Day 63 post op

I was standing in my kitchen tonight and I just had a feeling that I could do it. I just wanted to do it. When I walked my dog around the building for the first time in 2 months, I kept putting a little more pressure on my booted foot with every couple steps. While making dinner, I just did it. I called out to my boys in the living room and said, "Boys, look at what I am doing!!!"

Both Max and Dallas were excited and ran to get a closer look. All I heard was, "Mom!!!! You're walking!!!" I had my hand outstretched and I was taking small steps. I walked into the living room and then turned to go back into the kitchen. I needed this. It hurt a lot. The seam on the heal of the walking boot is cutting into my foot....well, not cutting but putting pressure on it. Regardless, this foot hurt. It stings when I put pressure on it, I can feel the plantar fascia stretch out when I put weight on my foot and I have tenderness in my heel. I know this is going to take some time but I really needed that little boost of confidence of walking on my own.

I will still use my crutches for late night bathroom trips and every time I am out of the house, but tonight I walked for the first time. Yay, Me!!!!

Day 61 post op ....the ugly details

I left the clinic without the cheese grin on my face. I'm still happy, but now I have to concentrate on how to walk normally with crutches. I know the first rule of walking with an injury is to slow down and DON'T LIMP. In order to get my muscles to grow back and achieve a normal walking gate, I need to do just that...slow down and not limp. This is hard...it was so much quicker to just use the crutches and one leg.

The first thing I did when I got home was take a bath with both feet in the water. I had grabbed a new razor, a jar of exfoliating scrub (sugar and oil mixture) and a really rough cloth before getting into the tub. I had to soak this skin and then scrub like mad.

My hair was just over a half inch in length on my lower leg...on the way to Xray I could feel it moving from the little bit of breeze I was creating down the hallways. I tried to ignore it but even the doc said, "That's so haute." I looked at him and said he was a very sick man and he just chuckled and said, "You are the third woman to come in today for cast removal, I have to give every one a hard time about their leg hair." Ugh..I just wanted to get rid of it.

I scrubbed off as much dead skin from me lower leg and foot as possible and peeled the rest of the dried blood and old scabs from my incision as possible. I didn't pull anything that gave me resistance as I was sure it would eventually just fall off later.

All the itching in my cast was coming from the slew of ingrown hairs I had along the outside of my leg. These little suckers were annoying and the sugar scrub was going to have to be used more than a couple times to get all those hairs out from under my skin.

I am scared to death to walk without my crutches. Even though he said I can stand on it barefoot, I just can't. I am nervous and afraid that I will fall and ruin the work that was done. I hope to get over this feeling quickly. It's annoying to say the least. I know I want to walk and I know that I want to play ball next year, but right now at this moment I am so afraid to mess this up.

Day 61 post op. Cast removal day!

So...I crutched into the clinic today and had a huge smile on my face. In fact the cheese grin began when I got into the vehicle to drive to the clinic. I was on cloud nine for the entire 60 miles to my surgeon's office. This is the day I have been waiting for. Nothing could bring me down, the slow drivers, the crummy attitudes I encountered...nothing. Everyone was greeted with a smile and a "Hi how are you??" whether they wanted it or not. This was my day!!!!

I didn't have a long wait and when my little "applebees style" buzzer when off the nurse was already standing in front of me to bring me back. She had a new nurse with her and explained everything she was typing into the computer in my room. I knew I was getting my cast cut off, I knew I would be crutching into X ray and I knew that I would be fitted for a boot. Everything was going along as expected.

The guy with the saw came in first. He introduced himself but I quickly forgot his name...I was far too eager to see this foot. He showed me the saw, told me that while it looks circular, it's not... it's a semi circle and does not rotate, it vibrates. He pulled up my leg and began to cut. OH MY GOSH does that saw freakin' tickle!!!!!! I had to grasp the sides of the bed thing that I was sitting on to keep from jerking my leg back.

When he peeled my cast off I got the first view of my poor atrophied leg. Oh and the hair. I had calluses that have peeled off within my cast so skin was falling off everywhere. My surgeon stepped in for a second and peeled off the strips that were placed over my incision prior to being casted. Once he left I was waiting for Xray to come get me and began to peel off dead skin patches while I waited. I found a portion of a suture left in my ankle. THAT's what has been driving me insane for weeks. Of course it was in a location that I couldn't reach but man could I feel something irritating me on the back of my ankle.

