Foot Update!!

A friendly warning: there is a picture of my stitched foot in this post. 

I had my foot surgery a few weeks ago. When I got home from the surgery, my dog wouldn't leave me alone for a few days. Everything went fine with the surgery, and they put me in a sexy, sexy post-surgical boot. A few days after surgery, my foot was quite swollen, and my toes looked like Vienna sausages.

The pain meds were... an experience. I was prescribed Vicodin, which I thought I had taken before. Well, I have never taken Vicodin before, and it makes me really, really nauseated. I mean, to the point of almost vomiting in my boyfriends car (thankfully I didn't). That being said, taking Vicodin and an anti-emetic every four hours did nothing to the accuracy of my CGM numbers. So at least it had that going for it.

In addition to the lovely drugs, my doctor prescribed this neat little machine for me. It circulates really cool water around my sore foot and squeezes on my other leg to prevent DVT. I really only used it for the first few days after surgery, and now it's sitting in my living room. I really do need to call the guy to return it.





I went back to the podiatrist yesterday, almost three weeks post-op. I was told that my foot looks good and is healing quickly. Yay foot! The doctor took my stitches out, manipulated my foot for a bit, and then bandaged it back up.I haven't been allowed to get my foot wet since the surgery, so that means it hasn't been washed since before the surgery. That's why my doctor's initials are s till on my foot. Also, the smell! I won't even get started on that....

I still have some swelling and bruising in my foot, as well as some pain and stiffness. You know what, though? I'll take it for now. I have at least another week in the sexy gray boot before I can start slipping back into my dancing shoes. Right now I'm still walking like a slow poke, but I should be back to normal-ish soon. 

My Bone of Contention

This is my sore foot that has been bothering me for about a year now. I've been seeing doctors since January, trying to get some relief. I've tried physical therapy, ice, rest, steroid injections, topical creams, shoe inserts and pads... I've tried everything. The problem? A super high arch combined with an exostosis (extra bone growth) which rubbed against my shoes, causing persistent tendinitis. Then, over the months, the rubbing caused a cyst to form under the tendon in my foot. Now, I'm not an artist, or a doctor, but I'm going to try explaining this the best I can.

 The pink squiggle is the tendon that is irritated. The yellow lump is my new cyst (which I can feel and move under my skin. Kinda yucky).  The red line is where the surgeon is going to go in and shave my bone down. Yeah, shave. Hopefully the shaving will alleviate the pressure on my tendon and prevent the cyst from returning. 

I've already gotten my prescriptions for after the surgery. Ibuprofen, antibiotics, and Vicodin. Does anyone out there know if the acetaminophen in Vicodin is going to mess with my Dexcom numbers? I've tried Google, but the results are inconclusive.

I had my pre-op appointment this week, where they told me to not take any insulin at all the day of surgery. Um, that sounds like a terrible idea. Surgery is at noon. So I called my endo's office, who told me I should let my surgeon handle my insulin, until I told them what the surgeon wanted me to do. I'm still waiting on official word from my endo as to what I should do. 

I'll be posting an update eventually as to how everything went with my insulin needs and how the Vicodin affected my Dexcom readings, if at all. 

50 Shades of Red

Red: the thematic color of the last few days.

The first red in this story was the red of my 6-pack cooler packed for a tubing adventure. For those of you who don't live near a river, this tubing is not related to insulin pumps or being pulled behind a boat. This tubing refers to sitting on an inflatable tube, drinking beer (or Diet Coke) and floating down the Chattahoochee River. I've never done this type of tubing before, but it was my boyfriend's birthday and he wanted to go with our friends. It was an impromptu trip, and I had 30 minutes to get my things together. No time to plan for diabetes, really. I did have time to do this, as my Dexcom sensor was about to fall off.

The second red was the small dry-bag I purchased on the way to the river. I packed it with my meter, hand sanitizer, and my CGM receiver. That's all that would fit, and the store only had one size of dry bag. I was promised I wouldn't get very wet, so I clipped my pump to the very top of my bathing suit. MM says their pumps are water resistant, and I've accidentally gotten a few of them quite wet without effect. I've been thrown in a pool, waded into the ocean, and watched an entire football game in the rain and my pump was fine. I wasn't worried. I had to borrow a raft from my friends because I've never done this before.

