About lunch time on Australia Day 2016, I was being wheeled into unexpected surgery... To be perfectly honest, I don't remember too much about that day at all.
I was transferred from the emergency room of my local hospital to the Royal Adelaide, Fasted whilst in the Emergency Dept there and eventually admitted to a ward to prepare for surgery. It was around this time they told me I had type 2 diabetes... On admission, my Blood Sugar Level (BSL) was a whopping 25. I was put onto an insulin pump to lower my BSL and then started insulin with every meal and again before going to sleep at night. Plus tablets with breakfast and dinner and Antibiotic drips every 6 hours... I was a pin cushion.
I don't remember the pre-op process or even what it was they were going to do... I don't think they were even sure what to expect during the operation. I just signed the concession and went to sleep...
I woke up in recovery still feeling not the best but i do remember feeling absolutely no pain at all. I was happy I was finally able to eat again. The day after surgery, they took the bandages off to look at the wound. I was cringing at the thought... Here comes the pain... I jumped at the offer for pain relief... and yeah it did its job or so I thought... They had removed my middle 3 toes and when the bandages were removed, I could see inside my foot. But why was I never feeling any pain??? I had no feeling in my foot from the diabetes. All the medication I was on seemed to be working as I was feeling better in myself but the Drs decided to operate again about 3 days after the toe amputation to de-bridle the wound and clean it up a bit more. Sailed through that op with flying colors and thought that would be the last one... Not quite, seemed they decided to book in another surgery a further 3 days later, this time to take the fore foot. I asked why and they decided to show me... they got a metal poking stick and put it in a hole under my big toe and pulled it out through the hole where my toes were... basically there was no viable flesh in the foot to sustain my remaining toes. When being wheeled into the operating room, the remembered my name as this was my third op in 7 days. Again came through with no pain and really began healing again. I was kinda bored laying in bed all day every day and I asked my nieces to brink in some movies for me to watch on my laptop... Cheeky buggers suggested Happy Feet, Step Up and Footloose!!!! HAHAHAHA also threatened to get me toe socks for my bithday LOL. I remained in hospital for a further week when I was finally discharged with the strict instructions of I had to where a moon boot until my foot was fully healed (approx 7 months), crutches, and had to stay with Dad as I lived in a 2 story town house and couldn't do the stairs. I was sent home with my foot still with an open wound as we had to wait for the skin to grow back. I had a vacuum dressing on it and RDNS were required every 2nd day to change my dressings. I didn't have a lot of luck with the vacuum dressing and ended up back in the emergency room at 3 am a week after discharge to be re-dressed. Once the vacuum was removed and conventional dressings were brought into play, things were much easier. RDNS was changed to every 3 days, weekly visits to the Podiatry Dept at the RAH and even got to the point of spending a couple of nights at a time at my place (much to my cats pleasure) plus I was not in hospital for my birthday.
I was transferred from the emergency room of my local hospital to the Royal Adelaide, Fasted whilst in the Emergency Dept there and eventually admitted to a ward to prepare for surgery. It was around this time they told me I had type 2 diabetes... On admission, my Blood Sugar Level (BSL) was a whopping 25. I was put onto an insulin pump to lower my BSL and then started insulin with every meal and again before going to sleep at night. Plus tablets with breakfast and dinner and Antibiotic drips every 6 hours... I was a pin cushion.
I don't remember the pre-op process or even what it was they were going to do... I don't think they were even sure what to expect during the operation. I just signed the concession and went to sleep...
I woke up in recovery still feeling not the best but i do remember feeling absolutely no pain at all. I was happy I was finally able to eat again. The day after surgery, they took the bandages off to look at the wound. I was cringing at the thought... Here comes the pain... I jumped at the offer for pain relief... and yeah it did its job or so I thought... They had removed my middle 3 toes and when the bandages were removed, I could see inside my foot. But why was I never feeling any pain??? I had no feeling in my foot from the diabetes. All the medication I was on seemed to be working as I was feeling better in myself but the Drs decided to operate again about 3 days after the toe amputation to de-bridle the wound and clean it up a bit more. Sailed through that op with flying colors and thought that would be the last one... Not quite, seemed they decided to book in another surgery a further 3 days later, this time to take the fore foot. I asked why and they decided to show me... they got a metal poking stick and put it in a hole under my big toe and pulled it out through the hole where my toes were... basically there was no viable flesh in the foot to sustain my remaining toes. When being wheeled into the operating room, the remembered my name as this was my third op in 7 days. Again came through with no pain and really began healing again. I was kinda bored laying in bed all day every day and I asked my nieces to brink in some movies for me to watch on my laptop... Cheeky buggers suggested Happy Feet, Step Up and Footloose!!!! HAHAHAHA also threatened to get me toe socks for my bithday LOL. I remained in hospital for a further week when I was finally discharged with the strict instructions of I had to where a moon boot until my foot was fully healed (approx 7 months), crutches, and had to stay with Dad as I lived in a 2 story town house and couldn't do the stairs. I was sent home with my foot still with an open wound as we had to wait for the skin to grow back. I had a vacuum dressing on it and RDNS were required every 2nd day to change my dressings. I didn't have a lot of luck with the vacuum dressing and ended up back in the emergency room at 3 am a week after discharge to be re-dressed. Once the vacuum was removed and conventional dressings were brought into play, things were much easier. RDNS was changed to every 3 days, weekly visits to the Podiatry Dept at the RAH and even got to the point of spending a couple of nights at a time at my place (much to my cats pleasure) plus I was not in hospital for my birthday.