Got my Xrays done. Surgeon pulled up my images and said, "Well, the bone's all healed." I could see where the cut line of my prior images was no longer a clean line, it still showed up but now as healing bone. Dr. Davis then rolled his chair to the other side of my bed I was sitting on and said, "Ok...now get up and step on it." I had a dumb look on my face (I just know I did I could feel it when my mouth dropped open) and said, "Really? Just like that? Just stand up???" He laughed and said, "Yes, the bone is healed, you can bear weight now." I know my mouth hadn't shut yet and again said, "Really??? Just stand up???" He said, "Yup, take off your shoe and put both feet on the floor, I wanna see you stand on it."

I put both feet on the floor, one in a sock, one bare and I leaned on the right side out of pure habit. Doc told me, "put some weight on it!" I said, "I can't, really...I'm freaking out here right now and I'm just so scared to hurt something." He reassured me that it is fine now. I have no limitations beyond my own tolerance. He could clearly see that I still just wouldn't put any weight on my foot, it was thinner than my right and just looked dead. Once I did put more and more weight on it, Dr. Davis asked me, "how does it feel?" I said, "It stings on the bottom of my foot." He told me that this was normal since I have been off it for so long.

He commented on the shape of my heel and how he was pleased with the lack of varus curve it once had. I couldn't see anything past the swollen deformities that I once called my ankle. He had me sit back down and demonstrated how my right foot is still capable of rolling out at will while my left foot is stable. I kind of knew what he was implying and quickly said, "after all of this, you will not be touching my right ankle until I rip it apart like I did my left one." He chuckled and put notes in the computer for someone from PT to come up and fit me for a walking boot.

I got my instructions from the doctor that I have no restrictions, it's all about walking from here on out. I am to progress from walking with crutches to walking in my shoes by the time I return to his office. My appointment date is in two months. He said that if I was a runner prior to surgery, I would be running within a month. All I know is that I have become accustomed to the crutches and while I am one step closer to being back to normal..it just felt like it was another 100 years away. I had to get my mind right toward progress.

8 weeks post op

monday, Monday, MONDAY!!!!! This cast comes off on Monday!

I absolutely positively cannot wait to get this cast off my leg!! I know that I will be going directly into a walking boot and will still use crutches but just the thought of being free from this cast is enough to put a perm-a-grin on my face.

Ok..of all the gross stuff...but if anyone reading this is about to have the same procedure done, this will happen to you as well.

Last night I was doing a dry skin check on my toes. Typically to keep them looking presentable and not causing any offending odor, I will take a well wringed out washcloth and clean as much of my toes as I can. I learned that any lotion on this skin will actually make the skin look more dry and flakey. Yuck... A wet washcloth will provide just enough scrubbing action to remove most of the dry skin that can accumulate overnight.

Well...last night I was checking out my toes and as I lifted my toes up I could see the former calluses on the ball of my foot. Of course I had to pick at one of them. The layers are deep and I recommend anyone doing this to keep a vacuum close by. Peeling the skin is rather addicting but on the downside, any fragments of old dry callus that happen to stick to the lining of the cast will come back to haunt you later on. I discovered this while at work. It feels like any sharp object jabbing into the foot. Ouch!

I will update on Monday or Tuesday. I am debating on whether or not to take a picture of my hairy leg as my cast is removed. I suppose I should but I just know it will be rather hideous to look at. The surgeon did joke about my leg hair status at my last appointment. I have yet to decide on this.

Till next time!

Day 42 post op

Today was my first day back to work. Ok...there are people there that will totally drive me insane on a daily basis but today was just another one of those moments where they make me laugh.

I crutch down the aisle to my cubicle and the really noisy girl and her noisy neighbor stand up to see me. The comment that came out of one of their mouths was, "Oh my gosh, you're still on crutches, should you really be at work yet?" To which I couldn't help to reply with, "I am capable of working, I just can't walk. Last time I checked, I didn't need my feet to process insurance claims." Of course they thought I was being funny but in reality I was trying hard to hold back some word vomit. I had more to say but figured it was best left alone with the comment I made.

