So the accident on 18 July 1989 still has me in hospital! I’m just back from having my 14th operation, this time to straighten my fourth toe. The toes were broken and pinned after the main surgery was completed back in around 1991, but they clawed again and one in particular was causing me no small amount of discomfort (i.e. hunners of pain). So I found myself back under the knife at Ayr hospital yesterday.
The procedure was a DPJ (distal something or other joint) removal and fusion. In other words, they removed the joint and put the toe back together again with a pin in it and hopefully it will fuse and become straight.
It was weird being back in hospital again as it brought back many memories. I’d forgotten how surgical and cold the threatre can be and how it feels staring up at the bright lights while the anaesthetist does her thing, then that feeling as the cold creeps up your arm, then your head expands, and you’re out!
It all went well and awoke without the pain I was expecting to feel. The nurses were great too. I am still amazed at how great a job nurses do.
I got out this morning and am now back in my island fortress. I’ve got co-codamol 30/500 for the pain and they seem to be working fine. I’m going to stay home for the rest of the week and enjoy a rest. (I hope!)
I’m back in two weeks for a check up (more boat trips, logistical difficulties of getting from the ferry terminal to the hospital and back again, more extra hours for the PO girls, which of course means more cost for my business) and then another trip four weeks after that to have the pin removed and then I’m done. It’s a quiet time of year at work so it’s good timing really.