Latest Poop

Well, it's been a couple of weeks of some pain meds and LOTS of horse-pill sized antibiotics.

The short version is that I had a visit with Dr. D today and it appears my infection is all cleared up and my post-op swelling is back down to even better than expected at this point. I am back to walking pretty well (all things considered); only using my cane for occasional support.

So I'm back to seeing what I can do and getting into trouble.

When I get back to work next week I'll get back to my walking and stair-climbing regimen. As I get my act back together, I'll be trying to get myself back on Wii using our new Fit Plus we got for Christmas. We've already been using the Sports Resort we were given and I think it has already helped some too.

With any luck and nothing terribly stupid happening by my own hand, perhaps this is the last of the major hurdles we'll have to deal with for a while.

God's blessings to all in the New Year.

Couldn't Keep It Simple...

Yep, yet another hitch in the giddyup.

Last week, after a PT session, my foot started hurting. I figured the PT just kicked my butt. The next day my foot was really hurting so I canceled my Friday PT session to give it some recouperation time.

Friday comes and I go to work. While there I change from my shoes into crocs because, for now, they are a little more comfortable for my left foot. When I was ready to go home I put my shoes back on and immediately the collar of my left shoe was killing me. Regardless, I get in the truck and head home. It was hurting so badly I thouht I would have to stop along the way and have Julie or someone come and get me.

By Saturday it was swollen, getting read, and was very tender. By Sunday it was getting real red and even more swollen. This is obviously not a good sequence of events!

Monday morning rolls around, I go to work, and J starts making phone calls. First up...my surgeon's office. He is out of town and his nurse isn't sure what to do and whether Dr. D's backup should be called. Next up? Call my GP for an appointment to get an opinion of what's going on. He says he won't look at it. I need to see my surgeon. OK. He's fired. Then J calls the clinic she goes to and gets me in the after hours clinic.

So I get to the after hours clinic and the Doc there finally makes it in, looks at my foot, pokes around a bit (that was fun) and declares that I need to get to the ER because there is definitely an infection going on and there may be more happening and I really need to get it checked out better than he could do there.

So off to the hospital we go.

So we get there and the waiting room is EMPTY! Sweet! Wrong. Turns out a veritable fleet of ambulances (ambuli?) swamped the place just before we got there. So we wait...and wait...and..well, you get the idea.

We eventually get in, the duty Doc zips in, looks, pokes, swabs the area that's seeping, says a few things, tells a couple of jokes, and splits. Pretty soon a portable x-ray cart is being wedged into the room. I think the radiologist is also a certified forklift operator. Picstures are taken and she disappears.

A little while later the doc comes back and has good news and bad news. The good news is that there is no bone infection. YAY! (Bone infections can be some seriously bad news.) The bad news is that I have a staph infection in my heel and it's that kinda of bug you generally get from hospitals that is very resistant to normal antibiotics.

So he gives me a scrip for some kinda high-powered broad spectrum antibiotics to essentially carpet-bomb my body to kill this crap and tells me to keep my foot elevated and warm and get in to see my surgeon as soon as possible.

So here I am again. Sitting in bed, working from home via my laptop, sittin in my jammies and drinkin coffee.

I started taking the new drugs last night and I think it is already a little better. It sure doesn't seem as tender as it was and what little walking I'm doing feels better.

Yet again I owe a big thanks to some dedicated medical folks, some dear friends who were standing by in case we needed them and offered up prayers for some good results, and, most of all, to J for her persistence and incredible support.

Hopefully there will be no more surprises and I can get back in the groove soon!

The Latest

The next round of fun officially kicked off yesterday afternoon when we went to see Dr. D and get my staples out. And yes, it hurt like crazy. Luckily there were fewer staples than last time and not as many of them were tight so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But still....

The fun continued today with my return to the good old physical therapy clinic. It is not expected that I will have to go there for very long and it was good to see the folks there again.

I am walking around again, only sometimes using my cane for support although I usually keep it handy just in case. I still have a few hot spots that always or nearly always hurt and others that only hurt when I walk. But it is getting better, especially as the swelling goes down.

That's it for now.

So what's up now?

Well, tomorrow will make 1 week since my latest surgery.

Not only was a small sedan's worth of metal removed from my foot, but Dr. D. also cleaned out some bone material from places it should not be, freed up a joint or 2 in my foot that had started fusing, cleaned out some scar tissue, and repaired a torn tendon I did not know I had.

