Happy Anniversary!

Today is the 3rd anniversary of this infamous event.

Reflecting back on the past three years, I can't say that I have any profound wisdom that I have gained from the experience, but I have learned much and I know that a lot of good came from the experience. Yeah, it's been a pain - in many more ways than one - but so many good things arose from it all that it may well have been worth it to some degree. Significant life and lifestyle changes, new friends, new perspectives, and more.

As for my general physical status, not a lot has changed since my last update. I have many ups and downs of many types. Toes, feet, ankles, legs, knees, hips, back. At some point all or some of them have good days and bad. Finding footwear is still a problem. I'm always on the lookout for casual, running, and hiking shoes that will work. So many start out OK but they break down to near uselessness so quickly it is mind-boggling - and expensive!

Along with that, I still have a bit of a psychological/emotional roller coaster going on, but that gets gradually better with time. I still feel guilt for causing all this through my lapse in judgement and I still get a bit angry and/or depressed at all the things I can no longer do and what medical things still lay ahead. Sometimes that lasts for days, sometimes just for moments. But it always passes and I just get back to what I was doing.

So on we go and I look forward to the next year. I plan to press on, try to extend my capabilities, and not let this stuff slow me down any more than absolutely necessary.

God Bless.

So what's been going on?

Well, to tell the truth, not much.

Things have not change much since my last post back in April. I'm doing the same level of caching, walking, and working.

Finding shoes is becoming far more difficult. I was doing fine with New Balance 1xxx shoes, but they started feeling less comfortable so I tried a pair of Brooks and they have not held up well. I now can't wear them more than a few days in a row before stuff starts hurtin'. So it's back to the drawing board.

My feet and ankles go through longer cycles of good/bad days now, too. For a week or two they will feel like hell, then all of a sudden they feel fine for a week or two. I'm trying to determine if I push them too hard while they feel good and resting them when they feel bad is what's making them then feel better. In other words, am I causing this lousy cycle?

But as each pain cycle comes around, I think harder and longer if it is nearing time to trade in one of these feet. If I do, I'll start with the right one. But that is one heckuva decision to make and NOT one that can be taken back! I've read a lot about living with BTK (Below The Knee) amputations and sometimes it sounds like it'd be a blessed relief. Then other stories make me terrified of what may come as a result. So I guess I just keep reading, thinking, and praying until I just can't take it any more or something happens to force the issue.

But all that being said, we are just going on with our lives. Some days I can get around better than others, but in any case, I just keep on with whatever we wanna do. I figure if it hurts, so what? We all have something we have to deal with, right?

I hope you are dealing well with your stuff!

God bless!

And so a few months have passed.....

...and not much has changed.

I still have good days and bad days. All in all I think I have pretty much stabilized.

I am doing up to some terrain level 2.5 caches and I've done some moderate bushwhacking for short distances. I've also done some hiking on unimproved trails that included some unexpectedly rough terrain. I took my time and I got through it. I've also done a little over 2 miles of walking at a time. And finally, I have started doing more house stuff including edging, trimming, and using the push mower on the front yard. I won't say there have been no consequences to stepping up the activity. After doing something that pushes my limits it takes my feet and ankles a day or three to recover from swelling, stiffness, and soreness; but that is also to be expected I suppose.

I've just gotten to the point that I know these things are going to, at best, feel weird. At worst, they are just gonna hurt. Usually, they will be somewhere in between. In any case, I just gotta live with it until I just can't any more, then we'll talk about if it's time to trade either or both of them in for new models.

In the meantime, I'll keep pushing the limits and living the way I want and as much as I can tolerate while I can. I'll keep geocaching, waymarking, and doing whatever else I feel like trying. I'm even thinking of entering as a walker in a 5k or two just to do it. I have not been in a 5 or 10k since I ran some in the Corps.

So, off we go. Let's see what happens.

God bless.

So what's goin on?

Yeah, it's been a while since my last post and I kinda left things hangin' Sorry 'bout that.

The infection is still gone and everything is pretty much back to the way it was before the last surgery.

There is still a good bit of swelling in both feet by the end of the day, but that's going to take years to go away and it will probably never go away entirely. I still have weird semi-numb tingling in my toes and I can't really use them when walking or anything unless I really think about it.

I still have a good bit of constant discomfort and sometimes some mild to significant pain hits in my soles and heals, but I'm adapting. What choice do I have, after all?

So I'm back to walking a caching a good bit. In fact I've even done some moderate bushwhacking and caching just a bit off-trail. It is really great to do that again. Hopefully by summer I'll be back up to terrain 3's and can get out among the cedars, ticks, and chiggers!

I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do some trail walking a good bit beyond the boring old paved or improved hike and bike trails. I just have to watch the elevations. Going downhill is not much of a problem because I can flex my knees to help compensate for my loss of range of motion. Going uphill, however, is a completely different story. That takes a good bit of effort, coordination, and thought.

So that's about it for now!

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!

The Updates Just Keep Comin'!

Well, more progress from PT yesterday!

