DISCLAIMER: What follows are some pretty gnarly pictures of Jason’s toes!! 🙂

You’ve been asking – so we’re delivering!!

While Jeff was on the runners heading for the burled arch in Nome – Jason was all drugged up and under the knife having a portion of his toe removed due to the damage caused by his frostbite. Jason headed to Fairbanks for surgery in the wee hours of the morning this past Thursday. It was an outpatient procedure and surgery took approximately 1.5 hours. The tip (if you could still call it that) of his right big toe was removed down to the first knuckle.

Let’s review:

I believe this was where we last left off… dried up and waiting for the black portions to “fall off”.

Well, the black portions needed a bit of help in “falling off” – Jason’s doctor assisted.

A close up of his toes after the removal of the dead skin. If you look closely at the right toe, there is a portion of bone exposed – just below the black section. Ouch!

So, that bone sticking out wasn’t really a good thing. Jason was much more prone to infection. He did a great job of keeping it clean though, and never even whined – no $5 fee for him!

I picked Jason up at the hospital Thursday afternoon and we got him loaded up so that he could follow doctors orders and ‘not get up unless absolutely necessary’ for two days. That was a hard pill for Jason to swallow… I’m pretty sure that dog mushers in general have great difficulty in sitting still – much less for two whole days!

Jason was a good patient and reported that he was feeling pretty good – despite losing an appendage… He holed up in a hotel for a day and watched some t.v. – bring on the Chuck Norris movies!

We arrived home to the Homestead on Friday afternoon – and Jason, Cranmer and myself were all ready for the unveiling… camera in hand so that we could share with all of you!

It still looks like it’s all there….

I believe this to be Jason’s ‘concentrating’ face…

… and voila!! There it is! Lot’s of stitches, but so much better looking that before!

A profile view… It’s lost some length – but definitely still enough there to sport some flip flops!!

So there you have it! A sewed up version of the ‘new’ toe. Jason has taken up residence on the King’s upstairs couch – foot elevated as instructed. He is munching on lots of popcorn and so far has three movies and a number of Prison Break episodes under his belt. The Bourne Supremacy is up next!

Jason will be pretty immobile for a while and has been instructed to stay off of his foot. We are all hoping for a speedy recovery for him so that he can return to the dog yard and all of his outdoor adventuring that he enjoys so much.

We’d like to thank ALL of you that have kept up on Jason’s progression through the various recovery stages, and sent well-wishing notes and e-mails. We make sure to pass them all on to him. 🙂

Happy Trails,
Carrie