you overcome the ouch....

lb13

So happy it all turned out so well.

The weewee joke cracked me up.

Thanks for the update.

What the heck are you doing at work though?

Glad everything worked out, Michael. Now what the hell are you doing at work? Take the day off, for heavens sake! Milk it for all you can.

I also totally understand not having any surgery unless necessary. After having my tonsils out as an adult (worst pain ever), 2 kids, an ectopic pregnancy, bunion surgery, 2 carpal tunnels, 2 cataracts and 2 knee replacements and one more surgery coming up next summer, I can't imagine going to the hospital unless I'm very sick.

I hope you are feeling better soon. FYI, bone injuries to the foot HURT! How are you at work? Are tendons, ligaments and muscle all involved?
Take care.

ontellen wrote:Glad everything worked out, Michael. Now what the hell are you doing at work? Take the day off, for heavens sake! Milk it for all you can.

I also totally understand not having any surgery unless necessary. After having my tonsils out as an adult (worst pain ever), 2 kids, an ectopic pregnancy, bunion surgery, 2 carpal tunnels, 2 cataracts and 2 knee replacements and one more surgery coming up next summer, I can't imagine going to the hospital unless I'm very sick.

I guess I've been fortunate. I had hardly any post-operative pain after my laparascopic gall bladder procedure and by far the worst part of my kidney stone procedure seven years ago was the next morning when the catheter came out. Even that was over in a moment, though I would like to know how Bruce got inside there, why he chose to pick on me, and why he hadn't been declawed. --Bob

Glad to hear all went well.

A most excellent report. Glad things look good - now listen to everyone else and go home and get some rest!!

kay

I'm glad things went well. Now I'll echo what the others have been saying: Go home!

for GREAT news (Successful op)
for Bad News (Pain)
for the fact that you were at work! REST UP!


Happy to hear that the outcome looks very very rosy. HOORAH!

I'm glad it was minor and congratulations for watching everything. I watched my last two hand surgeries.

Exactly what flavor of cancer was it?

So glad to hear that all went as planned

Shocked that you are at work, even though you are stoic about the pain..


Relieved that your Dr's name wasn't Bruce

Glad everything is good.

Sending hugs.

Sending good thoughts to Darling Pat because I suspect Il Papa may be a skooch more than a handful during recovery.

I'm glad you didn't have to do this:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/ ... OT20110727

Glad you have survived stoically and without complaint!

Any chance you can share what sort of goombah (a formal and highly specific medical term and different from its other definitions) you had? Skin cancers like melanoma and squamous cell are certainly possible on the foot. Perhaps a sarcoma of some sort? Synovial sarcomas can occur in the feet. Although you seem a little, umm, mature for that one.

Interested for purely professional reasons of course...

"... and no heavy lifting (I guess I can't use the urinal for two weeks), ...

Dang, I wish I'd thought of this one before I returned to work after my hernia repair. Thanks for the laugh, wg, and have a speedy recovery. Drugs can be your friend, too!

tanstaafl2 wrote:Glad you have survived stoically and without complaint!

Any chance you can share what sort of goombah (a formal and highly specific medical term and different from its other definitions) you had? Skin cancers like melanoma and squamous cell are certainly possible on the foot. Perhaps a sarcoma of some sort? Synovial sarcomas can occur in the feet. Although you seem a little, umm, mature for that one.

Interested for purely professional reasons of course...

It was a basal cell carcinoma, which, if you are going to get cancer, is apparently the one you want. It is very unusual to have it appear on a foot (my surgeon had not seen it there before), and when it appears in unusual locations it is supposedly often due to genetic factors, but no one in my family has ever had anything like it, at least, no one in my Earth family, I don't know about how it is on my home planet.