Yesterday we went and got the surgical bandaging off. That was a whole lot of fun! Afterwards, Dr. D. said I could start walking on it. Yeah, right. I can't hardly put any weight on it yet because of the staples and stitches that are there and the swelling and other soreness. But I'm sure that will get better soon.

I go in on Dec 1 to get the stitches and staples out. Can't wait for that!

In the meantime, I keep working from home and keep trying to use this foot and do the best I can. Thank God for J and friends that make this bearable and take care of me.

Well, I THOUGHT that was all. I was wrong.

This morning we went and saw my Orthopaedic Surgeon.

First, the general situation.

The left foot is lookin pretty good. Not as good as he had hoped, but good enough.

The right foot ain't so good, but it looks like it's about as good as it's ever gonna be.

So what do we do about it?

Well, the left foot gets it's tune-up on November 11. It will be outpatient surgery to remove all the metal from it and that should give me relief from the burning feeling I get under my ankle from the plate that's in there. It will also stop all the friggin metal detectors from wiggin out every time I get near one. ;)

After the surgery I am to stay off the foot for 5 days (use crutches and/or walker) to protect the sutures. After that I can start wearing the klingon mukluk boots, shoes, or whatever I want and start putting weight on it again and the stitches will come out probably the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. After that, it should be good to go. No word on follow-up physical therapy.

The right foot is a bit more problematic. The thought is it will not get any better and very well could get worse with age (growths, arthritis, etc.). Surgery to make it better is no longer an option. There just is not enough good stuff in the right places to do what he thought of doing except for 1 radical procedure that I outright refused. It involves cutting off my heel bone and repositioning it. No thanks!

So what's the answer? Live with it until I can't take it any more or something gets much worse. At that point we, to quote the Doc, "Trade it in for a new one." Yes, we are talking amputation.

I know it sounds terrible and drastic, but in the long view it could be far better than what I am dealing with now. It could offer the possibility of more normal and flexible mobility than I will likely ever have with the foot being the way it is now.

But that is a lingering consideration for another day. No big plans to take action on that. I am thinking about it, of course, but serious consideration will be put off until we see how the 11/11 surgery, at least, goes.

J and I have seen pretty much this exact scenario as a possibility for quite some time, so we are doing pretty OK with it...at least for now.

Here we go again...

Th...th...th....th...that's all folks!

Yes, I've decided to wrap up this blog. Why? Well, the progress now is slow and generally steady and all things are, relatively speaking, getting back to some version of “normal.” So to wrap this up I want to do two things.

First, I was reflecting last night on some of the things I could not do a year ago that I can do now. So a few that come to mind and in no particular order....

• Stand.
  
• Walk.
  
• Sleep in any position other than flat on my back.
  
• Sit up for more than just a short while.
  
• Go anywhere without help.
  
• Be left unattended for extended periods of time.
  
• Get myself something to eat or drink.
  
• Dress myself.
  
• Take a shower without help.
  
• Go to the bathroom without help.
  
• Get in a vehicle without help.
  
• Go to work.
  
• Drive.
  
• Wear any kind of footwear.
  
• Have even the smallest pain-free moment without the aid of drugs.
  
• Sleep through the night without the aid of drugs.
  
• Have my feet down the majority of the day.
  
• Sleep without my feet stacked on a pile of pillows.
  
• Go outside without help.
  
• Care for the pets.
  
• Help with anything around the house.
  

And finally, I have a lot of people to thank. I am only going to use initials, but you'll know who you are. As I said, there are a lot of people, so please excuse my thanking some as a group and if I miss anyone.

• JW – I don't know how I could have gotten through this without you.
  
• BG & CW – Your help to both me and JW, the hours you spent with me helping take care of me and just keeping me going. Friends like you are rare and I am very fortunate to know you.
  
• M & DP – Right when things were getting tough, you two showed up, pitched in with work that needed done, listened when we needed someone to talk to, and quickly became dear friends.
  
• My extended family – Thank you for all you have done for us to help us get through all this.
  
• Geocachers – What a great bunch of people geocachers are! I've heard from cachers from, quite literally, all around the globe! And of all those, the Central Texas bunch are the best! Thanks to you all for your support, helping with the house, putting out caches for me, and so much more.
  
• NLBC – Your continued concern, support, and prayers have meant the world to us and helped get us through some very tough times.
  
• AAS – The folks there have bent over backwards to accommodate my limitations and have been very patient with me. When other employers would have sent me packing on some kind of disability, they stuck with me through thick and thick. My immediate co-workers and friends have been incredibly supportive and helpful and I am lucky to work with such a great bunch of people.
  
