1 Month 14 days: I didn’t fall off the planet!

I’m BACK! Wow, do I feel guilty for not updating everyone! I’ve had two doctor’s appointments since my last post. The big difference here is I CAN WALK AGAIN!!!! Now, would you be blogging, or out walking! Heck yeah! Okay, so I’m a little excited but it wasn’t that easy getting here. And I’m not fully healed yet obviously.

My doc appointment on March 22 was when I got taken off the crutches. He put me in regular tennis shoes. It was horrible to walk at first. I was mainly walking on the outside of my foot. Oh yeah, here’s my foot from that day.

Just to show you how the swelling was that day…

Just to show you how the swelling was that day!



What he sent me home from his office... 2 band-aids!



I was in complete shock that he sent me home with two band-aids!!! The swelling is getting better every day, but I generally come home to sausage toes in the evening. Walking got easier and easier as the cut was healing… however most of my walking was on the outer edge of my foot. I was extremely worried that I was going to injure my foot in another way, but thankfully now, I’m past that stage.

I had another doctor appointment on April 5, 2011. Dr. C told me I was a slow healer. I wasn’t shocked. There was a lot of dead skin around the incision (which you may see in the picture below…) All that puffy stuff – yep, dead skin. Gross isn’t it? It does feel better now that he cut it off, but I went in to that Dr. appointment not wanting him to touch it! Guess what the first thing he did was. You got it, cut all the skin off. It does feel better now though. Thanks Dr. C. It actually looks better without it anyways, plus you can see the two spots that aren’t completely healed up too.

Well either I’m doing something wrong on this site is acting funny – maybe it doesn’t like all my pictures. So I will just have the rest of my text here, and you guys will have to sort through the images!

There is a picture of my foot at the bottom. Doesn’t it look much better? We’re on on the downhill slope team. Yes! I’ll leave you with the words of Charlie Sheen “Wow. What does that mean? I’m bi-WINNING.”

I will finish this soon… tired of fidgeting with the computer!

4/4/11 You can see the dead skin around the cut

 

What he sent me home from his office... 2 bandaids!

My foot last night 4/6/11

P.S. I think I am going to make a progression page to show the pictures as it heals. You know, Like a flip book, but not.

Day 20: Just a Quickie

So, I know I haven’t posted in way too long. I feel bad also because my last post was…well, me feeling bad. Feeling a bit better now – emotionally that is. We’re getting there! Only 6 more days on crutches!

I had my computer and pictures(!!!!!!) to post last night, but my computer wouldn’t connect to the Internet. I think my computer does it on purpose, because I have no idea where it is today, so you’re getting the quick version -via iPad- with no pictures 😦

The foot is getting better every day! I can put my foot flat now when I’m sitting and it’s getting more and more comfortable to put weight on it. I think I am going to take my very first shower either tomorrow or Friday night! Knowing me, it will be Friday because I’ll be too nervous for tomorrow. I will take pictures of the incision for sure and post them. I did unwrap the ace bandage last night to see if the bruising on the bottom of my foot had calmed down, and it had. Don’t worry though, it’s still there – so you will get to see some of it. Funny thing is that it’s going to be a surprise to me also to see my incision without the stitches. I was so nervous at the docs office that I forgot to even look at it!

Okay well I’m getting awfully long-winded for a “quickie”…. And I’m not feeling well so I better get some rest! One cool thing – I’ve got some major triceps! Who needs P90x????

2 Weeks and Hopeless

Here’s something I learned today. It may not “hurt” to have stitches removed, but it sure is highly uncomfortable. I wouldn’t say that it hurt, but it did “hurt a little”. Dr. C told me it would.. and I believed him, If I remember correctly his words were  (after” it’ll hurt a little” ) something along the lines of – it’s definitely rough to have stitches removed on the bottom of your foot! I made it through, I didn’t even cry, but Dr. C is awesome and he took them out  gently and made sure I was doing okay. I told him about my problems walking on my foot, he basically said I could walk on it, or not walk on it, whatever I wanted to do. So apparently it’s not important that I walk on it now!  My foot is now bruised all in the middle of my foot and my second toe some. And this really sucks, but I didn’t get to take a picture of my foot before we wrapped it back up.. Sorry! I was busy asking questions and stuff so I didn’t get to. Oh, he did tell me to bring my tennis shoes with me to my next appointment.

Then the bad news all comes. So much for thinking I could take a shower. Dumpster foot remains. Still can’t get it wet for a few more days. He said I could take the dressing off in a couple of days and then get it wet. On crutches for another week and a half. You couldn’t have told me worse news. Enter the hopeless feeling……

Warning: For the remainder of this post I’m going to be very Negative Nancy-like.

I just don’t know how much more of this I can take. Its driving me crazy. I can’t do anything myself. I sit at my desk ALL DAY LONG just wishing I could get up and walk around, but I can’t. I just have to sit there. For whatever reason when I went to the doctor today I thought when I got the stitches out everything would get a little better, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to walk on it as much with the stitches gone, but I was way wrong. Hurts the same. I thought I’d be able to take a shower tonight, nope I had to wash my hair in the kitchen sink again, and take another bath. I think I cried the entire time though the bath. It’s just so depressing. I know it’s my fault going into the appointment today thinking that things would be better on the other end, then it not happening but I guess I was just trying to remain positive.

