Update Post-Snakebite

I'm sorry it took so long to get back! The last week has been... well, I'm glad to be back!

Things went well at the hospital. Thankfully my foot and leg stopped swelling before they had to open it. I was really getting worried there for a bit. The whole hospital stay was mostly a haze. I'm not complaining because even with all of the pain meds I was on I was still in quite a bit of pain. It is amazing that such a little creature can pack such a punch! Once the swelling stopped increasing the doctor said that I could put pressure on my foot as soon as I could tolerate the pain and that I could leave as soon as I could manage to walk around the entire hospital ward. He failed to say that I had to use my foot, so I hopped the whole way on crutches. I realized just how out of shape I really am while I was at it! My foot seemed to have quite enough pressure pushing out form the inside without adding external pressure to it. The IDEA of pushing on it was nearly enough to bring me to tears. Just the gravity pulling on it as soon as I lowered it off the side of the bed was excruciating. The people that took care of me at the hospital were amazing. I couldn't be more happy with my stay there and the care that they took of me. I was ready to go home, though.

I got home on Friday evening, just in time to pick Keegan up from band practice after his first day of school. I still can't believe that they made him stay late in his first day, but he didn't seem to mind, so I guess it shouldn't bother me. I hate that I missed dropping him off on his first day of high school! Luckily his Aunt Samantha was amazing and took pictures for me. It was probably much less embarrassing for her to do it than me. I was pretty much on bed rest for the first couple of days, much to my dismay. I tried my best to get up but between Brad and Keegan fussing at me and the pain I didn't get very far. I don't know if it is after effects of the snake bite, side effects from the medication and anti-venin, or that I caught a tummy bug while at the germ infested hospital, but I have been terribly nauseous. It has cut down even more on the amount that I have been accomplishing. My very sweet neighbors and in-laws both brought us food so we didn't have to try to figure that part out. I knew I was blessed before this accident, but I have been overwhelmed by the amount of support we have had through this. People near and far have been helping us out, praying for us, and checking in on me to make sure I'm doing alright. I can't explain how much it has meant to me. I'm a lucky lucky girl.

Every day the swelling has gone down a bit and I have been able to get around a bit better. I started being able to put a little pressure on the outer edge of my foot on Sunday. Every day I have added more pressure to it and used the crutches a little less. Today was my first day crutch free! My foot and leg are almost back to normal size.

I have been feeding the animals since Tuesday. Brad and Keegan both fussed at me. I couldn't stand sitting flat on my butt and feeling useless anymore. Especially while they worked so hard to take care of everything and then take care of me. I also really needed to get outside! I managed to get a tennis shoe around my fat foot (along with long pants) and beat my way through the jungle that my garden has turned into check on things. It is bad... but I will get to that later. The snake was gone though. Apparently I didn't stomp on him quite enough to do him in. Hopefully he has learned to watch where I walk from now on... I have sure learned to watch where I walk! Today I not only managed to feed the animals but I cleaned out the chicken coop and turkey brooder! It was getting pretty nasty in there because I haven't been able to keep up after it properly. It doesn't seem like a whole lot but it took twice as long as usual with me hobbling around at extra low speed. I feel like I have accomplished something for the first time in what seems like forever.

We are short one animal as of yesterday evening. Sam, the turkey massacre'er, was finally picked up by someone willing to foster her until she can be placed with a forever family. She had been tied out front for a week and a half while we called everyone we could think of and begged them to please come get her! She was a very sweet girl, but she needed to be far away from poultry, and she couldn't stay here. Finally a wonderful woman took pity on us and went out of her way to make it happen. I can't thank her enough!

Because the dog was no longer here for me to worry about, the three remaining turkey-heads got to come out of the hoop coop today, for the first time since the attack. They seemed thrilled to be able to take a proper dust bath. The girls, at least. Yellow followed me around, fluffing up as best he could with only half of his feathers remaining, and strutting. He is such a sweet boy. He has gobbled a few times and I'm so happy to see him and the ladies feeling better. They still have some wounds, but they are definitely on the mend. I guess all of us are. Even the sun came out to shine on us today, and chased all of the rain clouds away. Things are getting back on track. Good thing because there is a lot of work to catch up on!