Surgery and Recovery (Part Three)

Everything was going very well with my recovery except that my back was itchy and burning at night when I lay on it and during the day when brace was tightened around it. I had called the doctor's office a couple of times about it, especially since it looked a little swollen around the incision. They just told me that it was normal as along as I had no fever. Now I was taking my temperature about five times a day checking for a fever. At the end of the four weeks I had a scheduled doctor's appointment with my surgeon so when he asked me how everything was going I told him about the incision. He had me show it to him and I could tell by his expression that everything was not well. He stated that I had an infection in the incision and that I would have to start a round of antibiotics. He looked at it again and he said to go down to the other room so he could 'lance' it. Well the 'other room' is a small in house surgery where they do minor procedures. The nurse got me half undressed and then proceded to take out a lot of instruments that did not look like a whole lot of fun unless you were into sado-masoschism. The doctor came in, sat down behind me, took out some of those instruments, the sharper ones, and said that 'this might hurt'. Anytime a doctor tells you that, 'might' means that it WILL hurt. He then cut my back in three places to drain off the fluid that had built up back there. Now it REALLY hurt. There was no might about it. I told him that in the movies don't they give a man a shot of whiskey when they cut him open without anaethesia. He chuckeled, easy for him, and replied that this is South Texas so I could have some tequilla. I said , 'bring it on and quick'! No such luck! The nurse put the bandages on again and gave me some to take home so my caring wife could dress my back again each day and when I showered.
I had one other issue that had been bothering me. My left foot was still very numb by the big toe and the instep. The doctor said that that will take time for it to heal. The nerves had been stretched out so much on that sided that it takes a while to come back. Please come back soon because I walk funny with the foot like that and even stumble a bit when that toe does not want to work the way I want it to. The bikg toe, I have found really controls your ability to walk correctly. I never want to lose that toe.