five weeks ago...

Five weeks ago I had my surgery. These past five weeks have been the longest five weeks of my life. I've been in those surgical shoes for the past five weeks. I've worn them to work, to target, to the mall, to restaurants, and even on a job interview...pretty much everywhere. I swear I started plaster a sign on my chest that said I HAD TOE SURGERY AND I AM NOT WEARING THESE SHOES BY CHOICE SO QUIT STARRING Everywhere I went I felt like people were starring at me wondering why I would ever choose to leave the house in something so hideous. And, to make matters worse, all of my pants are altered to be worn with heels so they were all too long. I looked like a little girl in her mom's clothes. One good thing that came out of wearing those shoes was that I got to ride in the amigo at the grocery store...hahahaha. I've always wanted to ride in one, but always felt like it would be wrong to take one away from someone that really needed it.

I've had three doctor's appointments since my last post op. The first appointment I got my stitches taken out, which was very nerve wrecking. My feet were shaking like a leaf. The stitches came out fine but my toes were very bruised and beaten up. The incision site was so swollen that it looked scary (there will be no pictures of that put up here). My next two appointments were just follow ups to ensure my toes were healing appropriately.

I didn't have pins in my toes so my doctor had to tape my toes really tight. This was painful. He actually had to bend my toe at the incision sight and tape it so it held as straight as possible. The pain was so bad when he did this that I literally wanted to kick my doctor in the mouth. Each time I went into see him he did this and each time it got worse.

I wasn't able to shower or get my bandages wet for the entire five weeks. Can you imagine??!! I have never seen my feet look as bad as they looked the last five weeks. My skin was so dry and nasty and peeling that it was embarrassing.

I went back in on Thursday for an additional appointment and my doctor told me that I could finally shower and wash my feet! Yay!! He also showed me how to massage my toes to help reduce the swelling. The key is to massage the knuckle, not rub it. I guess rubbing it makes the scar tissue hard. He also gave me (convinced me to buy) this scar prevention kit. I honestly believe it was a waste of money, because the serum is only vitamin E oil that I've already been using on my scars.

So right now, I'm rubbing vitamin E oil on my scars at least three times daily, massaging my toes, and I'm back to wearing flat non restrictive shoes. I know there have been studies that have shown that vitamin e can have an adverse effect on scars, but I haven't had any issues with it. I would recommend trying it somewhere else on your body to ensure it doesn't cause a rash before putting it on your scars.