I'm already getting more ROM (Range of Motion) back in my right ankle so I got the go-ahead to trim my brace some more. Yes, I still have some aches, a few pains, some swelling, and endurance and functional issues, but we're making progress!

We also figured out that my brace may have been causing some of my high heel pain. So yesterday afternoon we went and saw Gus and had him cut a chunk out of the back of the brace. That not only relieved that pressure point, but it opened up my ankle for even more movement! It turns out the brace was keeping my Achilles tendon from being able to flex as it should and cutting that small piece out let it move like it needed to!

Scott also added a coupe more exercises back into my routine and I do them WITHOUT the brace! Pretty soon he's going to have me start weaning out of the brace at home also. Just an hour or two per day at first, but we'll build on that.

Finally, I'm very seldom using my cane at home. I use it out in "the world" to help with balancing on uneven terrain and endurance and so on. Well, pretty soon Scott is going to start working on getting me to be able to drop the need for it as well.

Looks like all your good thinks and prayers are comin' through for me! Thanks, everyone! I'll keep workin' hard and I'll try not to let you down! Besides, I want to get back to driving and bushwhackin' some time in the not-too-distant future!

Another Quickie

We made some progress at PT today. It seems my right ankle is loosening up a bit. Accordingly, I got the OK to trim back my brace a bit. We also added a couple of exercises in and upped the leg weights a bit (we had restarted at only 5 lbs.). We are going to start slowly weaning me out of the brace at PT and doing more exercises as conditions allow.

With any luck we're getting back on track...again.

Just a quickie...

I just wanted to give you all a quick update.

As you know, I am back in my ankle brace. With it in place, and even with the lingering swelling from the surgery, I am walking around pretty well again.

The major portion of the heel pain that was nagging me is gone (no wonder after getting those huge lag bolts outta there!) and I've been trucking around pretty well, not even using my cane around the house for the most part.

I'm still a ways away from talking long strolls in the park, but I'll take all I can get!

We got good news, and not-so-good news.

Yesterday J called Doc D to see if they had an opening to get me in and get my staples out instead of waiting 'til Thursday since they were causing me quite a bit of discomfort. They did, so off we went.

In no time they got to removing the staples. I darn sure wish THIS "staples" had an "easy button!" Removing them was sheer and utter torture! It was far worse than removing the sutures from the original surgery and was definitely worse than this surgery. As they removed the staples they put some kind of adhesive strips across the incision to help keep everything in place until everything was healed a little better. They did that before also. If they don't come off on their own over the next week or so, I get to pull them off.

Anyway, after 10-15 minutes the removal pain went away and a little after that Doc D came in. He said everything was looking good, but he had another trick up his sleeve. Then he started showing us some 3D pictures of that foot. On it, he showed us a place in the heel area where some soft tissue has calcified into a rather prominent and pointy bone spur. He said if it starts causing problems he can go in and remove it. However, it is in a spot where there is a LOT going on. Nerves, muscle, ligaments, etc. So it's not just a simple go in and cut it off deal. He didn't elaborate cuz we aren't gonna even think about it unless that spot becomes an issue.

Then we asked about the left foot and he said he doesn't want to do ANYTHING with it unless absolutely necessary until all the problems with the right on are settled.

Anywho, I'm now back in compression socks and my brace (which we had t have adjusted again cuz my tendon is acting up a bit again) and getting back to walking again.

Overall, a lot of my pain issues with walking are gone or significantly reduced. There's still some discomfort in other areas, some minor residual pain from the latest surgery, and walking is still kinda of a pain, but it's all a little better and getting better by the day.

As for the other potential surgery, we just can't worry about it now. I start PT again next week and as that progresses we'll know more and deal with it then, if necessary. I guess I've lost about 4-6 weeks of progress on the tendon and some other stuff, but in no time I should be making some good gains and getting all that and more back.

Be well, everyone!

Post-Op Update *** ICK WARNING ***

The follow-up appointment was short and sweet.

They took the bandages off first and, as expected, they were caked with blood. A little saline soak and they came off no problem. Then they whisked me off to get a couple of x-rays which I did not see. While waaiting for Doc D to pop in, J grabbed a lovely shot...




*** ICK MODE ON ***








As you can see there are quite a few staples gong down along the back of my foot and on around the bottom edge. There are also some on the point of my heel. He used the same incision lines that he used when he did the original reconstructive surgery. It was also mentioned that during the procedure he found a hematoma (sp?) and removed it. I don't know what that means, but it sounds like a good thing!



*** ICK MODE OFF ***

Then Doc D popped in, took a good look, decided to wait another week to take out the staples, and proclaimed everything as healing up well. Then he said I can start putting weight on it as much as I can tolerate and can let it get wet in the shower. Then we put a stockinette over it, slapped my boot on it (again...ugh), and
out the door we went.

So next Thursday we go to get the staples out and get the orders for yet more PT. Oh boy.

It's nice to get those bandages off, but this dang boot STILL sucks and no padding on the staples or swelling is just a BIT on the uncomfy side. Oh well. It should be better pretty quickly this time.

See ya!