4 Months+ (August 4)

Did a lot of walking while in California and am still paying for it.  Walks would range from 1 to 2 hours and be up to 5 miles long.  My achilles has been very sore as well as the plantar fascia.  In fact, the whole ankle is sore.  It got to the point that I would have to take a pain pill in order to do the long walk.  I must still be limping a bit as I have developed a pretty bad pain in my lower back.  I will be seeing my therapist today and will ask her.  I also noticed that on long walks, I can feel the screws in my foot and it's pretty irritating.  Thinking that they may need to come out.  Very frustrating.

I did fly back yesterday with the compression sock and my foot swelled this time.  Must have to do with how upset the ankle is on the day of flying.  Had swelling on the medial side as well as lateral.  Most of the swelling on the lateral side went away overnight but the medial side is still pretty bad.

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).

Day 101 (June 30)

Worked my leg too hard on Tuesday night and am paying for it.  I've irritated my plantar fascia and need to take a few days off of working out.  Started getting a shooting pain in the bottom of my foot yesterday morning.  It got worse as the day went on.  Seems to be settling a bit now and hope it's gone tomorrow so I can resume my workout.  I was really pleased with how far I was able to walk Tuesday night and went up an down a steep part of the golf course a few too many times.  My therapist says it should calm down on its own and has taped my foot to provide additional support.  She also told me to make sure I keep stretching my toes, especially the big one.  Also had quite  bit of pain on the medial side of my heel.  That was new.  Has calmed down as well.

Day 99 (June 28)

Almost 100 days post-surgery.  Still having swelling issues and mild pain.  I drove in the car for 2.5 hours and my foot did swell.  Not too bad though.  Spent the next few days on it quite a bit and had "sausage foot" by the end of the third.  I'm walking 30-40 minutes a day on the golf course.  Trying to take as many hills as possible.  I get pain on the lateral side of my foot where the incision was made for the osteotomy.  I understand there are a number of tendons that go through there and it is common as my calf muscle develops.  Speaking of which, I can not go up on my toes with just my one leg yet.  I still need to support it with the other.  The bottom of my foot is finally becoming less sensitive.  It's still far from normal but it is progress.  I have started wearing flip-flops but I don't think my foot likes it.  It swells much more quickly than when I'm in shoes.  Overall, my therapist is still very pleased with the progress.  Sessions typically include the following:

8 minutes on eliptical to warm up
2 minutes on each of the balance boards (side to side, front to back)
3 sets of 10 squats holding onto a rope for support
3 sets of 10 pushing down on elastic with arms (for support) while attempting to go up one toes
Standing on one leg and pulling elastic band towards, away, and across both sides
Standing on one leg and tossing a weighted ball against a trampoline
Standing on soft cushion with legs staggered and tossing ball to the side
2 minutes on total gym focusing on engaging calf muscle only
Calf and foot massage
ROM manipulation of ankle

Day 88 (June 17)

I had my follow-up appointment with my surgeon yesterday.  He took new x-rays and had me walk.  Said everything looks great.  I read the report from my physical therapist and she noted that I was making excellent progress and ahead of schedule.  My surgeon said I was about average as far as progress.  A bit confusing.

I am able to walk with a very slight limp.  I went for a 25 minute walk on the golf course the other day and my quads were pretty sore the following day.  Had to negotiate a fair number of hills.  It's going to take a while for the muscle to come back.  I did try to go up on my toes using my repaired leg only.  No luck.  Need to keep strengthening that calf.  I still experience very slight swelling after physical therapy but it goes down over night.  Most of the swelling occurs where the ligaments were fixed as well as on the medial side of my ankle.

I asked my surgeon about travel and he said I should be fine to fly.  Recommended compression socks as well as aspirin to minimize risk of clotting.  He's not worried about it though.  Just said I'm at a slightly higher risk due to the fact that the vascular system in my leg is still recovering.  I also asked him when the heel pad will start to feel normal.  He said probably another six months.  Great.

One thing to note is that I started taking Tramadol as my pain lessened and didn't need the strength of the Norco.  Be very very careful with Tramadol.  It's marketed as non-addictive but the withdrawals from that were/are 100 times worse than the Norco.  I had 3-4 days of withdrawals when I stopped the Norco and it was mostly malaise, anxiety, and upset stomach.  The Tramadol withdrawals are anxiety, horrible ache in the legs, upset stomach, short temper, inability to sleep, and are lasting much longer.  I strongly recommend having valium (Diazepam) available for when you stop taking the meds.  Need it to sleep and does make the days more tolerable.  I took the Norco for 60+ days and only took the Tramadol for a week.  Crazy.

Day 82 (June 11)

Have made a tremendous amount of progress since my last post.  I am no longer using the boot or crutches.  The swelling is down enough in the morning so that I can see my achilles.  If I'm on my leg for more than a few hours, it does swell up.  Pain comes and goes, sometimes worse than others.  My range of motion is about 70%.  I can't walk down stairs yet but can pretty much do everything else.  My leg is incredibly weak.  Therapy consists of exercises in a therapeutic pool, strengthening, range of motion, and massage.  My calf is very sore and I can feel the knots of muscle.  The bottom of my foot is still very sensitive and stepping on anything (including a grain of sand) feels like a needle.  My heel still feels very awkward.  I bumped the back of it during therapy and it was incredibly painful.  The fat pad is still quite sensitive.  I could definitely work now if I were able to elevate at the office.  Anything that requires an extended amount of time on my feet would not be possible though.  Standing still for more than a few minutes is painful.