So...work went well. I was rather rusty as six weeks of not doing my work tends to make one forget things. I forgot how to look up pricing schedules for vision claims, I forgot how to read my home health care charts, I was a mess. Two more days and I should be fine but today I was just tired. I had fallen into a habit of taking a little nap before my boys would come home from a half day at daycare. Well today I wasn't trying to break that cycle. I made it though. Barely.

My foot held up fine. It's getting colder outside and I decided to cut a sock up so my toes could have some coverage. While this is a great idea and all...I can't stand the feel of a baggy sock on my toes....I had to keep tucking it into my cast so that it felt normal to me. I swear my little peeves are just stupid. Anyway I did get some swelling action going, I could feel my ankle filling up my cast by the afternoon. Sure I can elevate it to hip level, but that only does so much.

I did start taking ibuprofen for work just to stay on top of what any swelling in there will do. Oh..and today I started getting the oddest sensation on the back of my leg. Throughout today I was getting this icy cold sensation in my Achilles region. I know that nothing spilled, dropped or crawled in there but where the cast is formed a little tighter around my ankle, I kept feeling like that one area was cold and wet. How odd is that???

Other than all that, my crutches are driving me insane and making my sides rather raw where they rub. I was supposed to have a knee walker by the time I returned to work but there seems to be a huge lack of money in the household. School supplies, groceries, bills and a super short paycheck that I have been contributing just aren't enough for trivial things like knee walkers. Oh well. 19 more days till the cast is off. I still can't find my walking boot and I was out at storage yesterday helping with my jeep hard top installation for fall/winter. I never saw the boot out there and have a feeling that it was just never returned from the kid that borrowed it. Most likely it was returned and my husband just didn't take it out of his vehicle until he needed more space and tossed it in the trash. I wouldn't put it past him to do that....it wouldn't have been the first time either. Lovely huh???

Alright it's 9:30 and I normally never turn in this early but I did fall my prep stuff for the morning and I am just plain worn out. It would have been nice to return to half days of work to transition into my normal schedule but it is what it is and I'm beat for the day. I will be getting up nice and early to do my leg raises and donkey kicks and get to work by 6 am.

Toodles!

Day 38 post op

It's Labor Day weekend and I will be returning to work on Wednesday. I still have swelling in my foot/ankle when I stay upright for longer periods of time but it does ease up inside the cast when I can elevate to hip level.

I have been off Ibuprofen for two weeks now and my pain levels have been extremely low. I have noticed with periods of elevation when my cast is its loosest that I will get an aching in my heel. At times it can be a rather stabbing pain but overall it is only there when I can move fluid out of the joint. I also have some pain just above the lateral malleolus that is located right on the tendons that have been joined together. This is exactly why I went off ibuprofen...I wanted to give my kidneys a rest but more importantly I wanted to be able to have an accurate mapping of my pain. Had it been more painful, I never would have stopped taking it. Most likely I will resume when I return to work to ease up any inflammation.

I still cannot move my pinkie toe laterally. I am a bit bummed over that. My little toe will only curl at this point and I realize I should be happy that I can still feel touch to my toe. At this point I am counting down the days to when this cast is removed. I cannot wait scratch (and shave) this leg.

I am doing my little floor workouts regularly and straight leg raises are not helping to maintain my quads...my left thigh is feeling a bit weak and mushy when compared to the right. I hope I can build it all back up again.

OK...I will report back when I return to work. Yay! Adult interaction has been missed.

Day 22 post op

Ugh!!!! The soft material inside my cast has shifted. It is all bunched up around my ankle and feels like a sock that you just can't pull up from inside a winter boot. I have managed to squish some of the padding back down so my toes stop turning purple but I do need to call the ortho department tomorrow and see what they want me to do. It wouldn't be so bad if I couldn't feel the hard surface of the casting material on my heel.

