Well, I guess it's about time I let everyone know the full story of Nate's foot surgery.
He had a bunion that had been bothering him for quite some time and this fire season only made it worse. It was starting to cause him a lot of pain. To the point that he would sleep with something in between his toes in order to straighten them out (all his toes pointed outward at a 20 degree angle). Being the old man that he is, he did't have any health insurance so it wasn't something he thought he'd be getting fixed anytime soon.
Thursday, November 8.
As I'm getting ready for work and Nate's playing on the computer he says to me "hey there's an ad for free bunion removal, should I apply?"
I thought it was a hoax but told him to go ahead anyway. He applied online and within 20 seconds of submitting his application a lady called to verify information and tell him some of the details.
Basically this research institute was doing a study of a new pain killing drug. But they would take care of all costs associated with the bunion removal surgery and pay him $500.
You better believe Nate was SOLD!
Friday, November 9.
Nate headed down to Salt Lake at 9am for a full physical exam and to see if he qualified as a candidate for the study. It was a lengthy process, they x-rayed him, tested his blood, tested his urine, and had him fill out loads of paperwork, he didn't get home till 1pm. But they said he qualified and scheduled surgery for Monday morning! He also got $50 just for going to that appointment.
Monday, November 12, 2012.
Monday morning we headed down to Salt Lake at 7:00am for Nate's surgery at 9:00am. They let me go back and watch as they got him all ready and I stayed until they wheeled him back into the OR. After the surgery they told me he would be transported by ambulance (Nate was most excited about the free ambulance ride. When he first learned about it he said "Lindsey, do you know how much that costs?!) to the research center where he would be observed for 12 hours. I wasn't allowed to come visit the research center so they told me he'd let me know when I could come and get him.
Ok, so the study was for a new pain killer that had already been approved via IV and epidural. This study was to see if it worked in a different formulation, being dissolved under the tongue. Each participant was given either the drug or a placebo for 12 hours while these researchers studied them. So they took Nate to the research center and hooked him up to a bunch of machines. They waited for the anesthesia to wear off and then every 20 minutes they came in a checked on him. They drew blood, checked his vitals, asked his pain level and did a couple other things that I don't know. He was given the "drug" every hour and a half.
He texted me throughout the day and up until about 6pm it sounded like he was doing ok. Even after that he sounded ok, he said he was in a lot of pain but really seemed upbeat. He said the worst part was that he couldn't get any sleep because every time he would try, his blood oxygen levels would fall too much and an alarm would start beeping and wouldn't shut off until he got his oxygen level back up. So it was a long day for him.
Finally, I got to go pick him up at 1am Tuesday morning. As soon as I got there Nate mouthed to me "please get me out of here" it broke my heart and I was trying to hard to hold back my tears because I could see how much pain he was truly in. He told me he was positive he had been given the placebo all day. He looked so miserable all I wanted to do was get him out of there! And then just to make things worse, the nurse that discharged him did a TERRIBLE job! He was not careful moving around Nate's foot at all, even when wheeling him in the wheelchair out to the car! He brought Nate a child's wheelchair (Nate's 6'5 230lbs.) and it didn't have any foot rests so he held his leg in the air the entire way out to the car. The guy was just really rough with him and it made me so mad (we're going to write a letter to the research center)! It was definitely just adding insult to injury. Oh, and they didn't write out a real prescription for pain killers until we were leaving at 2am...so that had to wait.
We finally got home and I had some expired hydrocodone and I made Nate take it just so he could sleep!
After that it was a rough couple days but he progressed really quickly. He has been a champ and only took pain killers for 5 days. He just got his stitches out today and the surgeon said it was looking good! 3 more weeks of wearing his boot and he will be as good as new!
Maybe the $500 was worth it afterall :)
And here's all the pictures to prove it.
this is what the dr called 'the mother of all bunions'
happy before surgery!
the ambulance ride, his favorite part!
the foot...looking much better!
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