The incisions are pretty cool: one goes all the way across my foot, right at the base of my toes, and then there is an intersecting incision that is about an inch and a half long that, um, intersects the long one. Two more cuts and I can play tick tac toe (hee hee, 'toe,' get it?) (the drugs are starting to kick in...) The biggest problem from the excruciating pain standpoint is that the big incision is right at the base of the toes, which of course is the part of the foot that bends when you walk, even when you walk the way I do, so every step I take pulls on it, which vexes me to no end. On the other hand, I now get waited on hand and (disabled) foot, so there is that. It's odd, though: when I got up this morning, I had no problem at all walking to the bathroom, but by the time I walked out the excruciating pain had returned. I thought I was past that, but it came back, VERY suddenly. This went beyond vexation, rising to the level of great annoyance.

I'm glad it's a "good" cancer. It sounds like you have something like Gorlin syndrome.

wintergreen48 wrote:

tanstaafl2 wrote:Glad you have survived stoically and without complaint!

Any chance you can share what sort of goombah (a formal and highly specific medical term and different from its other definitions) you had? Skin cancers like melanoma and squamous cell are certainly possible on the foot. Perhaps a sarcoma of some sort? Synovial sarcomas can occur in the feet. Although you seem a little, umm, mature for that one.

Interested for purely professional reasons of course...

It was a basal cell carcinoma, which, if you are going to get cancer, is apparently the one you want. It is very unusual to have it appear on a foot (my surgeon had not seen it there before), and when it appears in unusual locations it is supposedly often due to genetic factors, but no one in my family has ever had anything like it, at least, no one in my Earth family, I don't know about how it is on my home planet.

The incisions are pretty cool: one goes all the way across my foot, right at the base of my toes, and then there is an intersecting incision that is about an inch and a half long that, um, intersects the long one. Two more cuts and I can play tick tac toe (hee hee, 'toe,' get it?) (the drugs are starting to kick in...) The biggest problem from the excruciating pain standpoint is that the big incision is right at the base of the toes, which of course is the part of the foot that bends when you walk, even when you walk the way I do, so every step I take pulls on it, which vexes me to no end. On the other hand, I now get waited on hand and (disabled) foot, so there is that. It's odd, though: when I got up this morning, I had no problem at all walking to the bathroom, but by the time I walked out the excruciating pain had returned. I thought I was past that, but it came back, VERY suddenly. This went beyond vexation, rising to the level of great annoyance.

Thanks, very interesting. As you probably know by now while basal cell CA is a pretty common skin cancer it is indeed unusual for the feet. Gorlin Syndrome seems perhaps a wee bit of a stretch though for such an isolated finding.

The incisions do indeed sound interesting and rather substantial. I think pictures might be called for!

Purely to satisfy professional curiosity of course...

Ah, heck--I can't go with my usual "Suck it up and deal, Princess!" for cancer surgery!

Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.

tanstaafl2 wrote:Thanks, very interesting. As you probably know by now while basal cell CA is a pretty common skin cancer it is indeed unusual for the feet. Gorlin Syndrome seems perhaps a wee bit of a stretch though for such an isolated finding.

The incisions do indeed sound interesting and rather substantial. I think pictures might be called for!

Purely to satisfy professional curiosity of course...

The surgeon took pictures at various stages. I asked him if they would be showing up in Facebook, and he said no. We'll see...

tanstaafl2 wrote:Gorlin Syndrome seems perhaps a wee bit of a stretch though for such an isolated finding.

That's why I said "something like" Gorlin Syndrome.

Got my stitches out today, no anesthetic, just a lot of pulling and yanking. I now have some really wicked scars on my foot; I need to find a reason to go barefoot everywhere, the scars are so cool.

While they were ripping out the stitches (did I mention there was no anesthetic?), they told me that if this had been on my face rather than my foot, they would have used lasers rather than knives, because that minimizes scarring; in my case, my feet look so crappy that scars are an improvement. I thanked them for their interest.

wintergreen48 wrote:Got my stitches out today, no anesthetic, just a lot of pulling and yanking. I now have some really wicked scars on my foot; I need to find a reason to go barefoot everywhere, the scars are so cool.

While they were ripping out the stitches (did I mention there was no anesthetic?), they told me that if this had been on my face rather than my foot, they would have used lasers rather than knives, because that minimizes scarring; in my case, my feet look so crappy that scars are an improvement. I thanked them for their interest.

Want to compare?

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