Things I wish I’d known pre and post op

• First and foremost – This thing! http://iwalk-free.com/crutch-testimonials/ Only $149 and your insurance may cover it anyway?? Shut up and take my money!! If there was one thing I could choose to redo about my recovery, this is it. I would have had this, and would have saved myself scary moments on the stairs and transitioning from wet parking lots to slick floors. I did a lot of hopping because I hated the crutches so much. Had a lot of close calls when I was supposed to be completely non weight bearing, where I almost landed on my Boot Foot. The shoulder pain from the crutches. Oh God, the shoulder pain. Sometimes it would keep me up at night and was definitely worse, at times, than the post op pain. If I ever find myself non weight bearing again, I will have this.
• A frozen bottle of water will be your best friend for the first few weeks of full weight bearing. The bottom of your heel will feel painful and even crunchy your first few weeks of full weight bearing. You will think to yourself, “What the hell have I done? I had surgery to get rid of heel pain!” Thing is, it’s a totally normal response of the fascia to transitioning back to full weight bearing. Roll the painful areas on the bottom of your foot on that frozen tube of bliss for as long and as forcefully as you can stand to. Don’t stop til the painful areas are numbed. Repeat as often as necessary.
• You will need a backless shoe for around the house for awhile. Some recommend Crocs; I personally believe those holes in Crocs are where your  dignity escapes. I had a pair of Merrell clogs that were a godsend, and bonus – I’m not embarrassed to wear them out in public now, so $80 well spent.
• As for the long term outlook for your shoe collection – don’t make any hasty decisions. Seriously. Give it a year. Shoes that bother your incision area at 15 weeks out may not bother the area at 6 months out, or 11 months out. I hastily re-homed a pair of Merrell low cut hikers, and I’m regretting it, because other shoes I thought I’d never be able to wear again, feel fine now.
• Physical Therapy is at least 50% of the equation for recovery. Don’t skip it! Even if you don’t go 3x/week, a good physio will keep you progressing through range of motion and strengthening. Those were two very distinct phases in my recovery – both equally important. You won’t get to strengthening until you get more r.o.m. and you won’t get back to normal gait and activities without strengthening.
• Exactly a year ago today, I had my pre-op xrays and scheduled my surgery. I can’t believe a year went by so quickly. If you’re worried about the recovery time, read that previous sentence again. Recovery time truly is just a blip in the grand scheme, though when you’re in the middle of it, it feels like forever.

Noncompliant and overdoing it

Long day full of errands yesterday. Pet stores, grocery store, lunch. This was followed by the obvious putting away of everything, cooking and consuming of dinner,  and bonus activity of cleaning off an icy, mildewed kayak for a Craigslist buyer; then meeting said buyer, hoping he wasn’t a murderer, and sending him on his way with a kayak that dwarfed his Yaris. I wondered if there was still a kayak on that Yaris when he got home, as I drifted off to fitful sleep.

I thought it was kind of funny at first, how much pain medication I went home with after surgery. I’m starting to now wonder if it was intended for crutch related shoulder pain. Maybe it’s for throb I get lying in bed, when my hips wonder why they’re finally on the same plane of motion and seize up in protest. 

Related: I feel like I need to do something active/productive off my feet. I want to swim or maybe get a buoyancy belt and do some aqua jogging at the gym pool. I also feel like being able to use our hot tub would do wonders for my aches and therefore my sleep, but still haven’t figured out how I’d get in or out without Das Boot. 

Focusing on flexibility

I haven’t been cleared to do anything except PWB with two crutches and switching out to flat bottom on the boot. 

However, after reading several people’s accounts, I am taking a proactive approach. I am starting range of motion exercises on my own. Ankle circles, both ways. Drawing the alphabet with big toe of surgery foot. Toe scrunches. I am also massaging the incision a couple of times a day. I want to be ahead of the game when I am finally cleared for PT. 

