Recovery: Day 12 - First Doctor Follow-up

This morning I had my first post-surgery follow-up appointment with my doctor – and it brought good news!

It was sort of a rough morning before that. It was my first day battling rush hour with the crutches and the buses…I didn’t realize JUST how slow things move. I was all stressed out because I was 15 minutes late (though this doctor notoriously runs at least 45 minutes behind schedule…) and then when I got there the receptionist didn’t have my appointment listed for some reason. I was like, um, I’m here…luckily there was no problem and I was actually seen pretty quickly.

The doctor removed the boot and the dressing and took a look. He said it seemed okay and he felt around a little bit. There was no pain where he used to push and I’d cringe – so that’s good! Then he removed the 3 stitches (ew) and taped up the wound a bit.

After that he sent me down the hall for an x-ray. He put my old x-ray with the Haglund’s Deformity and the new one from today up side by side and there’s a big difference in my heel bone. It no longer comes to a sharp point. It’s long and flat like it should be, so it won’t dig into my tendon anymore.

He told me I was doing great for just 2 weeks later, and said that I can start bearing full weight on the foot (which means a little break for my aching arms!). I said, “Still with the crutches?” and he said I could slowly wean myself off of them (hurrah!!!). I’m not entirely sure how slow “slowly” is…but he said if I’m up to it then I can remove the boot in another 2 weeks! Oh that will be amazing…

He gave me a prescription to start physical therapy again just to stretch it. Even the few times I took the boot off myself these 2 weeks I haven’t actually moved the ankle joint. Today he pointed my foot (success…though sadly it still not a pretty ballerina arch, haha) and then went to flex it. Eek. It wasn’t really painful, but it was super stiff. My knee was bent and I could barely get to a 90 degree angle comfortably, which means standing on it flat won’t really work just yet. PT will help I hope.

Anyways I left there with an appointment for a follow up in another 4 weeks, when he’ll start to add strengthening work to my physical therapy plan. That puts me at mid-October.

I’m happy. I was starting to really be afraid of getting around the city on the crutches and in the heavy boot…it’s really really hard. But to know that it’s only a week or so more with crutches and 2 with the boot is really encouraging! Even if I won’t be back to dancing for a while still, just being able to walk is something I miss dearly! We take it for granted but…

When I left I tried to bear weight as he told me and walk semi-normally with the crutches. It was so awkward. The back of my heel sort of feels numb or something because I haven’t used it in 2 weeks. And the boot has a gigantic platform, so if I step on a straight leg as I normally would I have to walk on high releve with my good foot, haha. Weird. I’m sure I’ll get used to it. My right foot sure is glad to have a break though!

It’s progress, anyway…