I’m having surgery tomorrow. It’s a relatively simplistic procedure, so nothing too serious to worry about as far as that goes. But my doctor and I decided that the situation is serious enough to warrant the risks involved with me being so swollen and everything, so it has to be done, and done quickly.

    What’s being done? Well, about a year ago, around the same time that the swelling started, this lump showed up on my foot. It’s on my left foot, inner side, right where my arch meets my heel. It started growing, getting worse, hurting like hell, and generally just being a big nuisance. Over the past few months the lump has gotten even bigger, it’s been causing a lot of excess swelling in my foot, and the pain has gotten so bad that it’s been literally keeping me up all night. Considering how many narcotics I’m on, it’s remarkable that the pain is still bad enough to keep me from sleeping. But not only that, it feels as if the lump is starting to push bones out of place, as the pain has gotten distinctly skeletal and my ankle seems to be collapsing inward. All around, the situation just isn’t so good.

    So it’s coming out.

    Over the past year it has been subjected to a lot of different tests, so we’re fairly certain it isn’t some kind of infection, so that’s good. Most likely it’s just another byproduct of the Dercum’s disease – a lipoma, a benign fatty tumor that some Dercum’s patients tend to get quite regularly. I’ve never really had many of those, as the form of Dercum’s I have is slightly different from the more common type that produces countless lipomas all over the body. I’ve had a grand total of two, both of which were taken out, found to be benign, and since haven’t grown back. So given that, if my doctor can remove all of the lump in my foot, there’s a good chance it won’t grow back, which is good.

    So tomorrow my left foot goes under the knife for the first time in seven years. That’s going to bring back some lovely memories…

    Anyway, all should be well. We’ve been busily getting everything ready to make sure I’m comfortable. I’m hoping everything will go smoothly. We’ve arranged to have my brilliant pain management doctor there as the anesthesiologist, which is fantastic because he knows my case better than anyone, he’s knocked me out before, and he’s familiar with my tolerances to pain meds and knock-out drugs. So he’ll be there for the actual procedure and then handle all the pain management stuff afterward. Thank heavens for that. I really don’t know what I’d do without that man.

    The whole thing is scheduled as an outpatient procedure, but with me, that’s no guarantee of anything. What with my body’s fondness for magnifying pain, I wouldn’t be surprised if I spend at least one night in the hospital and then come home with some IV meds or something. Plus I’m sure there’ll be some antibiotics involved.

    Anyway, that’s what’s going on, and now you know. Wish me luck, although I think we’ve long since established that luck ran out on me years back.