The third red was blood. This blood came from my thigh where I hit it on a rock when my borrowed raft broke out from under me. My friends saved me from drowning or being pulled around by the river. All in all. I was submerged for maybe 10 seconds. When I calmed my breathing, I checked my pump. I was shocked to see the screen filled with water. We stopped 30 minutes later to eat, and some of that water had turned to steam. It was difficult to bolus for food, but I managed. The pump was still working, despite being very, very wet. One of my friends rigged my broken float and traded with me. We were off.

The fourth red was caused by blinding pain when I hit my foot on a rock when the second tube I was using sprouted a hole and dumped me out. Another one of my awesome friends again traded tubes with me because, as they put it, they're more water resistant than I am. At this point, I chucked my pump to someone in a more stable tube, who gave it to someone with a larger dry bag.

The fifth red was figurative. I was angry when I realized I had to get a new pump. I called Medtronic as soon as I got back to my phone. I was promised a new pump within two days. I called them at 8 PM on a Sunday, so I figured they wouldn't have time to overnight one. I saw more red when I realized I would have to drive to the far CVS to pick up emergency Lantus. I was more angry when they told me it would take them over an hour to fill my one vial prescription. I'm usually pretty calm an understanding, but I can freak the eff out when it involved my diabetes. My BG at the time was 98, but I knew that wouldn't last, especially because I would be eating pizza before picking up my Lantus. Unfortunately, Henry ended up looking like this:

The sixth red was the marinara sauce I managed to spill while injecting Humalog with a syringe. After a long day in the sun/water, we were all craving carbs. I had a stromboli, and it was delicious.

The seventh red was blood again. This blood came from the site of my 48-unit Lantus injection. It wasn't a dot of blood, either. It was a blood flood.

The eighth red was the unsettling shade of fuschia on my urine ketone strip when I woke up to a BG of 360 the next morning, despite going to sleep at 120.

The tenth red was the giant red bruise on my foot from hitting it on a rock the day before. It hurt so bad I could barely walk. I went to the urgent care doc and spent three hours waiting to hear that I have a bruise. No break, possibly a nasty sprain because I can't walk. I was instructed to take it easy, avoid walking, and stop carrying my heavy backpack (because obviously my books will just magically carry themselves to my classes). I still can't walk well, but I don't want to use crutches (I might use them to get to class so my lab partner isn't so mad at me for missing class on Monday).

I'm no longer seeing red, but my brother missed the delivery of my new pump this morning. I went online this afternoon, and scheduled a self pickup for this evening. Lantus doesn't seem to do much for me, so I haven't seen many numbers below 200 in the past two days. I can't wait to get my baby back!

Putting my Best (or worst) Foot Forward

I went to the podiatrist today for the first time in my life. I'm 24, and I've been having foot problems for a while now, at least since January. I've tried resting, icing, wrapping, and it helps in the short term, but the day I stop doing these things my pain returns. I went to my primary doctor again earlier this week for the pain. The last time I was in, Dr. Dumbass told me to come back if it kept hurting. It did, so I went back. Thankfully, I got to see my regular doctor instead of the idiot I got last time. Anyway, he wanted to send me to physical therapy for my foot to try strengthening muscles and gain support. I asked him how we can treat something if we don't know what, exactly, the problem is. So he referred me to a podiatrist.

Now, being a diabetic, I get a little nervous when I start thinking about my feet. Every time I'm in the endo's office, I get a clean bill of health on my feet. They look good; strong pulse, no nerve damage, etc. It doesn't stop my worry though. We've all heard about the foot problems associated with diabetes. I was nervous going in. To my surprise, he didn't mention my diabetes once. Woo!

I had my foot X-rayed while standing.

Everything is normal, except for my high arches. I was given some orthotic inserts to bake in the oven and shove into my shoes. Done and done. For now, I hate them, but hopefully they'll help. I hope my problem was something this simple and it resolves soon.