Temporarily out of (pickleball) commission

The alarm went off very early this morning. Rich was scheduled to be at the Sun N Lake Surgical Center in Sebring by 6:15 AM for his foot surgery. Those of you who know Rich, also know that he does not function well in the morning before his first cup of coffee. But it was nothing to eat or drink after midnight last night . Needless to say the ride to Sebring was a quiet one.

While not looking forward to being out of commission for 4-6 weeks, Rich was very pleased that he had finally found a doctor that promised to permanantly correct his problem, rather than just treat the symptoms as the previous two podiatrists had done.

Compliments to the Surgical Center and their staff for their efficiency and great care. We arrived about 6:10 and by 6:20 he was taken in to get prepped. The nurse said that Dr. Feldman was scheduled to begin the surgery at 7:00. About 6:45 Dr. Feldman came walking in already dressed in his scrubs, stopped to say hello, and said he'd talk to both of us after the surgery. At 6:50 they let me come in for a few minutes. Rich was just about ready, the IV's were in and the anethesiologist was there. They were ready to begin by 7:00. They scraped the bone on both of the small toes, broke the small toe and inserted pins into both toes.
And then it was off to recovery.........

Dr. Feldman and the recovery room nurse check things out before letting Rich go home. They checked to make sure that the toes were getting enough blood back into them and returning to their normal color. They decided to lowere the foot just a little to get the blood circulating better.

Dr. Feldman said that Rich was asking for COFFEE before he was even awake. Here he is, almost awake with his first cup of coffee for the day. Good thing I was there to listen to the instructions the nurse was giving him. He said that while he was awake, he still felt like he'd about 4 or 5 bottles of beer!!!

We put on the surgical shoe and headed for home. We were home before 10:00 am. If you look closely at the picture you can see what looks like two yellow push pins shoved into the tip of the two little toes. Rest and no weight on the foot (except to go to the JOHN!) for the first 24 to 48 hours.

Comfortable and Smiling!!! I left him with the TV remote and headed to CVS to pick up the pain pills and the antibiotics. He's already threatening to buy a wheel chair so he can get on the pickleball court and play. This man is not going to be easy to keep down!!!!

Back to the Doctor on Wednesday morning.