We interrupt this program for a special news bulletin....AKA the most stressful my life has ever been

Y'all. I am mentally and physically exhausted.  We never saw this coming and it hit like a freight train.

Let me back track several months.  Mark had what he thought was a toe nail fungus on his left big toe.  We bought some over the counter stuff and treated it but it was not working very fast.  In November when Mark had a check up with his vascular doctor, she said he needed to see a podiatrist or his primary care doctor for some oral meds.  Well, he could not get in to see them soon enough and so we went back out on the road and kept treating with over the counter stuff.  Of course it kept giving him problems but he kept pushing through.

Fast forward to January.  After a shower one night Mark noticed his toe " leaking".  He knew he had an appointment with his vascular doctor in February so he just babied it along with peroxide and that ointment stuff that for the life of me I cannot think of the name.  It seemed to be getting a little better so we were not very concerned.

Fast forward to 2/11/19 when Mark had his appointment with his doctor.  She takes one look at his toe and says " this is not good, not good at all."  Due to the lack of circulation in his foot the toe got infected and she told us without the bypass surgery in his thigh she was not sure the toe would heal.  She cut his toe open and took out as much infection as she could in the office and put him on a strong course of antibiotics.  She scheduled an appointment for the following Tuesday.  The hospital called that afternoon and scheduled Mark's surgery for the 21st.

We took a quick load to Florida (where the weather was glorious even though I was sick) and made it back here Monday afternoon where we checked into our efficiency hotel.  She told Mark to plan to be out a week.  So we rented a car and this hotel for ten nights.

At his appointment on Tuesday she told him that she would probably have to take the top part of his toe, but that it would still just be a week out of work.  If only that is what happened.

I'll spare you the details of the drama that went on just to get him even in to the operating room because our insurance is horrible. 

On Thursday they took him  back at 11am but his surgery did not start until 130 or so.  His doctor finally came to talk to me ar 6pm-ish.  She told me that they ended up having to take the whole toe because the infection was so bad.  She said that he did fine in surgery but the blood flow to his foot was not what they wanted it to be so she put on a wound vac instead of stitches.  She said that he was not out of the woods and could still lose his foot but she was hoping that she did enough and the wound vac would ward off any infection and help the wound heal faster.

I finally got to see him around 830 when they brought him to his room.  He was still mostly doped out and for that I was thankful.  The nurse asked me if I wanted to see his foot and I said yes, but I was not prepared.   I nearly fainted.  It was not gross or gory or anything but just the site of his forever altered foot was too much for me to take at that moment.  It was and still is strange to look at.  I took a picture of it when he was sleeping so I could practice looking at it and not show any emotion.He still had no idea what was going on and asked me three times what happened with his toe.   I stayed overnight in the hospital with him and got no sleep at all.  Friday morning he told me his foot hurt.  I asked him if he knew why.  He said ' Did she have to take part of my toe?"  I told him no.  They had to take the whole thing.  He uttered a curse word and then said " well that sucks".  Friday afternoon we found out that his one week off of work was more likely going to be 5-6 weeks.

Initiate panic.  We were prepared for one week off.  But since this became way more than what we thought there is nothing going according to plan.  So, still trying to figure out what happens next.  We have the hotel room until 3/1 and the car until 3/2.  No idea what happens after that. 

Then on Saturday as I was talking to Adam on the phone he got into a car accident .  He is fine, but it was terrifying.  The car is not ok.  So in addition to figuring out where we will be for five to six weeks , and what we will drive, now have to figure out how to pay the deductible for Adam's car.

So, its been stressful to say the least.  Hopefully over the next day or so I'll be able to figure the next pieces out and then maybe I will be able to sleep.


Appreciate continued prayers and well wishes.  We have a long road to travel.

The biggest hospital room I have ever seen.

Not much appetite

Where I have been hanging out.

Our new normal

Wound VAC pump

Sleeping Beauty