The Foot II (Still PG-13)

Chris and I went to the ortho doc last Thursday which was the last post. The doc decided Chris' foot was getting worse instead of better and scheduled him to go into surgery the next morning and to stay through the night. The surgery went well and the doc removed 100cc's of red gunk. He said the foot had made a sort of cavern to hold the fluid and it was easy to remove and "power wash" the inside.

The big question was what kind of infection Chris might have...staph, MRSA, etc... We were put into a huge hospital room with a negative airflow sign in the door which wasn't very encouraging. We met with the infectious disease doc who said he wouldn't have the cultures back until Monday but put Chris on hefty antibiotics. The night in the hospital was pretty rough as Chris was in a lot of pain and the morphine was no longer doing the trick. We finally made it back home Saturday around 1:00pm and spent the rest of the day (my 30th birthday) relaxing. My parents were in town and were wonderfully helpful as we made the transition from hospital to home.

Chris talked to the infectious disease doc on Monday and we were told that nothing grew. We took that as good news...until today. Today we met with the ortho doc who removed Chris' bandages from surgery. I think we were all surprised with how bad Chris' foot looked. The doc said that he is doubtful there isn't an infection regardless of the cultures done. He explained that since Chris was on antibiotics since the injury two weeks ago, unless the infection was raging, it would prevent any growth in a culture. He said that from looking at Chris' foot, he believes that it could be strep and that Chris will need to continue on the antibiotics. The other concern was a black spot on his foot which the doc said is necrotic. This is a fancy medical word for dead. I heard the words skin graff, plastic surgeon. The doc also talked about having ongoing concerns that Chris might spike a fever from an infection. When the doc had said post surgery that Chris could return to work whenever he felt good enough to do so, the doc now said that Chris wasn't allowed to return to work for at least a week and that he needed to be seen again this Friday.

So, prayers needed still. We never expected all of this to happen. We figured we would go home after Montrose and that the foot would heal after a few days and this would be over. This continues to be a challenge for both of us. Chris is having a difficult time staying home, especially since he is usually so active. (Think gym workouts 5 days a week at 5:30a.m.) I'm having a difficult time running the show by myself. We have been blessed with a wonderfully supportive church who is bringing us meals every other day. I'll keep you posted. These are the pictures I took in the doctor's office this morning after the bandage was removed and before another one was put on.