Oh...a couple nights ago I was crutching around in the dark as I just shut the lights off and was heading into the kitchen before bed when I placed my good foot on what I thought was a bug. I ended up stepping straight on my left heel and it felt like an electric shock had gone right up my heel and into my lower leg. I reached over to the wall and flipped on a light switch only to see that I stepped on a stretched out Slinky. The way the plastic coil rolled under my foot really did feel like a multi legged creature of sorts. I ended up taking Ibuprofen and heading to bed with some pain.

Onto other news. Yesterday I finally started exercising. Since cutting out most all dairy, pops, artificial sweeteners and most things high fat from my diet, I have dropped just under 20 pounds since a week prior to surgery. I figured that I need to keep up the weight loss and kill some time during my days by exercising.

I am doing straight leg lifts in all directions, donkey kicks, co-contractions for quads and hams, push ups, bent over rows and cardio. Yes!!! Cardio without the use of my left foot. Here's the deal. The pictures are on purpose. Way back when I was a student athletic trainer at Wayne State College in Nebraska, I was fortunate to learn sports medicine under Keith Goetz, ATC. Everyone seemed to have a nickname for Keith but I still think "Go Go Gadget Goetz" was the most appropriate. Here's why. See the first pic at the top of my blog? It's an upright bike with the handlebars in the stationary position. If you tilt it back on it's seat and stand, it becomes a UBE, an upper body ergometer. UBE's are rather expensive and so I had to use whatever was laying around.

In college, Keith used to make us work with the budget and recycle things or re purpose items in order to allow the athletes to be treated and rehabilitated from injuries properly. For example, when we needed portable water supplies for practices, some of the student trainers worked with Keith to take old desk drawers from a storage area (now the new and improved stadium at WSC), cut the drawers down to fit a battery source and a pump, place this structure on a standard hand truck or dolly, strap on a water cooler with hoses and voila.... a portable water squirter that we could roll into the recreation center or outside to any practice that didn't have outdoor water supply. I still have some slicky pants with battery acid burns on the front hip and thigh.

Another example was wobble boards. These things are spendy!!! Keith cut a circle out of a board, cut a croquet ball in half and stuck it to the bottom. There was some sort of plastic tubing attached to the underside of the board as well which served as a bit of a cushion. Yeah...if we really needed a piece of equipment, it had to be something old that was re purposed. Good upper back/shoulder exercise would be to kneel on the floor behind a stair master machine and use your hands to press the pedals down. We did that, too. Funny thing is that most of the alternative workouts that I learned in the rehab room at WSC, I used at one time or another or got creative and devised my own killer workout for a client at Bally Total Fitness. It was a great experience I have to say. Thanks Keith.

So anyway, 20 minutes a day on my UBE and I will be able to stand my bike up correctly after this cast comes off for good.

I will be calling tomorrow morning about my ill fitting cast.

Day 19 post op

So...Friday the 13th I got to tell my doc that I fell multiple times while in my splint. Luckily he was pleased with the status of my healing. Yay! I did no damage!!! From the pics above you can see my incisions prior to having the stitches out (oh thank goodness as the ends of the sutures was the "bug in the splint" feeling I kept getting. I took a picture of my medial foot as the color was a deep dark purple and has faded nicely.

My X-ray image shows where my surgeon cut my heel bone to remove a wedge. The hardware will be permanent. I read about other surgeries where the screw needed to be removed after the bone healed sufficiently. I asked my doctor about this and he said that he did not feel this one should ever give me problems. He countersunk it so once the bone heals over the end, I will never ever notice it. Should I ever take up running or any other activities, this screw will still not be noticed. That's nice to know. Even if he lied to me at this point...I feel that the mental process is enough for me to never have a problem.

During my appointment I explained to one of the nurses that I wasn't on any pain relievers whatsoever. She said that it was rather impressive. Really?? It has been two weeks and other than a small amount of aching in my heel, I was doing just fine. She said that most people with this same surgery will still come in on narcotics for their suture removal and casting. I guess I'm impressive with my pain tolerance. Who knew? Wonder why a stubbed toe is like death to me, then. Anyway my doctor took a moment to press into the bottom of my foot to demonstrate my new non supinated ankle position. OK...THAT brought me to tears. I should have had some ibuprofen before my appointment. Fortunately the aching subsided and I was fine by the time I drove home. I also had to ask my doc why my pinky toe is dead. He could see that I could curl it but I lost all other function to move it laterally. He said that he did not cut the sural nerve, rather he moved it up and then moved it down to work around it. Sometimes the stretching and moving around will irritate it just enough to damage it. He also added, it could simply be the swelling present in my ankle that is affecting the nerve supply. I can feel touch to my pinky toe, I just can't move it to the side as the muscle that controls that action is fed by the sural nerve. He said that only time will tell if the nerve recovers but any and all normal function of my foot will not be altered. I will just have little to no sensation alone the outside of my foot and will have to rely on toe separators when polishing my nails..haha.

