Day 43: First PT

My first PT appointment wasn't too painful. A lot of questions, a bit of examination, and just a few exercises to get my foot moving. But honestly only my toes got to move, my ankle wasn't really doing anything yet.

Tape Stitches Gone!

I did learn that in the opinion of my physical therapist I could drive wearing the boot. However, I decided to stick with my doctor's advice. He had told me that I could drive, but if I got in a car accident I would be found at fault because I was in a boot. With the luck we've had the past six months (heck who am I kidding??? The streak has been more like a decade, not 6 months!) I decided to play it safe and just not drive while I was wearing the boot.

Day 36: Weight Bearing with crutches!!!

You would NOT believe what freedom comes from just being able to put your foot down and bear weight on it!

It had been an uneventful week really. I had progressed to bringing my injured leg into the shower and washing it! (Oh blessed loofah sponge! You are Heaven sent!) There were A LOT of tape stitches back there so they weren't falling off any time soon no matter how hard I scrubbed. 

Bright and early on the morning of the 36th day, I got to start bearing weight, and just like that it felt as if I had hit the summit of this long, long journey. Until you have to do it,  you just don't get how hard using only one leg can be.  Just being able to put my foot down when getting up out of a chair was sweet, sweet freedom. It felt a little like winning the lottery! I had made it through the non-weight bearing phase! Can I get a hallelujah?

Day 29: Bye-bye cast!

So after seeing him literally twice a week the first two weeks after surgery, I made it through my doctor's ENTIRE vacation without any problems. My visits though literally started and ended his vaca. I was his last appointment before leaving for vacation and his first appointment after his return. I guarantee I was happier to be there bright and early the Monday after his vaca than he was. I was so anxious to have my cast removed I could hardly contain myself.

While I had only been in this specific cast for 10 days, it had been three weeks of casting and I was ready for some freedom!

 It was time to say goodbye to my pretty pink cast.

The cast came off with very little drama. Stitch removal was a bit intense. I guess cuz an ankle is so wrinkly and creased some if the stitches were pretty deep in there. I toughed it out because nothing was dampening my joy on cast removal day!

He inspected my incision, gave it a thumbs up, slapped some tape stitches over it, and sent me on my way with these instructions:

*3 days... before getting it wet. Then just let tape stitches come off naturally.

*Non-weight bearing for one more week. Then start bearing weight with crutches.

*A week after that start PT.

*A week after starting PT start taking out the wedges once every two weeks.

*Come back in 6 weeks.

That was it! I practically FLOATED out of his office I was so excited!

Day 19: A pretty pink cast for my birthday

Since Wednesday, my pain had been escalating.  It was my BIRTHDAY, and I was MISERABLE. I couldn't get comfortable.  My foot felt like it was going to swell right out of the splint/cast thingy. I was CONSTANTLY using ice on the back of my knee, and I was flat on my back with my leg up on the wall at the head of my bed most of the day. Nothing brought me relief!

I reluctantly called the doctor again. I felt like such a stalker. The nurse assured me that Dr. Fischer would want to check me AGAIN and make sure I was doing okay. So I begrudgingly scheduled an appointment, ON MY BIRTHDAY.  ☹

Everything looked GREAT he said.  But for a reason I didn't really understand, he decided to put a full, real fiberglass cast on. (Thank you,  Jesus! This did the trick!)

I chose pink because... well it's PINK. My foot looked all deformed like a duck-billed platypus,  but I didn't CARE.  This felt SO much better!

duck-billed platypus

We headed home. It felt like my b-day was a TOTAL wash until Tiffany Wier showed up with a birthday cake that she SAID was made at Wal-Mart,  but I know that angels really made that cake in Heaven. (It was THAT good.) Then Christina and Matt brought their gorgeous lil girls by to cheer me up. So my birthday ended on a good note, and I got a pretty pink cast too.

Legs up the wall. The ULTIMATE in elevation!