Recovery: Day 41ish - Goodbye Boot, Hello Barre!

I'm SOOO happy today!

I just went to my doctor for my 6 weeks post-surgery followup and it's all good news: I can stop wearing the gigantic moon boot AND I can start taking gentle barre!

It's very exciting. I've been getting more and more frustrated by the day with the boot and with not being able to move. I'm sort of scared to take barre because a) I do still feel some pain if I try to plie, and b) I'm going to be SO out of shape. But still...I'm happy. I've been taking pilates and half of yoga for two weeks now, and I'll continue with those things to supplement a few barres per week for now. This is much sooner than I was expecting to get to dance!

I see him again in another 6 weeks, by which time I should be back to full dancing he says. Right now the thought of jumping and pointe shoes seems insane, but...I'll get there slowly I guess. Of course I'll continue with PT, but now we get to add strengthening exercises. I'm headed there now to see what fun I'm in for...

Hooray for progress!

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…