It's been more than a month since Nick had his third ankle surgery. Normally when you break a bone you need one surgery and then it's over with. But this poor guy broke his so bad and in so many ways, that he'll deal with it for life. The metal was supposed to be in his leg forever but he has been in constant pain so the doctor took a look at it. They realized that the metal had started wiggling around, plus he had a ton of scar tissue, the titanium was literally bent and his ligaments weren't particularly flexible so his foot was very stiff. They were also surprised to discover that Nick was born with a condition where his heel bone (only in that foot) grows faster than the other bones in his body. So not only did he have arthritis but his heel bone kept growing and pushing on it. He had to get this surgery over and done with now because he was at the point of barely being able to walk because of the pain. His job is very physical so it was important for his health and future to do this.

Morning of the surgery. Tired, nervous and not looking forward to it at all! I tried being cheerful and encouraging but let's face it, doing anything like this sucks. The nurses were super sweet though and helped both of us to relax. At first they called Nick to go in and get ready. They hooked him up to the IV and started giving him the anesthesia. They also gave him two shots in the knee (ouch, I felt terrible for him when I head about that) to do a nerve block for the next 24 hours. They said that if there was enough time, I would get to see him again before surgery. But after half an hour I had given up on that hope. I thought they had already started. All of a sudden a nurse came out to get me! I ended up getting to spend a whole hour with Nick since the doctor was late.. as he always is. Nick was kind of drowsy and slurred a bit when talking but was still himself :) It was nerve wracking having to say good bye when they rolled him off but obviously it had to be done.

I spent the next several hours anxiously sitting in the waiting room and then taking a walk right outside the building. I didn't want to go too far away in case they needed to get hold of me. Finally the doctor came out saying that the surgery went great and gave me a bunch of gross looking pictures of the inside of Nick's foot, haha! But it was interesting to see! This darn doctor speaks so freaking fast that me and Nick can never keep up. But from what I could understand, Nick's foot should feel better after he recovers. 

A few minutes later I was allowed into the recovery room and Nick sure was a lot more drowsy than before the surgery, haha! I helped the nurse get him dressed. And then he ended up sitting down on the arm rest of the wheelchair instead of in the actual chair! Poor baby didn't feel good. He had been super hungry since last night after work since he was not allowed to eat. I was hungry too since I felt so bad that I didn't want to eat around him. During the surgery I just had a little snack. So when Nick's dad came to pick us up, our first stop was a food drive-thru!

The drugs could make Nick feel sick so the nurse said "no spicy food today!"... lol yeah right, Nick eats spicy food 95% of the time so it was impossible to keep him away from that :P 

 Reese was a great help in comforting Nick :) 

 MOST. EPIC. PHOTO. EVER. Look at Reese's smile!!

Lol going to Safeway for the first time. I told Nick he looked like an Eminem album cover :P It was a lot of work lifting the wheelchair in and out of the car for those first few weeks. Don't miss that!

But it sure was helpful to use him as my grocery cart!

Nick absolutely hated his cast and was relieved to take it off after two weeks. We got to see the foot for the first time and I felt so bad about all of the staples that he had. But he felt better after getting a boot to wear instead, so he could take it off whenever he wanted to. But he still wasn't very lucky. During this recovery time he has managed to have a scale dropped on his foot (accidentally by a friend) and he has tripped while trying to jump in to the kitchen from the porch, so he took a bad fall and was in horrible pain that whole night. He hated getting the staples out after a month. Normally it shouldn't hurt that bad, but his nerves are so extremely sensitive at this point. I could tell that he was suffering so I asked the guy for numbing spray but he barely let it sit there before he kept going. So stupid. We should have just let the physical therapy staff, who we know and love, take it out instead. Because they would have been more gentle. But as always, it's hard to say no to doctor's who "know better".... well, not always. But Nick's scar has healed up great and he has started walking quite a bit this week and is going to physical therapy :) In total he'll be off work for about three months, which he needs because he is still very uncomfortable and in pain most of the time.