I’m not trying to make anyone feel sorry for me, so please don’t. I’m just expressing what an emotional wreck this whole thing has made me. I don’t think its just the surgery that’s making me feel this way, I think its more of the fact that I’ve been dealing with the pain and limitations from my foot for over a year and a half now. I can’t tell you the last time I jogged, or walked without pain, and now I can’t even get myself a glass of water. I know that its going to get better, but it’s still hard to see the light.

All I can say is thank goodness after tomorrow its the weekend. I don’t know if I could handle another day this week of trying to walk down the tunnels to get to my building. I really do hope I’m in better spirits by my next post because I don’t like to be this negative. Did I mention its been 2 weeks since the surgery?

Day 13: Called to the Principal’s Office

I have another appointment tomorrow to see Dr. C. I get the stitches out tomorrow, and I am so incredibly nervous about that. Has anyone ever gotten stitches taken out?? Does it hurt? I can’t imagine how it could possibly not hurt. Anytime I accidentally wiggle my toes or step down on my foot, it hurts like you wouldn’t believe. I’m about 93.78% sure that I will cry, at least it won’t be the first time I’ve cried in Dr. C’s office, hopefully he will just hand me a tissue like last time!

I’m also scared that I am going to get in trouble. I mean I’ve done everything I’m supposed to… haven’t gotten the foot wet, elevate when I can, nothing wild and crazy, but I still can’t walk on it. He told me to put weight on it, but it’s so uncomfortable. I found myself in a predicament this evening when I had a drink – that I REALLY wanted to drink, but was home alone. The drink needed to get from point A (my car) to point B (living room) somehow. I decided I would try to put weight on the foot and just go real slow. I made it, but I am walking on the side of my foot. It hurts like crazy to put the inside of my foot down (the arch side). So… I’m walking on the outer edge of my foot, and I’m terrified I’m going to end up fracturing something there or something along those lines. I don’t think Dr. C is going to like the fact that I have not been putting hardly any weight on it, but I’m just not going to do it while it hurts this bad.

Oh- and for yesterday, since it was Mardi Gras, I went out with some friends for dinner and drinks. That was the longest my foot was ever down and never elevated since the surgery. When I got home my foot looked like a small blimp. It was so swollen, and I couldn’t stop laughing my big toe. Swollen toes really are funny looking!

Oh, and I’m pretty sure that no more stitches means I can get the foot wet! It will be farewell to dumpster foot, and hello SHOWER! I should have some fun pics for tomorrow!!!!

Day 11 – “Its just hanging out – ya know, chillin”

As you can tell by my lack of posts, I had a rather uneventful weekend on the foot front. I’m still not in any pain when its just sitting there, it does throb randomly, but thats okay, still better than I was before. I do feel pain in two scenerios, one of which is when I try to walk on the foot (as I’m supposed to be doing…) however, it is highly unpleasant. Imagine walking around with a porcupine stuck to the bottom of your foot, a very small porcupine. So, I try to step down on my heel and the edge of my foot but I’m terrified I’m going to twist my ankle or lose my balance and accidentally put all my weight down on it… cuss words would go flying.

The second situation is irritatingly funny. It happens randomly when I’m not expecting it. Last night it happened when I was lying in bed about to fall sleep. You ever get a muscle that wants to move on its own, or a sudden urge to stretch a muscle. Well – my foot does, almost like a spasm and it will stretch out and my toes will want to stretch up and this by far hurts way more than anything else since the surgery. The bad part is that this is the pain I get most often. Its like my foot has its own little brain, and its sole purpose in life is to watch me cringe after it stretches out. Quit it foot.

Dumpster Foot

I do have a picture for today!! As we all know, I still can’t get my foot wet…. so I put it in a trash bag while taking a bath. I started looking at this earlier and just laughed at my nice little bow, and decided I would share. So there you go, I’ve posted my dumpster foot for everyone to see! I will do a little dance when I get to take a shower again.

As for the emotional side of all this, I’m feeling a little bit better this week. I was feeling pretty crummy last week when my back was hurting, and I was still getting used to the fact that I couldn’t do anything for myself. My back is now 100% better, I’m still careful to not overdo anything, because I don’t want that pain to come back. I am still incredibly frustrated and ready to get back to normal, at least I know I’m not alone in feeling this way – this blog did connect me to someone else that is going through this also! Nicola posted a (very long) comment on the “My Foot History” page – definately check it out, our stories share many similarities,i.e. taking forever to diagnose the actual problems, trying shots, staying off of it, and ultimately having the bone removed. It seems a fractured sesamoid is something hard to diagnose. What a pain!

Oh, and I did go to work today. I did really well! Didn’t fall. And everyone is extremely nice to the girl on crutches! I got more “Good Morning”s today than ever. How funny. I’m going to have arms of steel though by the time this is all over. All my coworkers welcomed me back and all of them asked how my foot was doing… and well “it’s just hanging out – ya know, chillin.”