Recovery

Recovering from ankle surgery is a long process. I guess I didn't think too much about this ahead of time, and at times I have become very frustrated. It will be at least 6 months to a year until my ankle starts to feel normal. And they say I will have swelling for up to a year after surgery. I've been wanting to write a blog to remember my progress, so I might as well start now!

After surgery I was in a splint for 12 days and basically stayed in bed the whole time. Although they told me some people only need their pain killers for 3-4 days after surgery, I needed mine for all 10 they gave me, and had to have some refilled. I do not do well with pain. I accept this about my body, and am glad I know this about myself.

After 12 days I went back to the doctor and was put in a hard cast for 4 weeks and was still non-weight bearing. I was still in a bit of pain, but having the hard cast made it a little easier to get around - although showering was always an adventure of getting the plastic protector over the cast, slowly jumping with one leg into the shower, etc... Two days after being cast my Gramps died unexpectedly. (My Gramps retired when I was born and was my caregiver when my mom went back to work. He has always been a very special person in my life.) If it hadn't been for my scooter I wouldn't have been able to get around with my family to help plan the funeral and wouldn't have been able to get to the grave site to say goodbye.

After getting the cast off my foot was swollen, barely moved, and the incisions looked ugly and gross. I was put in a boot (which can come off to shower and sleep!!) and started physical therapy on Halloween. Two of my incisions were still open, and I screamed at poor Cristina when she tried to touch me. Right then Cristina told me if I did not start touching and moving my foot I would have major problems. After going back to the doctor and using something impregnated with silver to help close the wounds, I committed to doing my ankle pumps and massaging my foot with lotion mutliple times a day.

At first I was allowed to put 30 lbs. of weight on my foot while "walking." To measure this I pushed my foot down on a scale. 30 lbs. is basically the weight of my foot. Slowly but surely I was allowed to put more and more weight on my foot. It was very painful in my heal at first because of the bone work that was done during surgery. It felt like my bone was walking on the ground without any padding. But sadly the only way to get that padding back is to walk on it more. Ouch.

After weeks of walking with a crutch or walker, one day in the middle of November I realized that I could put all of my weight on my foot and walk on it!! Very exciting! Slowly I walked more and more. And as predicted, the more I walked on it, the more the padding built back up and walking was less painful. One day instead of crawling up the stairs and scooting down on my butt, I realized I could WALK up and down them (one leg at a time, of course)!! And just like when I was 15, my mom and I went to the high school parking lot to see if I could drive. I could.

Right before Thanksgiving I went back to the doctor again. My x-rays looked good and my bone was healing well. I was given a very sturdy brace to wear in a shoe, and was supposed to slowly transition to wearing that instead of the boot. Except that the brace did not fit in ANY shoe! My mom and I sat in DSW and tried every tennis shoe they had. Finally we went with Crocs that were too big - they are literally the only thing this brace fits in.

I then had to re-learn to walk - my foot had forgotten after all that time! I am still working on the motion of walking correctly, and can only walk (very slowly) for short periods of time and only drive short distances.

I still have a LONG way to go, but looking back it's good to remember I've come so far!