So, what does the foot look like now?

Its been awhile since my last post but that's because there really hasn't been much to say.  We've prepared the boat as best we can for the hurricane season and now we wait for it to be over and for skin to continue to grow on Tami's foot.  Progress is slow - its worse than watching grass grow - and the pain associated with it is unrelenting.  

But also in the meantime, I've began another long list of things we need in order to make the final push towards splashing in November.  I've got another....


....chartplotter on the way to mount in the cockpit and I'm seriously looking into a Sirius receiver (rim shot please), an AIS, and additional solar panels.  Add to that a dinghy, some additional rigging pieces, the bottom paint, a few HDTV's for the cabins and a couple of more odds and ends and we're almost there.  It will be a busy October.

Tami at her weekly doctor's visit

What it looked like on 3/10/14 after the debridement 

But she's finally gotten clearance for "weight bearing as tolerated" and for passive and active range of motion in her toes and Achilles, but the pain keeps her from really working it out anymore than just a bit.  Each and every Tuesday involves traveling 45 min to see the doctor so he can see the progress and to make any changes to her dressings.  She has a tendency to grow excess granulation tissue that looks like little mounds of subcutaneous tissue that actually impedes her tissue from growing together.  At first, any kind of tissue covering the exposed tendons was better than none at all, but now since the tendons are all covered up, we'd rather not see it.  

Then, every Thursday and Saturday, Home Health arrives to do dressing changes but in addition, Physical Therapy has also been approved for twice per week.  Now begins the long and painful road of rehabbing a foot that has been badly damaged.  But just seeing her hobbling around in a walking boot has been encouraging to witness. 

Here are the current pictures

(Click to enlarge any of these pictures)

This is what $600k worth of medical bills will get you: 

4 combined weeks at an acute care hosptial
3 1/2 months at a long term acute care facility
2 podiatrists
2 infectious disease doctors
2 pain management doctors
2 attending medical doctors
5 skin graft surgeries
1 surgical debridement
50 Hyperbaric dives
24 bedside debridements
67 dressing changes
2 months spent attached to a wound vac

 - and we're not done yet.

So what did you do in 2014?