• Last, but most certainly not least, all of the doctors, nurses, therapists, assistant, technicians, and so on that cobbled me back together and got me back on my feet. I've been very fortunate to have such great professionals on my case and keeping me going when I thought I could not do any more.
  

No, I'm not completely healed yet. I still have mobility problems, some pain and discomfort, and maybe even a few more surgical procedures in my future. But I think I'm over the hump now and I am very grateful to everyone involved for helping me get here.

Thanks again and God bless you all.

A Quickie...

There hasn't been a lot going on, but a couple of weeks ago J and I teamed up with 3 friends and went to the Texas Challenge geocaching event that was held in and around Fredericksburg, TX. Even moving slow because of me we managed to score 20 caches. Not a great power run or anything, but not too shabby, either! The amazing part of this is that J thought I would be one hurtin' puppy the next day but it worked out just the opposite. My feet felt better than they had in months. They've been tightening up and acting as usual since, but that was a nice relief.

On the work front, I brought my work PC back into my office today and I'm going to start trying to come into work more often than not. However, I'm still gonna work abbreviated hours to avoid the worst of the traffic until I get a little more drive time under my belt.

PT continues and we are adding more stuff to it fairly regularly. My equipment time is up to 15 minutes per exercise. My leg weights are increasing again, I've started using the balance board, I've started walking backwards on the treadmill, and the "interruption walking' has been reintroduced. I shudder to think what they will come up with next!

Everyone be well and be careful out there!

Driving through the milestones.

I finally did it.

I drove myself to work today! I even stopped for an errand along the way.

OK, so it wasn't at peak rush hour, but there were still enough crazies along MOPAC to give me some experience points.

I figure I'll come and go at off-peak times a couple of times a week, then step up the number of days and start venturing into normal hours. But all in good time.

Other than that, I am venturing out without a cane a little more often or I take along one of my Irish blackthorn canes just in case I need a little balance control. I also keep a hiking stick in the vehicles to help with uneven terrain in parks or while caching. They are better for those situations than a cane and offer better gripping and shock absorption.

The range of motion of my right ankle is still pretty limited, but it is coming along and doesn't hurt as much or even all the time now, so I guess that's something. Although I still have to baby that darned Achilles tendon. It gets to aching a bit from time to time so I just stop and let it rest a bit and it usually feels better pretty quickly.

The soles and toes still take a beating or feel really weird, especially by the end of the day, but I'm kinda getting used to that. Maybe someday it will go away.

So that's about it for now.

Driving - Yes or No?

Today we went to see the occupational therapists at St. David's to get me evaluated for being able to drive. I went there just KNOWING they were gonna find a reason - ANY reason - to keep me grounded so they could make me do a bunch more therapy so they could milk us for more insurance money. Yeah, I've grown more than a little skeptical of the system.

At first they asked a bunch of questions, tested my balance a bit, tested my upper body strength and control, and then tested my eyesight. Then they tested my reaction time on what I can only call a pedal simulator.

This involved pressing a 'gas pedal' until a red light came on then hitting the 'brake pedal' as fast as I could. My reaction time was less than stellar, but it was not that far off the expected norm.

Next up? A real driving test.

We (The therapist and I. J had to stay behind) climbed in a 2002 Impala (VERY similar to ours) that had been rigged with a passenger side brake and hand control for the driver. The evaluator took the wheel and drove us to the local mall parking lot. Then I took over.

First we drove around the lot a bit, just letting me get used to things. The next phase involved her telling me to stop and seeing how well and quickly I reacted.

The first time I was kinda in la-la-land, just enjoying driving again so when she said stop, I didn't even hardly hear her, so my time there was pretty bad. After that it got better. After doing that for a while she had me hit the streets! In downtown Austin! We drove all the way from about 32nd Street down to Riverside Dr. via the frontage road. She left it up to me where to go from there so I tested my route to work and drove into the Statesman lot and out the other side onto Congress Ave., turned left up to Cesar Chavez, then down to I35. I turned left onto the frontage road there and drove back to the hospital.

Along the way we encountered our fair share of kooks as you will inevitable do when driving in Austin and I handled them all almost as well as I ever have.

When we got back, I was bracing my self for the inevitable news that more therapy was going to be required when she declared I can drive again with NO restrictions! I was shocked! Pleasantly, but shocked nonetheless!

