Sorry for the late update. This surgery has not been easy. The road
to recovery from my surgery has certainly been a bumpy one. The staff
prior to surgery and in recovery were nothing short of fantastic, and I
got a great laugh when I noticed a stoneware jar on the desk that read
"Ashes of difficult patients". It gave me confidence in the staff that
would help me recover...big mistake. There was a brief time when they
didn't even think they'd have a bed for me OR a PCA pump ( a device
when you can dispense your pain medicine every 6 minutes or so with a
push of a button) Fortunately both those problems were solved and I was
on a recovery floor within a few hours.....and at the mercy of nursing
and tech staff, which only (and this is a kind estimate 20% even cared
about their job or the people they were treating. It took them 5 hours
AFTER the nerve block wore off to adequately manage the pain which was
absolutely un Godly. Even after they got me hooked up to the PCA pump,
morphine wasn't working and I had to beg and cry before they would give
me what I knew would work-a lovely med called Dilaudid. They were even
kind enough to give me an additional shot of break through pain meds
through my IV to insure I was as pain free as possible.....that must be
the reason I was seeing a stuffed kitty sitting next to my bed smoking
a cigar.! hahahah. My overnight stay turned in to 6 days due to in
ability to manage pain, mobility issues and the fact that the day after
surgery, one of those wonderful techs banged my surgery foot into the
wall of the elevator. Damn good thing she wasn't in kicking distance of
the good foot. Her response? "Ah didnn't meanz to do it." As if being
unable to get yourself to a bathroom is not humiliating enough, there
was yet another tech who seemed to believe that "having to go urgently"
meant that she should move at a snail's pace and tend to other things
that could certainly have waited until she assisted me. Ringing the
buzzer to get a nurse became a game with the girl that handled
dispatch...yes, let's play ring the buzzer back and forth while I wait
for her NOT to even summon a nurse to get my pain meds. The good nurses
and techs, angels of mercy, never missed a scheduled dose while the
inept techs reasoned that my pain meds were PRN and I should have to
ask for them before they would give them to me. Uhhhhhhhhhhh, okey
dokey. I got 4 hours sleep in four days most of the time waking to
stabbing pains in my foot and nightmares from the pain meds. And let's
not forget the cramping in me leg that I couldn't stretch my foot to
do a thing about.....one of the angels of mercy got me a standing script
for valium which I never thought would do something for leg
cramps.....it did...thank God.
  
The surgery wound up being a slice in each side of my foot and one up
the heel where they fused my joints together with four large screws.
Post op xrays looked like everything took properly, now it's just a
matter of time for the bone to grow into the screws or vice versa.

The last thing I ever thought would happen was for my rescue team to
fall apart on me. Two have life crisises of their own to deal with and
had to step down temporarily leaving all the care on the shoulders of
three people as yet another care giver fell ill but she is now back in
action. My poor blind dog came down with an erupting sebatious cyst
yesterday and will be going to the doc tomorrow for that. Autumn
developed a problem tooth that abscessed and she had to have two teeth
pulled today. Thank God for the folks that pulled together for the
transports to the vet: Molly & Dan from BFC and Caroline who made time
even though she has family crisises of her own. Man, when it rains it
pours. I have cried tears of frustration at my physical inability to
help out and missing my kids. Kind volunteers hold my biggest dookers
to the phone so we can "talk"....more tears....hahah. Being helpless is
not something I do well. Crutches did not work for me. I fell twice and
decided the knee walker device and crawling up the steps would be
best/safest. My disability checks are not being sent as promised so now
I have that to contend with also.

I missed you all....sorry the tone of this could not be more humorous,
maybe some inspiration from our Alexandra will get me back to my old
self.

Hugs to all
Kim

Kimberly Fox
Director/Rescue Mom
Somethin Up My Sleeve Ferret Rescue
http://companiontalk.terrabox.com/SUMS-Rescue.html
Help The Helpless. SUPPORT PRIVATE RESCUE
Pay Pal accepted for donations at this email address.

[Posted in FML 5539]