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.