7.5 Weeks Post-Op

Things are going very well around here!

About 4 days after getting the CAM boot, I was able to move to just one crutch... then a few more days I was down to NO CRUTCHES!

Things are a bit stiff in the AM so I use one briefly until the muscles and tendons are moving. At this point however, they stay upstairs by my bed. Since I can sleep without my boot on, I do need them if I have to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Here is a photo of my boot! It has an air pump on it to inflate it for extra padding. I always use this and notice a huge difference in how things feel if my boot is not tight.

I had my first PT session the day after Christmas. It consisted of electric-stim and basic movement exercises, then ice. Since I'm doing everything at home already (part of the reason I could walk so quickly) I only have to go to PT once per week right now! Whooo hoo!

When I take off the boot, I have zero ability to even stand on my foot. It's not yet flexible enough to have the angle I need to stand. I do use it a little bit to balance. Hopefully if I keep working on it, I'll be able to in the next week.

Today I received an amazing invention in the mail. It is called a BootzGuard! It is a weatherproof cover for my boot to keep my toes warm and away from rain/snow/etc. It does not cover the tread, just is tight around it and then ties at the top of the boot. It slips right on/off. This is great timing, since we now have 12" of snow in Buffalo and I'm able to get around FINALLY!

6 Week Post-Op

I'm officially 6 weeks post-op and out of the cast! Whoo hooo!

At yesterday's appointment the cast was removed and I was fitted for a CAM walker boot. It's fairly large (about twice the size of the cast) but about a million times more comfortable!

As expected, my leg was extremely gross looking. I've decided to spare you my before cleaning photos. Even after a clean up, it's still scaly, dry and gross looking. I imagine it will take some time to regain it's normalcy!

I start PT in one week (it should have been sooner but it was hard to fit it in before the holidays). I can now put weight on it, as tolerated. I'm allowed to ride a bike with the boot on, as pain tolerates. In two weeks, I can resume swimming. I'm allowed to take the boot of for showers and sleeping, otherwise it has to be on at all times for the next 6 weeks.

As much as I want to work out, I probably will wait until I'm able to put a bit more weight on it. Trying to put pressure on it, along with basic stretching is already alot. PT is going to be rough! 

Here are some pictures that I tried to take myself. Since I wear a sock under the boot, my skin was indented on my boot side!

Sitting with my legs stretched out. You can see even in a "relaxed" state, my left foot is nearly flexed.

Ewwww... but really, the incision looks awesome. There is still some marker on it that I was scared to scrub too much on.

"Weight bearing" (not really). This is about as flexed as I can go right now. It's fairly swollen and still slightly bruised.

My first night without the boot was actually really uncomfortable. There is light bruising on all sides of my foot and ankle that is sensitive to touch. No matter how I laid, it always seemed to touch something!  It felt good to put the boot back on in the morning!

I'm going to miss my scooter...

5 Weeks, 1 Day... Opps!

I'm 5 weeks and 1 day out... and had a bit of an accident. Twice in the last week when I was "showering" water got my cast cover. The second time it happened it was bad... the inside of my cast was soaked! It wasn't until I reinvestigated the cover tonight that I realized it wasn't the seal that was broken but the lining actually has a huge hole in it! So much for that!

Since I'm one week out from 6 weeks and moving to a boot I debated whether or not to call the Dr. However after Googling the issue (just don't!) I was totally grossed out and in need of a new cast.

So, I headed over the the Ortho Urgent Care this afternoon and here is what I saw...

My gross, emancipated, hairy leg.

The PA actually removed the steri strips to check out the incision. Her reaction, "wow, that's big! But it looks beautiful!" I should have taken another pic but I didn't want to be too weird about it.

Here is my new cast. I opted to change my color. Sorry for the noticeably disgusting toes.

Here's another picture with cleaner toes. My foot is still significantly bruised. I was really surprised to see that. You can see the bruising underneath my middle toe, inward. The entire inside of my foot was bruised too. 

Lacey promptly signed her name and drew some new lizards on it. She is so cute!

The PA who was on call did contact the Dr. to see if I could just go to a boot a little early... no such luck!

5 more days and counting! Now that I've seen the damage, I'm really, really, really excited to wash it!

