Day 12 (April 1)

Had my stitches out today, x-rays taken, and fiberglass cast set.  Overall, not a bad experience.  I had read on a number of posts that it can be rather painful, especially when they set your foot at 90 degrees.  I took a daizepam (valium) at 7:30 this morning as well as a Norco.  Just in case, I put a few Oxycodone IR's in my pocket.  I arrived at doctors office and was back in the room within 10 minutes.  Unfortunately, my doctor is on holiday so I was seeing all his partner's team members.

The medical assistant removed my surgical dressing and splint.  She was very gentle.  She then called in the doc to take a look at stitches and make sure everything was okay.  Temp doc was horrible.  Zero personality, one word answers to questions, just very unhelpful overall.  Anyway, I got the all-clear and was taken to get x-rays.  I asked the tech about pain and told her what I'd read online.  She asked what meds I was on and suggested I take the Oxy IR.  I complied.  X-rays weren't very painful, just difficult when maneuvering foot and placing it on hard surface.  X-rays looked good so I was sent back to room for stitches removal.  One thing that is different from all the other times I've had stitches taken out is that they now spray the stitches with some crazy cold solution that kind of numbs the area.  Very nice perk.  Not that it hurts to get them out usually (and I've had stitches and staples removed many times), just stings sometimes so it was nice to not have that happen.

Next step was going to casting room.  Tech was very friendly and walked me through the process.  They used a crazy upside down L shaped contraption that you rest your foot on to ensure a 90 degree angle.  It wasn't easy to get my foot in position and I could really feel the achilles stretching.  Overall, not very painful.  Not sure if that was due to pain killers or my foot being set pretty well in the original surgical cast.

I was then instructed to come back in 6 weeks.  Absolutely no weight bearing.  If I get the cast wet at all, I need to come in for a new one.  She suggested I keep my leg elevated one more week if possible but that I can go to work if I can tolerate pain.  The real kicker was when she said my ankle will be swollen for a year.  That's going to make work difficult considering I'm in international sales and flying with swelling is not recommended due to increased chance of thrombosis.

They recommended one of those knee scooter things that you see old people on.  I did ask if many younger guys get them and they said almost all of them do.  It's being delivered tonight.  Also purchased one of those specially designed bags for my cast so I can take a shower with much less risk of water getting through.

So, got home and rested leg.  Took a 2 hour nap.  Leg aches a bit but overall I just feel relieved to know everything is okay down there.  I'm still getting random shooting pains anywhere from the calf muscle to the bottom or side of my feet.  Guess that will happen for a while.  Pain is darn-near intolerable when I first get up after laying down.  Also, if I need to stand in one place, my leg begins to spasm.  I did ask doc for some more diazepam as that helps to settle the muscles.

Update:  My foot really ached in the evening and I took a Norco at 11 which seemed to help.  Feels like cast is too small around end of foot and my toes are tingling/partially numb.  I know they said to call if they go numb but I'm not sure if it's due to cast or just the procedure.  I'll call on Monday.

So, here's the good stuff.  Pics of the foot.

Top set of stitches is where doc went into for the ligament repair (modified brostrom procedure), removal of bone fragments, and overall inspection of tendons, etc.).  Middle set is from the calcaneal osteotomy.  Where he went in to cut the bone.  The third set that you can barely see on the back of heel is where the screws went in.

Here's another view where you can see back of heel.

Here is where the doc went in for the gastrocnemius slide.  Assistant was a bit surprised there weren't any stitches.

And here are x-rays showing the screws.

(Had to remove pic of xray as it showed personal information.  You can search for a similar pic online)

Not sure how often I will update blog going forward.  Will do so occasionally when reaching milestones.  Main purpose of this blog was so people can know how bad it can be (and I'm sure it could be even worse than what I experienced).