10 Weeks

So the foot is still doing well. I'm still experiencing the 'sprained ankle' pain but not as often as at first. It still catches me unawares sometimes and buckles my knees because it is so sharp and unexpected, but it's not happening as often. I do believe it is due to the ankle being so weak. In the photo below, you can see some swelling of the ankle just to the right side at the edge of my pant leg.

Swelling after I was up on it grooming dogs for 5 hours.
Not too bad!

I did really evaluate my mechanics this week, especially when I'm in the ortho boot. I've found that I am not rolling over from front to back when in the boot. I am just hitting the heel and 'limping', mostly due to habit (I've been in this boot for months now) and partly due to pain anticipation, but not any actual pain.

So on Friday, I didn't do up the calf strap on the boot. This allowed my ankle to flex and actually forced me to walk mechanically correct. At first it was uncomfortable in the toes (all of them), but by the time I was done with my grocery shopping the toes had become accustomed to being used again and the discomfort was mostly gone.

The ankle and calf were a bit tight during the evening and I had a fitful night's sleep with some aching in the side of the ankle (not in the tendon), but it felt real good today, even after I groomed a dog and set up the barn for my ducks, which are coming home next weekend.

So I'm still happy with the progress the foot is making this time around. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to go well and that this will finally be behind me.

But then there's the other foot . . .

9 Weeks

So Friday was nine weeks post-op. I'm still pretty happy with my foot and its progression and healing. 

As you can see, there is more swelling in the foot, just like the doctor expected once I started walking on it again. Some days the swelling is more, sometimes less. The above pictures are on a "less" day.

I didn't start work this week due to the blizzard warnings we had. As it turns out, I could have done my Tuesday morning dog since the weather didn't deteriorate until later in the day, but getting an additional week off wasn't a bad thing. I now start working full force tomorrow. Two dogs a day except for Tuesday when I have to go to my friend's funeral. But the Tuesday dogs I'll be doing on Saturday so I'll only get one day off before working again the following week. And it's two dogs a day that week, too, except for Friday. Ouch. My foot will sure be feeling the extra activity. But lots of massage, elevation and ice will help.

I see the doctor on the 17th, so ten more days. I'm not liking the 'sprained ankle' pain I'm experiencing. I think it's due to the fact that I'm walking in this ortho boot and it throws me back on my heel just enough that unless I'm really thinking about my mechanics, I don't roll onto my toes. In essence, I am still 'limping' on my heel and that is putting strain on the front part of my ankle. When I do my PT in my shoe, if I walk normally the pain is so severe sometimes that my knee buckles from it.

I've been doing a lot of strengthening exercises for the ankle, all non-weight bearing, with my theraband and my wobble board. Rotation and flexing isn't too bad. It does hurt (the same sprained pain) when I roll the ankle to the inside on the wobble board. No pain at all with the theraband exercises.

I am also using my slant board to increase the stretch in the Achilles tendon, but I am not standing and doing this. From past experience I know that if I started out stretching with my full weight on my feet, I'd regress and not progress.

So I am sitting and stretching, adding a bit more weight gradually by leaning forward and having my elbows on my knees. It's going well that way. The tendon tightens up most days a few hours after I stretch but it's not painful and it's not locking up to where I can't do any more stretching that day or the next.

So I think this is the way to go for now - gradual increase in weight-bearing when stretching. That's kinda what got me over the hump the second time around four years ago. I went into water therapy right after the surgery and the buoyancy of the water helped to not overdo the weight bearing exercises. And then the transition to land exercises went well.

The only real weight-bearing exercise I'm doing is my 'relearning to walk right' exercises. In my shoes, I just step onto the healing foot as if I'm walking. Mostly just shifting of weight back and forth between my two feet. After I warm up with that, I will actually lift my good foot and take a step forward. This is helping me remember my walking mechanics. I don't do it much as I'm still babying the healing bone. Once a day for 3-5 steps, depending on how bad the ankle is feeling. The toe joint still feels pretty good. Once in a while it aches a bit, but definitely not like it did before - thankfully.

So PT seems to be going well. I don't like the ankle pain I'm having but it's not tendon related, so in my book that's a good thing. I'd like to say that putting weight on the front part of the foot was painless but it's not. But I'll keep working to get there.

Goodbye Dear Friend

My friend lost her short battle with cancer on Wednesday, February 2. She was 64 years old.

Judy with Riker and Tanner

She first found the lump on her leg in early May. It was taken seriously in August when it was biopsied and the results were a rare muscle cancer. Chemo and radiation did nothing to halt it and Judy expired in the middle of an epic blizzard at a local nursing home in the middle of the night. Luckily her mother was able to get down from Eau Claire before the storm and was able to say good-bye.

She was a great friend and taught a lot a people a lot about dog training.

I miss you, Judy.