Post Op Appointment 3

Today was the third post-surgery doctor appointment, an important one because it marked the end of my being in a cast. I learned a trick that I hopefully won't have to use anymore- if I breathe in really deep when they lift my foot out of the cast, I don't pass out. Good to know.

Since my pain levels have been so low I didn't need any xrays- the doctor did a few bending tests to make sure the tendon worked and then wrapped it up in an ace bandage and stuck it right back in the walking boot I had been in pre-surgery (it actually still has the hospital sticker on it from where I had it on last).

I am still not supposed to walk on that leg all, and keep using my crutches for another four weeks. I can have the boot off when I'm in the bath or just sitting around, but if I'm up and about or sleeping, since I'm a rough sleeper, I need to keep it on. I was also given two exercises to do: an up-down motion, and a circling motion. I'm supposed to do them for ten minutes or so every day. If I feel ambitious I can do figure eights as well.

In four weeks, at my next appointment, my crutches will be taken away and I'll have to learn to walk again with the boot. At that point physical therapy may or may not be prescribed, depending on my progress. And in six weeks I should in theory be back in normal shoes and walking unaided and without pain.

As far as the appearance of my foot...it's still gross. There's still bruising, but it's mostly on the bottom of my foot and around my ankles. There's still a lot of swelling- my toes look much meatier than normal, and the inner and outer sides of my ankle don't stick out at all because of the swelling. At first I thought something was horribly wrong with the scar, but it turns out upon examination that it's the remains of the pen markings from the surgery and will wash off sooner or later. Another problem I probably should have forseen: dead skin. It's everywhere. There's lots of it. I may have gotten the last of the orange dye off as well.

Pain is pretty consistently gone as well. I don't feel any pain in my ankle. When I was shaving my leg in the tub after I got home from the appointment the only thing that gave any twinge of pain at all was actually my heel, and once I folded up a washcloth under it so it wasn't on the hard tub floor, it stopped whining. When I was showing my dad the scar I accidently caught my toes on the coffee table and made my ankle twist suddenly, and it stopped hurting completely within minutes, which is encouraging. Sometimes the scar gets really tender, especially down by the bottom of my foot on the bottom end where the skin is more likely to move.

I'm not sure if I'll update much between now and my next appointment. So I'll see you at the end of August, most likely.

Post Op Appointment 2

First, I'd like to thank the City of Albuquerque for having handicap-accessible port-a-potties at their annual fireworks display at the Balloon Fiesta Field on Sunday. That made my afternoon much, much nicer. And I'd also like to thank WalMart for selling surprisingly nice lawnchairs for $10, because I sat in one for six hours straight and was not at all uncomfortable. And thank you to all the people who walk up to me and tell me about their surgeries and large scars in public, in stores, in general, I like a good story. Below is me, along with a friend, hanging out at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta field on the 4th until the fireworks that night.

And now, to business-

Today was my second post-surgery appointment. It was surprisingly brief- the green cast was taken off and I didn't actually pass out this time, which was a nice change. If I had any inclination towards graphic injury photos I would show you my foot, however that's probably better left alone for a few more weeks until it's scarred over. My foot's still incredibly swollen and very bruised (I bruise easily), and the healing incision is probably five inches long- from a little way above my ankle to almost the bottom of my foot. It will look very cool in a few months.

The sutures got removed as well. Getting the sutures out was kind of painful because of the snipping, which pulled on my very abused skin, however it was over pretty quickly and my second and final cast was put on. I had mentioned the irritated skin spot near my toes to the doctor, but there wasn't any redness anywhere around that problem zone so we chalked it up to the bandages.

Something important I need to add is that my calf has been hurting this last week or so, off and on, mostly after I do something physical. Dad insists it's my calf muscle trying to not wither away, however my doctor made his Serious Face and said that if it started hurting consistently to immediately call him because I may develop a blood clot from inactivity (which is why long periods of inactivity are frowned upon, and they tell you to move your limbs around every hour or so). At the moment I don't think I have one, and I think it really is my calf rioting when I do activities that require its use, however blot clots are not to be taken lightly so I will be keeping an eye on that.

My next appointment is on the 16th, in 10 days, and I will be getting the cast off and be put back in my boot, with very light therapeutic exercises to help that foot learn to walk again. At the moment I can only bend three of my toes and move my foot about a centimeter without help (I had to at the doctor's), so there's quite a bit of work to do still.

So unless I find something to talk about before then, I'll see you next weekend.

Post-Op Appointment #1

Today's appointment was unexpectedly eventful. I went back to my doctor so my cast could be taken off, my foot examined, and a new cast put on. That was all. However it ended up taking well over an hour for the reasons I will say below.

My appointment was late getting started but once I got in, one of the not-my-doctor medical personnel vibrated my cast off with an intimidating little tool. It doesn't cut, just vibrates really hardcore and makes the fiberglass on the cast come apart where the tool is. It's science.

The unexpected part was where suddenly for no reason at all, I got extremely lightheaded and almost passed out during and after they got the cast off. This is apparently fairly common, and none of the personnel who rushed over could explain exactly why it happens- just that sometimes, something that has to do with buzzing the cast off makes people woozy sometimes. They gave me crackers and water for free to help, and later on when I started looking faint again while trying to hobble down the hall, they put me in a wheelchair and pushed me so I wouldn't get hurt (I am somewhat of a liability due to my accident-prone nature).

Once I started looking alive again the doctor took an XRay (and I had to lay back down so I didn't faint again), and my foot is doing pretty well. I took a glance at the sutures in my foot, but decided at the last minute not to get a eyeful of it because I was already nauseated by the bruising and swelling (I bruise and swell quite easily, and when they did surgery, my whole foot had swollen up and still looked a little poofy). It hurt moderately to not have the cast on, but they put a new one on fairly quickly.

I picked a lovely shade of eye-catching green for this week until my next appointment next week, at which time this same ordeal is supposed to happen again, hopefully minus the fainting spree, and I plan on getting purple instead of green.

This was one of those times where I was glad I had semi-randomly ended up at this particular podiatrist's office instead of somewhere else. Even the receptionists were understanding and nice- the crackers I ate when I was woozy were actually part of one receptionist's lunch, which I only found out afterwards, once I'd already eaten them and couldn't refuse. This office where I'm going for my post-surgery appointments is Podiatry Associates of New Mexico, or PANM, in Albuquerque. I've seen two doctors there, however the doctor I mention in this blog, and the surgeon (who are the same person) is Dr. Giles.