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!!!!