This morning I had my 2 month post op check up and everything looks good he said except for the swelling.  He didn't say the swelling was really bad but would have liked it to have been less is all.  That plus I am still  having joint pain so he has me out of work til Sept 26th. but said I can go back to work sooner if I feel like I am able to and the swelling and pain has subsided.  He wants me to keep it elevated anytime I am laying around. 

I went to physical therapy yesterday (5th time) and they had me do all kinds of stuff.  They first started me off on the bike for about 8 min and then I went straight to the treadmill to walk for about 5 min.  This got the blood flowing and she went straight into some massaging of the ankle joint and bottom of the foot because both were very sore and tight (or swollen).  After that she was stretching my toes cause they seem to be the worst as far as being stiff and hurting.  After all that I walked around the room barefooted trying to loosen up the joint and to try and stop limping and hobbling.  It was very difficult because the toe joints hurt so much when the toes are brought backwards when walking.  I don't have the strength to push off with my toes either so walking makes it very difficult right now.  After that I played a game of pick up using my toes only and wow that was hard, its even hard for me without the injury LOL.  The day ended with some electric shock treatment and ice!!! 

I have been given the OK to walk crutch free and do whatever I can tolerate except running or anything impact once the swelling and pain has left.  After my check up I went to the YMCA and got in the pool for about an hour and walked forward and backward. This helped out a lot!  My goal is to be walking in a shoe with minimal limp by Sept 26th so I can get back to work and my training!!  

Physical therapy going good

It's been 4 days of therapy so far and everything seems to be going good.  Therapist has been doing massage on the side and under my foot to try and loosen things up and that has seemed to help out alot!!  The last session I was at on Thursday the therapist tried a electric stimulation on the ankle joint and I think that really has loosened things up.  For the most part I am now walking (limping flat footed) without crutches.  The only time I use crutches is when I am going somewhere with a lot of walking or in the morning when my foot is very tight.  I use flip flops to walk around in because walking barefoot doesn't allow as much cushion and starts to hurt the bottom of my foot.  I have pain on the top and bottom of my foot when I walk or put weight on it.  I am unable to actually walk because my toe joints and ankle are still to stiff and sore at the moment but hopefully in about 3 weeks I will be good.

Aside from the injury, I have decided I am going to go to school to be a Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) because I think I would enjoy it. Next semester I will start taking some pre reqs and getting them out of the way.  

Here is what the scar looks like today.  Still kinda swollen but not to bad huh!!

Forgot to mention last weekend me, my daughter and g/f decided to go school shopping and ended up being on my feet for 4+ hours.  I was still in the boot the whole time too.  My foot ended up becoming so swollen but had no pain.  It looked like I was allergic to something, LOL.  Here are some pics after a shower and it was still swollen.  It still gets swollen after a long time on my feet but that is common.  I know my feet still have an orange tint from the iodine but thats hard to get off.

I have been to my 3rd therapy and things are starting to loosen up some.  I now have 10 degrees of motion in my ankle up and down.  I am able to put some weight on it and kinda limp my way around but not actually walk just yet.
As far as the incision it is looking really good.  The steri strips are all off as well as the scabs.  I tell you what when those strips were on it became really itchy under the tape cause of the dead peeling skin.  I am still have some itching but not as bad.  The numbness is still there and is kinda sore around the ankle area still.  I will post up more later next week when I start walking some. Here is a pic of my current scar, LOOKING GOOD!!

First day of physical therapy!

This morning I had an appointment for my first therapy.  The therapist basically just evaluated me and did some measurements as far as how flexible my ankle was.  After that he had me do some easy stretching exercises to try and loosen up the ankle some.  Wasn't anything hard this morning at all. I was told I need to try and lose the steri-strips by my next visit on Wed.  I came home and took off a middle one cause it was almost off and one of the end ones.  While taking these off it started peeling my dead skin off and was very weird, LOL.  I am going to hold off on the others until my doctor says to take them off.  (he wanted me to wait til they fell off but that wasn't going to happen because they are on there pretty good).
As far as everything else it seems good.  The incision is getting scabs on it and some have already came off. Foot is peeling from all the dead skin from I don't know what.  Foot is still swollen and is tender around the top, bottom, and near the ankle area.  I still have numbness around the incision and have a feeling that will be there for a while.  I also am still getting some tingling or sharp jolts in the incision area but that is from the damage to the nerves he said.

Here is a picture of how it looked about 4 days before taking 2 strips off

Strip off, looks good

this shot looks kinda weird, LOL. That stuff peeling maybe just the glue they put on or could be dead skin. Which ever it is it felt good to be off. Oh, and the white on my heels is because my feet are so dry and probably has dead skin.

I am still unable to walk at this time but hopefully in a week or 2 I will be walking in the boot.  I have been sleeping without the boot for the last week and it feels so good but may have to start wearing it at night again  to prevent my foot from getting to relaxed and going to limp.  My doctor is hoping I will walk into his office at the beginning of sept in either the boot or my shoes!!  We shall see.

4 week post op update!!

Went to the Dr this morning for my 4 week post op appointment.  Dr said it looked really good and that the color of my foot was normal due to the blood pooling in my foot.  The toes and foot will become normal again once it becomes less stiff.  He wants me to still wear the boot for 2 more weeks but to start putting some weight on it as much as I can tolerate and to try and ween myself off the crutches.  3 weeks in he would like me to try and see if I can tolerate wearing shoes because at the next appointment (1 month) he hopes I will be walking in shoes.
I am scheduled to have physical therapy 2 times a week but my first one won't start for another week (Aug 11th).  In a way I can't wait but then the other part of me say I know its going to suck and probably hurt like a mother!!!  I still have to keep the tape on my incision and only cut off the tape that has peeled away.  I can see the scar is starting to get a little crusty and scabs are forming which are all good signs!!  The itching is getting more intense and I have my handy little back scratcher to solve that problem!
I have tried for the first time putting some weight on it and man does it hurt, LOL.  I am going to try and keep moving it as much as I can but going to limit trying to put to much weight on it right now until my first therapy session.  That way maybe it will have loosened it up some and be less painful.  Anyways here are some pics of how it looks 1 month after surgery.  I will keep posting updates as I progress!!

Well tomorrow is my 4 week post op check and I will see where I go from there.  I have been in and out of the boot for 2 weeks. I am not really moving it to much just letting some air get to it .  I have a few issues I will need to bring up to the dr tomorrow.  One of the problems is my foot gets really red and swollen when I am up for 3 minutes or more.  I know the common reason for this is because blood is rushing down but I will see tomorrow. The other issue is my toes are curled up and stay that way.  I can move them down to were they are level but then they just return back.  I don't know if this is because they are just stiff from me not using them or what.  Other than that I am feeling good.  I don't know if I will return to work light duty or off for another 2-3 weeks.  I work on my feet 8-9 hours a night on concrete floors and that is my biggest concern as I would hate to re-injure it because I went to work to early.

Here is a picture showing the difference in color

Here is a picture of my normal foot 

Surgery foot with curved toes (looks weird)