There it is. One beautifully-dressed big toe, after the nail was removed earlier this morning, and the nail bed treated so that a new nail ought not to grow back. I was requested to phone Jackie (who had brought me to the Health Centre, and was waiting at Reception), and ask her to bring her car to the side of the building, so that I need take only a few steps outside to reach it. While the phone was in my hand, I snuck a shot.
The trip from home to Health Centre, the op, and then back again, was all accomplished inside two hours. The procedure itself took very little time. My toe was completely numbed with the local anaesthetic, and I felt no pain whatever, neither when the nail was prised off, nor when the phenol was applied. I refrained from watching what the podiatrist was doing! I was in any case comfortably reclined, with a pillow under my head, and stayed that way until the toe was dressed.
Now I'm at home again, with my feet up, and I must stay that way as much as possible.
During the next hour, the anaesthetic will wear off. I hope there will be no great pain when it does, but I've just taken some paracetamol with a nice cup of tea, and maybe that will keep any discomfort within bounds.
The post-op notes I've been given say that the toe will look 'red and puffy' for the next ten days or so, and it may weep. But it will dry out after two to four weeks, and should heal up completely in six to eight weeks. That does seem rather a long time, but surely I will be out and around in a limited fashion, at least in dry weather, before the end of the month. Certainly sufficiently to get shopping in. And I hope enough to attend a lunch or two. The first few days will be the important ones.
It may irk me to be housebound, but I intend to be firm with myself about that, and firm with other people too. I have books to read, and phone, laptop, radio, TV and DVD player are all to hand. I shall doze if nature tells me to.
One of the things I can get on with is booking this year's caravan holidays online. It pays to do that early. The Caravan and Motorhome Club doesn't ask for any booking deposits, and online bookings can be amended or even cancelled if proper notice is given closer to the date. And I already know where I want to go in 2018, and when.
Later the same day
Well: no pain, no discomfort, and really very little sensation at all. This is after only one session of paracetamol at 10.45am this morning - I didn't need to take any more. And I haven't been totally immobile. I have made tea more than once, quickly cooked up lunch in a wok, and have visited the loo a couple of times. But otherwise my feet have been up.
It's now very nearly time to cook an evening meal, and I've finally donned the sandals at home, not wanted to stub a toe, any toe, while in the kitchen. Here's a photo taken just now.
The cut front strap on the right foot can of course fit over and around the dressing, and I've tied the ribbon so that there is only very, very gentle pressure on the top side of the foot.
I came home wearing a blue plastic foot-covering on my right foot, the sort you put on to protect floors and carpets from wet or dirty shoes. I kept that on at home, in order to keep the underside of the dressing completely clean while I did my minimum shuffling around. Doing so may have been a minor error - after removing it, the dressing felt slightly damp, as if the foot had sweated somewhat inside the covering. I've now discarded it. Although damp, the dressing was still pristine to the eye, so I'm thinking that there have been no wound exudations, and no significant bleeding. If I'm right, the dressing will dry out during the evening.
