After getting my bandages off at my doctor's appointment Friday, I've been working hard on my walking. I tried to put my boot on when I got home, but it actually hurt even more because the boot makes your ankle stay in a 90 degree angle. So I chose to wear my post-op shoe instead - it was much more comfortable and actually a lower level that I would have graduated to in a week anyways. Friday I tried to start putting weight on my foot. IT HURT! I had to take lots of Advil and do it slowly. Ouch! Saturday I walked around the house using one crutch. I could not walk without the crutch, and it was pretty painful to put weight on my right foot. Mostly it was painful getting up and starting to move again. The more I tried walking on it, the easier it got. Sunday I finally graduated to not using the crutch! I did limited walking around my parent's house and my sister's house. I still could not walk up or down the stairs. In case you're wondering how to go up and down stairs when you can't walk, you crawl up on your knees, and scoot down on your butt. It looks pretty awesome.
Monday I went back to work. I wore my post-op shoe, and found a cute outfit to match. I was limping, but I made it through the day with some Advil and finding places to sit with clients while at the nursing home. I did not push any wheelchairs that day! None of my clients noticed my foot, but all the nurses did! Tuesday it was a little easier to walk, but I was still limping. Luckily I had mostly paperwork to do since I was admitting a client. However, my client was also moving to a new room and I ended up walking back and forth with her to keep her calm through the process. Finally I got her to sit in one place! Wednesday was another really long day and one of my clients needed to go shopping. I ended up walking all over Target with her. I have to say we were quite a pair - a 70-something year old woman who can't breath well and me limping around allover Target! This was the day that really did me in. Luckily Thursdays are our meeting days, so I had significantly less walking to do - a meeting and paperwork, plus a lot of driving with clients. But after the day before, when I got home, I had to go straight to bed to put my foot up and ice it. I planned to get up again, but I just couldn't. Friday I had already worked more than enough hours for the week, so I had a lighter schedule. Thank goodness!! I saw my clients, ended up pushing a few wheelchairs to take people outside to the garden to meet, but got to leave a little early when my client work was done and our paperwork system went down for over 2 hours... Efficiency at its best I tell you. But back to my ankle - by Friday afternoon I was so exhausted from working so much all week, after 10 days of not doing much at all, my body was DONE. I had to take a really long nap to even get moving again, and then I went to sleep that night ASAP.
I've been struggling a bit with how to wrap my foot. The doctor told me to put a Bandaid on it, as if a Bandaid would stay on a heel... So I've been keeping it wrapped the way Dr. Buchanan wrapped it after my appointment. I also am VERY nervous about all of the scary things that live in the nursing homes that I work in that could get into an open wound. I have been keeping my incisions wrapped and covered with multiple layers. The problem with wrapping is that I've accidentally wrapped it too tight a couple times. Over the weekend I have been experimenting with wrapping less and have finally gotten it down to two Bandaids! Going back to work I'm planning to cover it a bit more though.
Best news: After getting back into my schedule of massaging my other surgery scars with coco butter or Scar Zone, plus allowing them to get some air, my scars have gone back to being a beautiful soft pink color!!! No more ugly purple or bright red scars! YAY!!
I'm continuing to work on my walking and I go to see Dave at physical therapy to be evaluated on Friday. I can't wait to get back to walking normally! At least I am able to walk up and down the stairs now - one step at a time.
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