I had my surgery on my foot yesterday morning. I’m told it went well, although I can’t even see how it looks, as it’s bandaged and will stay that way until at least Tuesday, when I go in for a follow-up visit. I had  a good experience at Surgicare, the facility where my doctor performed the surgery.  The only mishap was a nurse stepping on my IV. This was disconcerting, but an honest mistake. I was a little disturbed, a little amused, and a little reassured that everyone I spoke with asked me what foot they were operating on and what they were doing to it. I’m glad they double, triple, and quadruple-checked, but it got me thinking about what would happen if they performed a procedure on the wrong patient. Scary to think about.I was also a little reassured by the fact that the doctor I’ve been seeing was the one performing the surgery, as he knew exactly what needed to be done.

For the procedure, I had an IV, plus electrodes on my chest and I’m told they put in a breathing tube after they knocked me out. I must’ve looked like some kind of freakish cyborg. They cut out a bad section of skin and shaved off part of a bone in my little toe, and sent in the skin for testing to make sure it’s not something serious. The doctor said there’s no reason to think it’s more than an abscess, but they always send it in for testing, just to be sure.

After the procedure, I woke up feeling quite well. I didn’t even realize it was over until I looked down at my foot and saw it was bandaged. They used a local AND a general anesthetic, and my foot is STILL somewhat numb, and I’ve got meds on top of that, so there’s really been little pain so far, for the most part. I expect things to get worse before they get better, as my foot numbness wears off, but time will tell. From what I understand, some people wake up from the general anesthetic feeling horrible, and this has not happened to me this time, nor when I had my wisdom teeth out. I guess I handle the general anesthetic well.

I’ve been prescribed hydrocodone for the pain. Some people love the way this stuff makes them feel, but I don’t. I don’t hate it either, but I can’t see why people do this stuff recreationally. I’ve found that some caffeine makes it more tolerable by keeping my from feeling so lethargic.

So … so far, so good. It was a beautiful day today and I would’ve loved to go for a bike ride, but I am just glad not to be in excruciating pain. I did get out for a while, we managed to get out for lunch and we went for a drive, with Sarah driving. It was great to get some fresh air. We also dropped my bike off at the bike shop for a tune-up. When I’m ready to ride again, my bike will be in top form. I also had them order a couple more Pasela tires for me, they had a good price, and I really like the one I’ve been testing.

It’s a beautiful day. I walked outside to go to lunch and the sun was shining brightly … and for the first time in quite a while, the sun felt warm. 42 degrees has never felt so great. As I walked through downtown Bloomington, I felt a sense of wonder at the bright sun, deep blue sky and small puffy clouds in the distance.

Minutes later, I found myself brooding. Just as winter’s grasp begins to weaken, I have to have surgery. I won’t be able to take advantage of the nicer weather for at least a couple of weeks. Hell, I won’t even be able to walk to lunch for a while.

The further I walked, the more my foot hurt. Soon I was limping along, still enjoying the sun, but having a little trouble getting around. I’ve had a few doubts about my surgery, as my foot really doesn’t hurt too badly most of the time. But at that moment, I realized, quite clearly, that the surgery is definitely the right thing to do. And that in the long run, I will recover and be better off.

All of this feels a little melodramatic. My foot doesn’t hurt too badly now, and the surgery is supposed to be relatively minor. But, now I feel much more relaxed, focused, and confident. Sometimes a good walk does wonders for clearing your mind.

My new bicycle commute is longer (10 miles round trip versus 6) and hillier than my old one. There are no major climbs, but there are some mild-to-moderate rolling hills, some long, gradual ones and a few short steep ones.

Here are a few other features of my new bicycle commute.

• Parks
• Wooded area
• Residential areas — some nice, some not-so-nice
• A few commercial/industrial buildings
• Downtown Bloomington
• Signed bike routes (very nice) and bike lanes (mostly poorly designed). More about this in a future post.
• A headwind every morning, so far

I’m surprised by how much longer the five-mile trip each way feels compared with three miles before.

I also feel the extra weight I’m lugging around a lot more than I did with my old commute … both in my panniers and around my waist. The solution to the waistline problem is obvious … now, I really need to streamline my commute strategy. Here are some things I’m doing.

• Leaving shoes at work, rather than lugging them back and forth every day. With the longer commute, I don’t think riding in the same shoes I’ll wear all day is a good idea.
• Figuring out the water situation. I have been using an insulated water bottle which I carry everywhere. But it doesn’t fit in a water bottle cage, so at first I was bringing a bicycle water bottle too. Solution: bought a second insulated water bottle to leave at work. Now I only carry the bike one back and forth.

Also, I’ve been riding the Long Haul Trucker every day. It is just such a wonderful bicycle … and it handles well with a load, too. I don’t know if I can ever go back to commuting on The Beast, especially with a more challenging commute than before. The Trucker really needs a tune-up, and I hope to have some work done on it while I’m recovering from my surgery. This is convenient, because I don’t like to be without the Trucker, even just for a day or two.

We are on the cusp of spring. It’s warming up, slightly, and I hear birds chirping every morning. It’s going to be very frustrating not being able to ride for a couple of weeks, after my surgery on Friday.