I don't know if it was the extra sleep that I had from the surgery, or the stress about the nerve block, but I barely slept a wink last night. It was probably the former. I was told to take one of the painkillers before bed, to stay ahead of the pain. Which I did and was hoping to feel drowsy from it. Unfortunately, my mind couldn't help but focus on the block. I kept doing a pinch test on my toes (yes, I'm a freak) to see if I felt anything (i.e. checking to see if the nerve block was starting to wear off). My middle toe was the only one that I felt any sensation...after a few hours, 4th toe started to get a little feeling, though still numb. The big toe and the pinky were the ones that had no sensation whatsoever. Then I would hop on the iPad and tried to look to see if anyone had a similar experience. Always a bad idea...it just stresses you out more reading the worst case scenarios.
It wasn't until around 4:30 am when I finally dozed off for about an hour. Lather, rinse, repeat...i even tried to take my mind off of things by watching videos on the iPad or reading articles. I was able to doze off for about 30 minutes from 8 - 8:30...
I finally got up around 10am, toes still numb.
Getting up and crutching around actually helped the most trying to keep my mind off of the numbness. I did have a couple of things that I needed to do post-surgery.
The surgery center also gave me a follow-up call today. They were
extremely nice. They asked me a number of standard emergency follow-up
questions, like if I'm bleeding through my bandages. Do I have a
fever? Have I been able to eat? Everything checked out...fit of health
for me, cept I was still all numb, so I wouldn't be feeling any pain
and I have a honking cast on the leg so I wouldn't be able to see if I'm
bleeding through. I again asked about the numbness and they said that
the nerve block could last up to 48 hours...
I also called and schedule my follow-up appointment. I had originally thought that I'd be off of my foot for just a week and then be able to try to start walking. But they said that the follow-up appointments are always two weeks out. Arrgh, another 2 weeks in the cast/splint thingie is gonna make me crazy! I asked the about the numbness (you can tell where my focus was today) and they actually said 72 hours! yeesh...
Nerve block finally breaks!
It was about noon and I finally started to feel drowsy again, so I went back upstairs to try to sleep. I laid there for an hour and dozed off for another 30 minutes. I woke up and something felt different...I was "slightly" able to move my big toe up. I wasn't quite sure, but figured I'd mark the time at 27 hours, when the block started to finally settle. I kept wiggling it, and it started to feel more and more comfortable. The big toe was starting to break away form the pointer toe. I still wasn't able to dorsiflex my ankle, but this was such a big relief for me.
Fast forward 3 hours later, I'm still in bed with no naps....Lots of toe wiggling...and I was finally able to feel a bit of dorsiflexion in my ankle. So, I started focusing on that now. It was at about 30 hours from the inital surgery for this to wear off as well. Things are still a bit numb, so I'm not sure how much range of motion I have. Also, the point of the cast is to restrict movement, which may also be prohibiting the movement. But I didn't get the helpless feeling of thinking about a movement and not seeing anything happen.
Pain starts
So with the nerve block starting to wear off, the pain twinges started. They weren't bad. Mostly just little pings of pain, both on the left side and right side of the ankle. Nothing major, especially considering the pains that I've been through to get here, so I just went ahead and took another Oxycodone, and the pains went away. I may try switching to advil or something, but Becky reminds me that some of the drugs don't mix well...and they noted that in some of the documentation they sent to me.
One last thing that i notice before ending this entry for the night. While the nerve blocks are wearing off, I do notice that the skin on the outside of my calf is still fairly numb. It hasn't changed in a while. That sounds like the Saphenous nerve, which I believe was the second nerve block. It's also the nerve that Dr. Junko said was the 7% change of injury. It doesn't have any motor function, just sensation...so I'm not too worried about that yet. famous last words.
Anyways, that's it for day 2...as long as nothing new comes up. Night all!
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