Since Friday I have been happy with my cast. It is a non walking cast as I am to resume non weight bearing until September 27th when my cast is to be removed. I will then be placed in a walking boot (mental note...gotta find the cam walker I loaned out last year...I don't want to shell out another 50 bucks when I have one laying around somewhere already). Still the cast is light weight and I have some wiggle room in there which probably means I have lost a little more swelling in the ankle. Either that or I have "broken in" my cast. The person who put it on said that would happen. If it gets too loose I will need to have it replaced. So far...I like the looseness I have since it helps relieve those itchy episodes.

It is finally cooler outside which means I am back in my own apartment and can start exercising. Wait till you see what I figured out!!!!

Day 15 post op

Yay, 2 weeks down, only 6 or so more to go without walking. Ugh! I wanted to start exercising this week but it has been so hot an humid that I haven't been in my own apartment for the entire week. Luckily our nasty weather only lasts for about 2 weeks; I will be home soon. I have only done some straight leg lifts on a daily basis. I want to do more.

This week I have been out of my mind with my splint and my sutures. I gave my primary doc a call to see if i could get my splint rewrapped as it slides all around during the day and night but my doc said that he didn't want to mess with anything as I see the surgeon on
Friday (tomorrow morning).

My pain level as been tolerable with ibuprofen, I do get some occasional aching in my heel or a sharp stabbing pain at the top of my incision. The most I can do is suck it up until it goes away as there is no bleeding through, no fever and my toes are of normal color. I find that even while my foot is elevated all night, I wake up with tightness in my splint (the lateral side is curved in and it digs into my incision line). There is so much wiggle room in my splint but in the mornings I cannot slide the splint until I sit up and move a bit.

Other than that I did drive this week. I had to go to my apartment and pick a few things up (as much as I could safely use crutches with a backpack). It is funny to drive my husband's vehicle as it is an automatic and my own is a manual. I rarely drive anything but my own jeep and everytime I come to a stop in his, I have a moment where I think I have forgotten to shift into neutral.

Tomorrow I head to Duluth for my sutures to be checked and for the doc to possibly put a cast on my leg. I hope to grab a pic or two.

Day 12 post op

Yay..I am nearly done with week 2 and I haven't fallen again. That right there is an accomplishment. I still feel rather worthless around the house. It is Monday and the little boys are in daycare till noon so I have a little time to just do whatever. I am going to be living for Monday thru Friday for a few weeks now. I love my boys and all....but man are they just a handful. Yesterday I got up to use the bathroom and when I returned to the living room I found one boy on the dog kennel and the other on a table...they were couch diving.

My foot is sore...the bruising on the top aches right now. Touching the bruised part on the top of my foot causes some pain. The bruise on my left hip has darkened considerably, too. Makes my husband feel bad...I can live with that for a little bit.

My splint is killing my foot, too. The incisions will stick and pull and wow does that ever hurt. I also get some odd nerve sensations from my heel to my small toe. It often feels as if there is a bug of some sort in my splint. I know there isn't one, I have looked for it through the sides of my bandages but my imagination and this sensation is just too much to deal with sometimes.

I keep thinking that I should call my clinic and get this thing rewrapped.

