A Few Screws Loose (or at least one)

If you are squeamish, you might want to skip this post!

After a few months of pain in my right foot, I consulted with my sister who happens to be an orthopedic nurse... Together, we hypothesized that a screw from my most recent foot surgery seemed to be coming out of my foot. The surgery was four years ago. After a few more weeks, I finally saw doctor and he didn't agree. He referred me to a podiatrist who took one look at x-rays and confirmed my self-diagnosis. A screw was indeed backing itself out of my foot and we could actually see the skin raising up because of the screw. The podiatrist called for fairly immediate surgery as soon as the schedule allowed. I actually have three screws in the foot, but he determined that one should be left alone and that he'd remove the loose one and the one next to it.

This Monday, I went in for surgery. It was the absolute best surgery experience I've had so far. The wait was not long at all. I reported to the hospital at 9:45 am and by 10:30 I was in anesthesia. Our Bible study leader walked in and said the schedule had changed and that he would be the one doing my anesthesia. Yippee! A familiar face! I think I was in surgery by 11:00 or so and I was wide awake by 12:10 pm. The actual procedure took seventeen minutes. Once inside my foot, the doctor removed the loose screw with his fingers. It was already so loose that he didn't need a screwdriver. He determined that the second screw was secured enough in the bone that he decided to leave it.

All things went well. I am to be on crutches at least two weeks and cannot put weight on my foot until at least then. My sister and brother-in-law came up for a few days to take care of me while hubby works. They are so sweet to do that!

I'll be pretty lazy for a while, so I thought I'd update my blog.

Here are some pics of the screw that was removed!