Two Weeks Post-Op

Saw the doctor on Saturday for stitch removal. The foot looks great. Better than great. Much better than the first time around. We were trying to figure out why and can only assume that it's because both the bones and the tendon weren't beat up this time around. 

Post Suture Removal

There is very little swelling considering I was on my feet doing grocery shopping for an hour and a half before my appointment. I am able to have it down a bit longer before it starts throbbing.

Better shot of the "oops" stitch

Or at least I was until she took all the stabilizing wrapping off. I'm now just in an Ace bandage and had a rough first night Saturday night. If I had the wrap tight enough to make the joint comfortable and stable, then the compression was too tight on the rest of the foot and it burned and hurt. If I loosened it, then the joint didn't get the support it needed. Finally found a happy medium at about 4:30 am but too late to catch much sleep. The girls get me up at exactly 6:01 am every morning and Sunday morning was no different despite the rough night.

I fought off taking a nap on Sunday afternoon and instead watched the Colts win! So last night I had a great night's sleep, hitting the bed at 10:20 and not waking until about 5:55. Lovely.

Of course sleeping thru the night means I didn't drink enough yesterday since I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night for a bathroom trip. Staying hydrated is a big problem for me - I don't drink enough thru out the day when I just sit around all day. Having bottles of water sitting on the table beside me is a step, but I need to remember to drink them.

The BEST part is that I am now able to move my ankle again! When it first came out of the cast, the ankle was very stiff and not terribly flexible. But with almost constant rotation and flexing, I've really got it back to feeling loose. It still doesn't flex as much as my other foot, but it's close. Feels SO good.

The doctor also wants me to start using my toes to loosen the first joint on my large toe to get it ready for walking in 6 weeks (only 6 more weeks!) but without moving the joint below it that is trying to fuse (or should I say re-fuse?). Tried it on Saturday and wound up with a lot of pain in the fused joint so didn't do any more on Sunday. I talked it over with Mike and we decided that instead of trying to move the large toe with my muscles I'd give the joint a break (ha-ha) and only do manual flexing for a few days to let it heal a bit more. I'll start that today.

I'm pleased to note that my tendon didn't 'fall back' overnight very much. I still have quite a bit of flexation and stretch in it this morning without any warmup or exercise. That's good news! And the ankle is the least swollen I've seen in it in over SIX years!

Minimal Swelling

Seriously, it's been that long that I've been fighting this foot and I've carried some level of swelling in the ankle all that time - sometimes more, sometimes less, but always some swelling. This is a huge step forward! Now we'll see what happens when I start weight-bearing again!

Countdown begins. I am so anixious to get my life back. Six months lost so far and I have another ten weeks to go yet before I can reasonably think about training my dogs again or being back to 'normal' or whatever my new version of normal will be.

Once this bone issue is dealt with, I'm done with the foot. Seriously. I can live with the tendon pain if there is any after I get thru all this. I will live with any pain that remains. My life has been ruled by this foot for far too long. I'll take what I get and go on with my life and my dog training.