Week 1 continued

My first week was horrid. The bone pain did not subside until my 4th day post op. I felt so good that I grabbed a wheeled dining room chair and vacuumed the floors and furniture. The kids were at daycare so I ended up taking a nap on pain meds shortly after doing my tidy up chores due to swelling in my splint (I could feel the sides of the splint and every single bump digging into my ankle and foot). During the week days I had from 8 to noon by myself..well, no..with the dog and cat. The cat would be fine if he would move out of the way of the crutches and the dog...well...the dog requires outside potty breaks...for a 20 pound dog he has a lot of pull...I have fallen before and really didn't want to go through this again. However, it is the beginning of college football season and my husband will not be around much at all to help me. I will do my best not to take any narcotic pain meds during the day as my little boys are extremely busy and active. Oh the joy....

I fell four times in my first week of non weight bearing in my splint. The first time was while I was letting my dog outside to potty...I figured since I lived on the bottom floor and half my apartment was under the ground level, that I could take the screen out of my spare bedroom and simply lift the dog out and lift him back in. Well, the idea was brilliant until I lost my balance letting the dog back in and ended up tossing him to the bed, keeping my leg straight up in the air and falling flat on my back in the room. My crutches fell and one struck the dog who was less than thrilled. The second time was on the bathroom floor as there was water on the floor where my crutch touched...and slipped out from under me. I did land on my left foot....good thing it was night time and I was able to take pain meds. The third time I fell was in the living room. My husband was not coming over that evening after football meetings (summer football league stuff) and actually neglected to tell me that he was out of town that night. Anyway....my dog is so afraid of my crutches that I have to leave them by the couch and then hop to his kennel and drag him out. If he cannot see the crutches he will kinda come out willingly...kinda. Well...my mistake was that I put a shoe on my good foot prior to hopping over to the kennel and ended up catching my shoe on the carpet, landing straight on my bad foot (the toe) and putting a serious bruise on my left hip from the fall. I cried...I called my husband and well...to make a long story short, the word divorce came up quite a few times once he made it back into town.

The fourth time I fell was coming over to where my husband stays during the school year, the college dorms. He has 16 steps at the front door that I have to go up. Understand that I mastered these on crutches when I had knee surgery nearly two years ago. Difference is that with my knee surgery I was allowed to bear some weight and toe touch on my bad leg. My kids went ahead of me and my husband went behind me in case I lost my balance going up. I got to the 15th step and my good foot made it to the top but my crutches caught the edge of the step and I landed on my bad heel as it slid forward and hit the wall ahead of me. Oh my gosh...talk about some pain!!!! I ended up going straight to the bedroom with a full dose of pain meds. After each of my falls I had no bleeding so I figured I would let the doc know when I see him on the 13th of this month. Good grief!

He is frustrated that I can't sit still, he has no idea that I am not capable of that when the dog has to go to the bathroom and the little boys need help with things like...um eating dinner. AT ages 4 and 6 they don't yet prepare their own meals or get glassed down from the cupboards.

I have considerably less bone pain after day 4, even after I fell straight on my heel...I did feel the screw though...I had to feel that...I felt something just dig straight through my foot. I also get some odd sensations where the screw went into my foot...it has to be what I am feeling. There's nothing else there.

I am extremely uncomfortable in my splint. I have had to readjust my foot several times inside the splint as the nurses forgot to replace all the padding in my heel when they removed all the bloody stuff a few days ago. It now forces my foot to sit all the way back in the splint and the area where it curves to protect my sutures...well, that now digs into my incision. I really should call my doc and have it rewrapped but I keep telling myself to suck it up and wait till the 13th when I get it all checked out by the surgeon. Plus...I cannot drive my own vehicle as it is a manual transmission...my husband gets rather ticked off when I request to go anywhere...he has practice during the day...he may need his vehicle...and heaven forbid he just take mine.

I have learned my lesson not to take any chances on the dorm steps and now resort to sitting and climbing up them backward. It takes a lot longer but I just cannot bear to fall again...I am out of pain pills. Week two I plan to start some exercising.

Week 1 post op

Hmm..where do I start. While being wheeled into surgery I had a great discussion with "Mike the orderly" about motorcycles. He recently took a trip to Tennessee and rode the Tail of the Dragon in a full dressed Harley. That was awesome to learn. Oh and he reminded me that there is a helmet law in Tennessee...if you don't have on on you, you be forced to get a souvenir.

