....and the Agony of Da-Feet

Jim, As bad as your foot looks I could post a picture of someone who got a bug bite on their foot down in Columbia a few weeks ago. It happened just a couple weeks before he was able to get a flight home to England. By the time he got home foot and leg up to knee were about twice normal size!

Doc's in England were not sure what to do and were putting out the possibility of amputation! Lucky for his the exploratory surgery did not find dead tissue so that option was put on hold.

Next bit of good luck is his step-mom's cousin is a surgeon in Columbia and when they sent a couple pictures to him he talked to his colleagues in the hospital in Columbia advised what they would due for that kind of infection and the English doctors took that information and went with it and now he seems to be on the way to recovery.

Just another case of doctors who actually care about the patient more than their ego. Too often doctors think they have all the answers and refuse to admit they don't know something. Just glad you were able to find a doctor who was smart enough to know that something that looks small on a MRI may be causing a big problem!
 
How's it today, Jim?

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Well, my whisky days are (mostly) behind me, but It's a pretty good painkiller as I recall. Didn't really kill the pain.... ya just didn't care about the pain as much. ;)

When I used to run licensed premises, had a conversation with a punter. He said best thing if you catch a cold is take a pint glass (UK pint is 20 fluid ounces), ½ fill with whisky, ½ hot water and drink it. I asked if that helps with the cold symptoms. Looked at me like I'm a bit thick - 'Christ, I don't know!'

Fair enough.
 
When I used to run licensed premises, had a conversation with a punter. He said best thing if you catch a cold is take a pint glass (UK pint is 20 fluid ounces), ½ fill with whisky, ½ hot water and drink it. I asked if that helps with the cold symptoms. Looked at me like I'm a bit thick - 'Christ, I don't know!'

Fair enough.
Was sittin' in this little pub in Duns Tew one night sippin' my pint when this punter sits at the bar and asks the publican for a pint of lager. This guy looks at the beer, then looks at me with this troublemaker twinkle in his eye, then motions the publican back over and softly asks if he can fit a shot of whisky in the glass. The publican nods and reaches for a bottle of whisky and says "yeah, I think I can fit...." the punter interrupts him in this loud booming voice and says "then fill the bloody thing up with beer!!"
I about fell off my stool laughing.
 
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Yup, we hear lots of stories like that. In England, pubs use line-measure glasses - 20 fluid ounces to the line, a few mm below the brim, leaving a little bit of space for the foamy head. In Scotland, pubs use brim-measure glasses - 20 fluid ounces fills the glass to overflowing. Which leads to, uhm, the odd argument about short measure and whether foam counts as beer. Yes, really. And beer definitely makes people more argumentative and assertive of their rights.

We employed a French lassie as temporary bar staff and it was bloody impossible to get her to accept that you need to fill the glass. 'No, they will not want it like thees, they will not be able to pick the glass up!' 'Oh, yes, they will want it like this!'

Upper Heyford?
 
Upper Heyford?
Yep. 8 yrs there in total over 2 tours back in the 70's and 80's. When I lived in Duns Tew, my front door was literally across the street from the White Horse. Was quite handy if I'd over indulged. All the publican had to do was point me in the general direction and give a shove. ;)
 
7 day update:
Operation was a week ago today, so for those of you looking at having this done, here's where I'm at....
Haven't needed a pain pill since the second or third day, so that's a plus. I honestly can't understand how anyone could get hooked on these things... they just put me to sleep.
Although still pretty swollen, the swelling is finally starting to come down. I'll put a thumbnail below so if you don't want to see it, don't click on it.
Although I'm not supposed to walk on it, I've been testing it out the last 4 or 5 days. Every time was a light your hair on fire shooting pain. Today I can actually stand on it without feeling like I'm being stabbed in the foot with a dull knife.... So that's definitely a good sign.
So far, the worst part of all this is the mind numbing boredom that comes with 7 days of sitting on my ass with my foot elevated and encased in ice. 7 days down, 7 to go before I'm (hopefully) released to start walking again.
All in all, it looks like I'm heading in the right direction.

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Now THAT is good news Jim - very pleased to hear that things are perking-up in the twinkle toes department.

Raymond - you made me laugh:

'No, they will not want it like thees, they will not be able to pick the glass up!'

If you fill the glass up - they won't be able to pick it up - and they won't need to because they'll get their faces down into it and just slurp it up...:lmao:
 
Bonus points if you remember what TV show that's from. :rolleyes:

Those of you that followed my SG build thread will recall that it was put on hold for a spell about 2 yrs ago because of my feet. I've had foot problems for the better part of 10 yrs now. Usually a few days off 'em from time to time was enough to keep 'em tolerable. In the 2 yrs since they've gotten worse, I've hired and fired more podiatrist's than I can remember the names of... quacks one and all. One even claimed my achilies tendon was too tight or some such nonsense and wanted to cut 'em... :doh: um.... no thanks. Most of 'em "theorized" it was Mortons Neuroma. There's a series (4-6) of cortisone shots for that... that might or might not help, depending on who you ask. Tried that 3 different times. Turns out I have this certain gullibility when it comes to trusting quacks. One of 'em sent me off for physical therapy 3 days a week for 6 weeks.... at 30 bucks a pop on my copay.... Needless to say, all that did was make me poorer.
Anyway, the orthopedic surgeon I'm seeing for my knees (don't ask :rolleyes:) knew another orthopedic surgeon who specializes in feet and ankle problems.... so I went to see her. First thing she says is we need to do an MRI so that... just maybe, we can see what's going on. So I explained to her that one of the quacks did that and said yeah... he could see the neuroma, but it was so small that it "shouldn't" be causin' a problem. To which she chuckled... shook her head and explained that most neuromas don't show up well on an MRI, and those that do are... well...definitive. She had the MRI sent to her office and yeah... it's definitive.
So... surgery it is.... then covid-19 reared it's ugly head.... all elective surgery's were postponed. I really wanted to get this done early in the spring and be recovered by now... c'est la vie.
Last week she contacted me and everything was set. Thur. morning I went in and had the neuroma removed from my left foot. Once I'm recovered from that... it's back in for the other foot.
From what I've read and been told, recovery times vary a lot between cases. Stitches come out 2 wks from last Thur. Until then I'm pretty much chair-bound. On the plus side, this is the third day and I haven't needed a pain pill all day. I know there's others here lookin' at the same surgery, so I'll put up some progress reports after that.
There's a lot going on, painting.... TCI/GN mod... rotor rewinding, that will have to wait 'till I'm a little more mobile. Y'alls patience on those fronts is appreciated.

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Hi Jim,
I found a video just for you: "Hoppity comes to town"
 
2 Week Update:
Stitches came out today. They did an X-ray and said everything looks normal. Most of the black and blue is gone... but a fair bit of swelling is still there. Doc. says the swelling could last up to 2-3 months. I'll spare you guys the scar.... as it's still pretty red and swollen. She said I'm free to start working it at my own pace. There's very little chance of me causing any damage and it'll let me know if I overdo it. :doh:
I can almost put full weight on it but at this point the swelling is the limiting factor... shoes won't fit yet.

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