4-Week Checkup!

I saw Dr. B today for a one month check-in to see how the healing is going. They took new x-rays. The verdict: the bones look good, the incision looks good--go ahead and walk on it! Yay! He said I could also start putting Vitamin E oil or Mederma on it so that it will heal with a minimal scar. I'm so glad--I've been itching (pun intended) to rub something on it. It gets so tight and dry and is begging for some treatment.
Then I directed his I'm-pretty-proud-of-my-work self to that poor little fourth toe that he turned. It still looks the same as it looked right after surgery 4 weeks ago! There's a big old blackened area that just hasn't changed, and the skin around it is looking kinda gray and turning tough. Gangrene??? Just kidding, but it really doesn't look good. He took a look at it and hemmed and hawed and threw around some medical terms: "Yes, well, uh, this here is vacuum edema and this part of the skin isn't getting circulation, that will eventually slough off . . . , but I can get some of that scab off for you" (pointing to the black part).
"Okay," I said, "yeah, that would be great."
So he rooted in a drawer and came out with a little scalpel and said, "Hold really still--this is very sharp!" and proceeded to DO SURGERY without anesthesia! I immediately reverted to my Bradley method of childbirth breathing (it's well ingrained, thank goodness). Well, the scalpel wasn't cutting it (pun intended), so he got a clippery thing and started pruning away. All the while I'm cringing and breathing and thinking, "That's what I get for questioning a surgeon's work!" The surgeon's solution is always to cut, no?
Actually, when it was all said and done, I was glad he gave it some attention. He had the nurse clean it all up and dress it with Neosporin and a Band-aid. Hopefully, it will start healing more quickly now.
Walking update: putting weight on the foot in my surgical shoe is going well! The foot tires quickly (and my calf muscle is killing me from non-use!), but it's exciting to see such progress. Wonder how long before the swelling goes down and I can stuff it back into a regular shoe?
Here's an updated picture--I'll spare you the fourth toe for now. Check the incision now, because I'm going to be massaging it with Maderma everyday to create a magical disappearing scar!