I woke up from surgery in pain. Deep, throbbing, just-cut-the-damn-thing-off pain. The anesthesiologist knew that on one occasion I woke up sick from a surgery. She said that they will be giving me things to alleviate that. I'm not sure what they gave me but I was sick for a few hours and then into the evening once I got home.

While in recovery I was given injection after injection to deal with the pain. Nothing seemed to help. I rated my pain at no less than an 8. Yes, it was that bad. The last shot was of morphine. I'm not a big fan of morphine....I was trying my best to wake up and feel better so I could home...but that just made me sleep more. Once again I was thinking of everyone around me....my children were bored in the clinic and my husband had things to do...I needed to get home. That last shot of morphine did help me sleep the entire hour long drive home...I did have one heck of a headache though. Still not a big fan of morphine. I never did get a nerve block that I have read about in other blogs.

The next day I had come to realize that my pain pills only lasted for 2 hours. It takes 45 minutes for them to kick in and I cannot take more for at least 4 hours. This sucked!!! I discovered a considerable amount of draining and bleeding on both sides of my splint that morning as well. I called the ortho department (wasn't open or staffed just yet) and was instructed to go to the ER in my town to have them evaluate me. Really??? It costs $800 to travel through the doors. While I work for my insurance company, I still have to pay for a lot of this stuff. I waited until the Ortho department called me and told them the scenario.

I was instructed to call my primary doctor and see if he will check it out. If he wouldn't, I would then seek help in the ER. I called my primary doc and his nurse told me, "I'm not sure why you are calling here, he didn't do your surgery, he's not going to know what to do with you or want to see your ankle." I mustered every single bit of kindness I could and explained to her that I would appreciate if she would at least ask him. She proceeded to tell me that she didn't know why she had to do this but she will call me back. There are things that ran through my mind that would scare old ladies and small children....I will keep them to myself.

Fifteen minutes later I got a call from my doctor's nurse saying that he did want to see me that day. I could be seen in 40 minutes or later if I choose. I chose to be seen early. I figured it would be best to just keep my opinions to myself with his nurse. I will assume that she didn't know any better.

Since I love my primary doctor...he's a fantastic guy to see...I felt it was important to be kind to his nurse. I can only hope that she knows she was quite the arse to me on the phone. What was really amusing is that while my doctor was in the room to check my incisions (he squeezed my incisions to check for draining...boy was that a not so pleasant feeling), the nurse asked me what I had done. I thought it was particularly fun to talk over her head. I still giggle over the dumb look she gave the RN and the doctor in the room. While I was being wrapped up, I described everything in lay terms I knew she didn't understand anything I said to her previously.

I went home with fresh, clean bandages on my lower leg, instructions to take a full 2400 mg of Ibuprofen in addition to the oxycodone during the day. I opted to take my meds in regular intervals to minimize the pain but really....this deep bone pain is something else!!! I really hope it stops soon.

Pictures are my waking up in recovery...my good leg was constantly stomping the floor...boy was that some pain I could live without! Also on here are my post op bandages that I bled through and my day one images before getting rewrapped. Fun Fun!!

One week pre op!

OK. So I couldn't wait till post op to post. What can I say? I'm a chatterbox. If you know me, you this to be true.

Anyway...I thought I would take some pictures of my lower legs and feet. I figure that if I'm going to start documenting this surgery I might as well show the current appendages. I noticed that my good leg bows out further than my bad leg. What the hell??? I suppose since I rolled my right side less than the left, it's not going to be problematic. I have to try to keep it that way.

I took pictures to show my left ankle with it's wonderful lumpy lateral presentation. That, by the way is my ruptured peroneal brevis tendon. I also took some pictures of my calves. I couldn't flex them very much as my half calf on the left side was cramping like mad while I waited for the camera to record the image. Oh well, it is what it is.

Enjoy!

They won't make me bionic! 9 days to surgery.

Trust me, I have asked. My doctors simply smile and shake their heads when I request amputation. There are days when I would much rather deal with steel and springs. Still, they tell me that I wouldn't be happy. Try me.

Until today, I was treating this as no big deal. Today however, as I was in the shower putting my razor back on the shelf, I got nervous. Per the request of the surgical nurse I am no longer on NSAIDS. Sure, I can walk and I am doing my best to not alter my gait but trust me, this thing hurts. It really hurts! Per the nurse I am not to shave my legs for 10 days prior to surgery. Yes...I cheated. I stopped at day 9. I truly hope it does not make a difference.