I have been walking around in the boot quite a bit without my crutches. (Against my ortho’s advice). I am a little sore at the end of the day on the bottom of my heel, but no pain nearly approaching pre-surgery. Sometimes when standing without my boot, getting dressed, I put my surgery foot down flat. Probably about 10% of my body weight on it. Basically just using it to help me balance. I am extremely careful when doing this because I know that one wrong move, one slip, and I could ruin all of this work. I have read stories of people experiencing a re-rupture once they were cleared for two shoes, just a slip or a misstep, and that scares the hell out of me. The accounts I saw, granted, were from people whose initial surgery was due to a traumatic rupture. I have read that where mine is repaired it will be stronger than before. I had grand visions of going back to full duty at work after getting back into two shoes. Now, I’m not so sure. My job as a paramedic is regularly a landscape of uneven surfaces, carrying heavy loads of precious cargo down uneven and/or slippery steps (often while walking backwards), stepping in and out of trucks whose steps and bumpers are at hip level for me. I am lucky as a supervisor to also have office duties that keep me going to work for a few hours at a time and in the loop, but we still do a lot of time in the field. I don’t mind working through pain. I just can’t stomach the thought of walking on a ticking time bomb. Thankfully I know my physical therapist well, and he will not recommend release until he is confident I am ready. I am just not mentally prepared to be off full duty for more than 4 months. 

Back to today’s reality: Found on the Vacoped website that they actually sell an elevator thing that slips over your non-boot shoe, that makes your leg lengths less uneven. (Also a weather cover/sole for Das Boot which was not nearly as exciting to me but also seems like it will be necessary.) I will be purchasing both of these in the next month or so. 

So… in conclusion, I am the bad patient I was really trying so hard not to be, but always knew I would end up being. I have to be careful, because for me there is no such thing as half-assed ignorance of the rules in my world. 

Nothing To See Here…

Same ol, same ol. 

Still trying my darndest to stick to using two crutches as I’ve been told to. It’s not easy, as they feel like more of a hindrance than anything most of the time.  The shoulder pain from using the damn things, and the hip and back pain from always having different length legs, is far worse and longer lasting than any post surgery pain I had. 

Next milestone, if it can be called that, comes 1/1. I get to switch out the huge platform bottom of Das Boot for a flat bottom. Still supposed to use two crutches after that. Next follow-up Jan 23.

Sure would be nice if an AFLAC check would show up. Luckily, I’ve saved up, literally, enough sick time at work to cover a surgery. However the perfect storm of bills from remodeling my house to sell, winter utility bills and property taxes on said house, paychecks without the built in OT I’m accustomed to,  and of course, Christmas – have all come together to make the last few pay periods absolutely miserable. Thank goodness the house is 3/4 of the way to being sold. Just waiting for the results of the inspection. On a 103 year old house. Nothing to see here, right? 

Day 11 Post Op

Another milestone or two.

Got out of the house yesterday to go to work for a couple hours and push some paper. Nice to be 1) out of the house and 2) useful. 

That brings us to milestone 2: complete mastery of the steps, both down and up. First couple times dealing with the steps I resorted to the butt scoot method. Down or up. Just wasn’t strong enough or sure enough on the crutches. Yesterday, made it down, all the way downstairs, on the crutches. Handily, I might add. And when we came back, I crutched all the way upstairs from the garage. Mightily, I might add. 

Some people have to get their Sea Legs when they swing their legs out of bed. I have to get my Crutch Arms.  It’s kind of a shock first thing in the am when you’re feeling a little weak and sore and Beandryl hungover (still taking that to fall asleep; nothing works better). 

So life is looking up and I’m getting little glimpses of the world outside my living room. Just enough to keep from going crazy. I’m getting quite adept at doing the entire shower/dressing change/dressing thing on my own.  My husband is still a rockstar and my hero, but I’m happy to be a little more independent every day. A neighbor is very kindly bringing us dinner tomorrow. It will be nice to give him a little break. 

Healing is going well. Still can’t really see incision. They were not messing around when they Sharpie’d me up before surgery. Pain is occasional and nothing near what I’d experience after a full day of activity pre surgery. I was a little worried after reading some accounts of intractable post surgical pain but that has not been my experience. I’ll get back to you on that when I’m allowed to bear weight.