Pins and Needles

It has been over two weeks now that I've wanted to cut off my foot. I mean, that I have been having some pain in my right foot. It's hard to describe what it feels like but its a combination of burning, tingling, that pins and needles feeling. Two scenarios that I've compared it to are 1. really bad athletes foot (without the athletes foot of course) and 2. really bad sun burn... i think we've all put sandals on in the summer and forgot that you should put suntan lotion on the tops of your feet as well, ouch). For the most part there is some degree of this pain present at all times but usually at a bearable level. A couple times a day and throughout the night though it does get to the point where I think I would rather cut it off. Just to clarify, obviously I would never do this. Just in case you were wondering, I don't want anyone to worry. It's just painful!

Now what to do about it. Well, it seems that there isn't much I can do. I'm already on pain killers. I've used ice packs. Soaked my foot in warm water. Cool water. Put on pain relief creams. Fanned my foot to cool it. Massaged it. I've even tried light exercises trying to improve circulation. Little to no improvement comes from almost all of these. The only thing that seems to give minor relief is ice packs. Unfortunately you can only leave these on for so long. Not to mention, they make me cold.

Unfortunately the pain wakes me up at night and keeps me up. I had to do something! So a week ago I got a new prescription pain killer specifically for nerve pain. Guess what?! It hasn't worked either. I want to say it improved the pain a little bit but I can't tell anymore. If it's helping, it's pretty minor.

In addition to the actual pain, my foot problem is frustrating. I go through this major surgery, an uncomfortable recovery period in the hospital and now as I continue to recover at home it's reasonable to expect that I'll have some pain. Lucky for me I really don't have much, if any, pain associated with my incision.  Granted I am taking some strong pain killers but still. And then to have so much pain in my foot. FRUSTRATING! I think it would be easier to deal with if the pain was where it "should" be.