Here's the ordeal.

I was born a little bow legged. I am also an over supinator. While this is normally not an issue in most people and was never an issue for most of my life, it has become one now. Typically people with this design are fast runners. Somewhere along the lines I didn't hone that talent. Oh well. So my feet basically fight with my shoes. I can break down the foundation of a shoe in a matter of 4 months (not running, mind you). I am sure part of this is due to the weight I have accumulated over the years but the other part is simply the way I was created. My arches are so high that I am prone to roll my ankles. Now there's a skill I have developed! I have rolled my ankles so many times that I no longer feel it taking place! There are some very specific events that I can recall where I have torn bone pieces, ruptured ligaments and now a tendon.

During the last two years specifically I have gone from a partial peroneal brevis tear to a complete rupture. The outside of my foot at the base of the 5th metatarsal would (and still does) flare up in a sharp searing pain. Depressing the clutch on my jeep has become rather problematic at times but I have just functioned through the pain. I have to...I have two young boys and a dog at home. I am often alone with them and have really limited time to take care of any personal problems.

The dog has to be walked outside and the boys are not strong enough to control him when he pulls. For a 20 pound Jack Russell, he has quite a bit of pull. He is the reason I had a mishap two winters ago where I tore all of the internal stitches from my lateral release and plica removal.

Just call me Danger Prone Daphne.

I had a knee scope done to correct my knee cap placement and clean out the joint a bit. I also had a meniscus tear to deal with. My husband was busy with football and left me alone. Scotty the dog was not taken outside before Mike left and well...now it was up to me.

I had never seen so much swelling in my life. Sure, it was just a few days post op and I was still wearing a cold water cuff and my knee immobilizer wouldn't close all the way from the bulk. It was November and we had ice and snow on the ground. I know where the patches of ice are but couldn't avoid them all. My dog decided to chase a raven and pulled me hard. I had his leash in my hand along with my crutch. He took the crutch right out from under me and I ended up stepping and bending my knee. OUCH! I felt things tear.

I got nervous and called the doctor. During my impromptu visit, he reassured me that I may not have done too much damage but I needed to be off of that leg as much as possible. Ok...as long as people stop knocking on the door or the dog holds his bladder...I can do that. Oh...I had Thanksgiving dinner to cook for about 30 people in a few days....yeah...I'll stay off my leg!

In the 6 weeks I was out of work I ended up doing very well in therapy. I gained my range of motion back, I still had pain where the anchor is holding a piece of my cartilage to the bone but that went away in about six more months. Things are fine now but my issues in the same leg have moved south. Onto this ankle.

Seems the lack of attached ligaments and now the tendon rupture have made my ankle so unstable that the doctor will not do the soft tissue repairs alone. He has decided to slice a wedge of bone from the side of my heel in order to stabilize my ankle. I opted for no bone removal and he said that he cannot effectively repair the damage without addressing the problem (well, he said it in more words than that). Fine...when do we do this?

On July 28th I will be in the hands of my orthopaedic surgeon. He has done this procedure before and promises to give me back full function. I will be able to wear heels again!!!! I hate that my shoe options have been one inch or less. Anything higher and my leg will pretty much slide over my ankle bones. NOT the most comfortable feeling in the world. It also happens when I go down stairs and point my toe to reach the next step. I haven't run down stairs in two full years now. I can live without THAT action...but the heels...I so badly want to wear them again. I miss them..they just sit in boxes.

So...once I am in post op status I will continue this blog. I will also be tracking my weight loss progress as I figure out ways to remove fat without the use of my left lower extremity. I refuse to gain more weight! In the meantime...I'm really nervous. I don't think I have felt this nervous since I learned my youngest child was breach. I cried while scheduling my c-section. I am not quite sure why I'm so nervous right now...but it is what it is I guess.

I am hoping to put up pics of my MRI for all to see...in case you're interested. I'm sure I'll be posting on here before my surgery date.

Best wishes to you all!!! Thanks for reading me.