When we got back into the clinic I told J it was bad news. (Pause for effect) I was allowed to drive! She looked kinda surprised too. Or was that apprehension and fear? I'm not sure.
Anyway, I need to start locally and develop my timing and reaction time before venturing farther out. I'll start with short local runs and working on my reaction times in parking lots and gradually build up to driving to PT and other local areas, then to getting on the tollway to practice maneuvering at speed, then it'll be on to I35 a bit, then driving to work again!

To quote Mel Gibson in Braveheart... FREEDOM! ;)

It's been a while....

...and a lot has been happening.

First off, we have passed the 1 year anniversaries of the accident, my first surgery, and going home. We didn't do anything special for any of them, but they were a good time to pause and reflect a bit.

I am walking a lot more now. Not to say there still isn't a lot of discomfort and difficulties, but I'm dealing with it as best I can. That being said, there are moments when my ankles and stuff really don't hurt much at all (if any), even while walking. That's a welcome relief when it happens. My forefeet and soles are still always sore and I suppose will be for some time to come yet.

I am now down to 1 PT session a week to help spread them out and keep costs down in case insurance gives us fits again. We are still fighting with them over several sessions from last year.

To supplement the PT, we have joined the Baca Senior & Community Center and the Madsen Recreation Center. Both provide weight rooms, classes, Billiards rooms (actually helps my balance and range of motion), and other stuff. The Madsen center also boasts a pool, a walking track indoors around the basketball courts, and more. We try to get to either of those once a day, although we have not been very good about going on the weekends. We need to work on that.

I've also hit a new milestone. Last Friday I started coming into work on my own. No, I'm not driving yet. They have a shuttle service here called CARTS. I call them up and can get door-to-door service just about anywhere. It takes about 2 hours to get to work, but I can get there. It's nice to be back out amongst the folks again. Getting home is a pain, however. They want to pick me up around 1 and that doesn't leave much time for work. But a friend of ours works not too far from me and she has offered to bring me home each day. And, if needs be, there are 2 other folks that I work with that live near us that have offered to give me a lift if I need it.

But speaking of driving...

Dr. D has said I am clear to drive as far as he is concerned, but J want s something in writing, so I am scheduled to see an occupational therapist that will do an eval on me to see if, in their opinion, I am good to drive. If they don't think so, they have a program to help with that. In the mean time we may head to the Dell Diamond parking lot and let me try a little driving just to get a bit of the feel of it back and let me know where I stand.

I'm also trying to do a little more around the house. Airing up tire, feeding dogs, sweeping a bit, and other stuff. The more I use these feet, the sooner they are gonna feel better.

To cap it all off, I've stopped sleeping with my feet up. It hasn't seemed to make any difference on he swelling or how they feel in the morning and it is FAR more comfortable, so maybe I can sleep that way permanently now...or at least until the next surgery if it comes to that.

That's about it. It doesn't sound like much, but they have been some pretty big steps for me!

Status Update and NEW X-RAYS!!!

Hey all!

I hope you all had a terrific Christmas and are off to a great start on the new year.

First, the updates.

I guess the biggest news is that I've all but abandoned the brace. It was causing more trouble than it was fixing, so I've stopped using it and everything seems to be doing fine. I just have to be careful not to irritate that tendon again. But when we go out I still take the brace along in case I need it.

Next, the PT is really stepping up. I'm now up to 10 minutes on the elliptical and up to 1.3MPH on the treadmill. I expect Scott will be getting me on the leg extension machine and back to doing more walking and balance exercises soon. However, due to insurance, I'm down to only seeing him once a week. But since I am turning 50 soon, I'll be eligible for senior discounts at the city rec center and the city senior center and they both have gym equipment and other stuff I can use in place of the equipment at PT so we're lookin' into that.

My feet still have lots of aches, pains, discomforts, and downright weird feelings, but sometimes it is not as bad as it has been and most of it will get better as my range of motion and general strength improve. It's still a long road, but it seems I'm headin' down it at a decent pace again. Hard to believe that Tuesday will be 1 year since the accident!

OK. Now for the new pics.

Of you'll notice, there are 6 new x-ray pics in the slideshow. These are the ER x-rays just after the accident so you can see the breaks for yourself! I finally called the hospital last week and they put them on a CD for me.

Just a reminder...you can click on the slideshow image(s) and that will take you to my Picasa album where you can see the full size pics and read whatever captions and/or comments I have put in there about them.

That's it for now. Be well and have a great 2009!