4 weeks, 1 day Post-Op

I'm officially 4 weeks post-op (yay???)

Although I was officially back to work last week, yesterday was the first day I went into the office.

 

Not much new is going on around here. If my foot is down too much (more than say... 20 minutes) it starts to hurt and swells. As soon as I get it up, I have relief.

At this point, I'm taking 600mg of Ibuprofen 2-3x per day. It's fairly rare now, that I need the stronger meds.

Things have gotten a bit easier. Since my foot is not as sensitive, I'm able to get around and move around and play with the girls. I can crawl more (ouch, my knees) and move my toes.

Two more weeks and I get to move to a boot and start weight-bearing! I'm really not sure how quickly walking comes back... but I hope I can at least have some mobility by Christmas!

Lacey's favorite new game to play is "cruntches." Here she is with two empty wrapping paper rolls, hopping around on one foot. My mom is the background being awesome, cleaning up our dinner :)

2 Week, Post-Op, Check-Up (Warning, gross photos!)

This afternoon I had my two week, post-op, check-up! It was fairly simple and straight foward - remove the cast, take out the stitches and recast.

I have always found cast removal to be quite interesting. It's a scary looking saw that really just tickles. Once the cast was removed, here is what my foot looked like!



I was pleasantly surprised that it was not as swollen and black and blue as I had expected. Still though, it's not very pleasant.

I cannot believe how much my leg muscle has shrunk already! It's about half the size of my right side!

After they removed the stitches (ouch), they put on steri strips.



From here, the PA put on a new cast. It was a bit rough, and I'm quite sore. The original cast had my foot at a weird angle (I'm assuming on purpose) and so now he wanted it to be more flat. He kept pushing my foot to try to get it to flex. My best analogy of this is when we used to have to do over-splits in gymnastics and the coaches would push you down. There comes to a point where it HURTS so bad, yet your body is just NOT moving. That's what my foot felt like.

Here is what my new cast looks like!

My next appointment is in exactly 4 weeks. At that time they will remove this cast and I'll go in a CAM Walker boot. Until I have the boot, I am still non-weight bearing (ugh)...

I'm really hoping that the Buffalo weather holds off and we do not get anything too wet until after December 18th. Snow + cast = really bad situation.

Day 13

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I get to see what my foot looks like, tomorrow!

Tomorrow is my 2 week post-op appointment. They will be removing the cast, removing the stitches and then putting on a new cast that I get to keep for a lovely 4 more weeks. I'm so excited.

Otherwise, here is a summary of what's been going on...

I've had a total of 2 scooter and 1 crutch incident. My knee is sore and bruised from such incidents.

I still do not have approval to work. This is driving me INSANE! I want to work people! Tomorrow when I go to the Dr., I'll be making sure that my papers get signed and delivered!

My cast is super loose now almost all the time. This is really good in that it means the swelling has really gone done. I probably keep it elevated about 22 hours a day. Seriously.

Speaking of the cast, it's getting gross and smelly (says Brian).

I can pretty much cover my foot and toes around as much as they can in the cast, without any pain. I can even put my casted toes down and use them to balance a little when I'm standing so I'm not entirely on one foot.

The girls can now climb on my cast and not hurt me. This was a big milestone for us. It still can't be bumped or twisted however.

Lastly, I learned tonight that tickling is NOT good. When my casted toes were ticked, my foot did a major jerk and it hurt BAD. Lesson for all - DO NOT tickle someones toes when they are in a cast!

Besides those updates, I'm really starting to be a fairly miserable person. Now that I'm not on the narcotics anymore and not in as much pain, I want to do more and I can't. It's frustrating not to be able to walk over my kids toys (hence 1 of the scooter and crutch incidents) and to not be able to run upstairs and grab a sweatshirt when I'm cold. The scooter is great, but it can't go up/down stairs and I can't move it in and out of a car myself. The crutches are tiring. I still have not yet driven my car. I'm dropping things (sorry MacBook, ouch) and spilling things... it's just so frustrating. I can't imagine people who go through this surgery without any help. My husband has been amazing, my 3 year old "helps" me and we have great other family who have been doing whatever they can to assist.

Next update will be tomorrow, post appointment. I'm hoping to get some pics of my foot when the cast is off!