4 Months+ (July 28)

Another travel update.  Had a much longer flight (1 hour + 1.5 hour layover + 4 hours) last weekend.  Wore my compression sock and took aspirin.  Ankle and foot didn't swell at all.  Was very impressed.  However, I did have another interview on Tuesday.  1+ hour drive, 6 hour interview, and 1+ hour drive home.  By the end of the day, it was sausage foot again.  Very frustrating.  I didn't wear my compression sock as it would have looked odd.  On a positive note, swelling was down the following morning.  I am still pretty sore though.

Through experimenting, I have been able to narrow down what upsets the ankle a bit.  The biggest culprit is the lack of support.  If I wear my tennis shoes, I can walk for hours without swelling issues.  If I wear sandals though, my foot balloons within a few hours.  I am trying something new today and wrapped my foot/ankle with an ace bandage and wearing flip-flops.  Will see how it goes.  Really hope it helps as wearing shoes during the summer is torture.

I still have a dent in my calf muscle from the gastroc recession.  The scar is on the front but the dent is in the back.  I am slowly rebuilding the muscle in my lower calf and can almost go up on my toes using just that leg.  Almost.  My pain is mostly on the lateral side of my foot underneath that ankle bone.  Therapist said it's the tendons getting irritated.  Burns pretty bad after I work my leg.  Other than that, I get pain at the very base of my achilles.

Will try to upload pic of calf later.

4 Months (June 18)

Almost 4 months out from surgery.

Had my first trip since going under the knife.  Wasn't sure how my ankle/foot would handle it.  I wore a compression sock on the flight and took aspirin just in case.  I was very careful to keep my foot moving every 20 minutes or so while in the air and rested it on my bag while waiting at the gate.  My flights were 45 minutes and then 2 hours (~6 hours total travel time).  Was very pleased when I took off the compression sock and my foot was not really swollen at all!  Just a bit around the toes.

The bad news is that I had an interview the following day and was sitting for 8+ hours with my leg down.  My foot exploded.  Was huge.  I didn't wear the compression sock but was still shocked that it swelled so much.  I attribute some of it to having a few beers after the interview as the swelling always seems worse after having a few.  Anyway, I elevated it that night and most of the swelling was gone by the morning.

I did go on a walking tour and was cruising around the city for about 6 hours.  I wore tennis shoes but no compression sock.  Strangely, my foot didn't swell very much.  Very odd.  Once again, I'm beginning to see some correlation between alcohol and the swelling.

Flying back today and will report anything interesting.  Still very upset that I had this surgery.  Not worth the ramifications (in my case).