Nearly 10 weeks post-op

It's been almost 10 weeks since the operation, and I am almost pain-free! My ankle aches after a long day and still swells to cankle-like proportions if I've walked more than 7 km or done too much standing up. However, it's just so much better than I could have imagined 3 weeks ago!
My leg is gaining strength and is almost back to its sturdy self. According to my pedometer I manage about 5 km a day on average, so although I'm far from back to my normal day's activity, it's not too shabby at all.
The only things are can't do are yoga and walking on sand. I'm missing both of these activities A LOT, but must be patient. After the 6 week post-op check, I'm hoping to be able to go back to my yoga practice. This has been my longest break from yoga ever since I started 14 years ago. Even after having my children I only took a week off!
I've been doing some very simple poses and breathing exercises to keep things ticking along, but the very limited range of movement in my ankle and foot makes my usual advanced practice look like a very long way off.... I can wait, but I really miss inversions and balances.....

Pilates is good, but it doesn't bring me the clarity and calm that yoga does.
I'm sure I can wait another couple of weeks.
I'm also longing to do a really long beach walk....

Day 8 of walking

It's been a week since I started walking again without the boot. I've followed my surgeon's orders and started off using crutches, gradually moving to one then no crutch.

It's been an incredibly hard week, but I am so impressed with the progress I've made.

Day 1 - 2 I hobbled around painfully with a lot of nerve pain and very little stability in my left ankle. I managed to walk about .4 km very slowly with my crutches.

Day 3 - 4 I got rid of one crutch and walked about .5 - .6 km. It was painful and slow. My foot is still very swollen, so my running shoe feels very tight and uncomfy. I realised I could remove the inner sole, so giving me another cm or so of depth for my foot.
This made a huge difference!

Day 5 I walked to the bus stop, got the bus to work, walked from the bus stop to my office, went out for lunch and then returned home the same way WITHOUT my crutch! I walked a total of 1.4 km!

Day 6 Walked 3.2km: Went to work, walked across a bit of campus to a meeting. Walked home, went to hairdressers, walked home!

Day 7 walked 3.6km: took kids swimming, walked up to the shops, walked home, walked to friends' house for dinner.

Day 8 walked 4.7km: Sunday meander to he local Chinese restaurant to meet friends, to park for a play, to parents' house, to friends' house, to book shop and back home. Yay me!
I'm still walking quite slowly with a slight limp, but things are improving so much more quickly than I expected. It's such a great feeling to be mobile again.
My foot is very swollen after today's exploits, but I'm icing it and raising it and it will be fine soon.


The next hurdle will be to get the swelling down so that I can wear normal shoes.

Walking again.

The x ray showed that the bone has healed well, and the tendon seems to be doing fine, so after 6 ridiculously annoying weeks, I'm allowed to walk again.
Except it's not that easy... My muscles in my left calf have atrophied, my foot is bruised and suffering a fair bit of nerve pain and it's all just a bit too terrifying.
The deal is that I need to walk in the boot for the next 2 - 3 days, starting off with both crutches to help, then losing one of them. After 2 or so days, I need to lose the boot and walk with a crutch, gradually moving to nothing.
I must say that it all seems like an impossible feat at the moment. My foot hurts! My body hurts!
And I thought I had a high tolerance for pain (I didn't find giving birth too bad, for example)

I walked for about 30 mins with the boot yesterday and it was exhausting, but I felt very proud of myself afterwards.

Here's a pic of the top of my foot, and my new favourite unction: bio-oil. It's amazing for fading scars... After only 2 days of using it my scar on the top has already faded significantly.
According to the blurb it's good for stretch marks, discolouration and ageing too. I may well start bathing in it!!

And a pic of me walking... Such a great feeling despite the discomfort.

2 more sleeps with the boot....

Only two more sleeps until I find out if the boot can come off. I'm quite terrified by the thought of trying to walk after 6 long weeks of no weight-bearing at all.
I have missed walking So Much. My normal pre-op life consisted of walking to work and back every day, plus walking across campus to meetings, picking up kids and walking them to various activities. Probably 10 km of walking a day on a good day.

I'm also wondering what on earth I'll wear on my feet while I'm re-learning to walk. Obviously I can't wait to wear proper shoes... Including the new Fendi ones I bought recently, but they're probably not going to be very comfortable over the next few weeks.

Perhaps Birkenstocks might be the answer.

Falling over

Last night I fell over. I've nearly fallen over loads of times since the operation, but have always managed to prevent myself.
The incident was mainly my own fault, but also due to general hysteria about a HUGE spider in the kitchen.

We live in an old Federation (Edwardian) terrace in the inner city of Sydney. It's not very renovated and there are a lot of holes in the walls. Local fauna are a constant feature, including Huntsmen spiders.
I don't mind spiders, really, as long as they're not actually on me. Huntsmen aren't lethal; in fact they are good to have around as they eat mosquitoes!
Anyway, last night at around 9:30pm, J spotted a truly massive one in the kitchen. M (oldest child) went to see it and I hobbled in on my crutches too.
J decided to take a photo of it, but wanted to get a pic of it next to something to show its true size. He picked up an espresso cup to put next to it, and of course the spider jumped off the wall towards him.
M screamed and backed towards me. I forgot I was on crutches and jumped backwards, falling straight over and landing on my sacrum on our hard wooden floor.

There's no real damage done, but I'm very bruised and can't lean back without being in pain. I took some Endone to get to sleep and am still in quite a bit of discomfort today. My right buttock is also very sore.... I'm also really mortified to be so decrepit, stupid and vulnerable. It's bad enough being unable to walk, but now I'm also unable to sit and lay down comfortably. Fuck I am so sick of it.

However, in the spirit of being positive and not too self-pitying, I'm looking ahead to the weekend and following that, my last few days on crutches.

Joe never did get a pic of last night's arachnid guest, so here's a visual from http://www.cutehomepets.com/long-legged-huntsman-spider-facts/

Just over one more week until I can try to walk

I'm due to head back to the hospital next Weds, 27th March, to have scans and see if the boot can come off. If it does, I'll be able to weight-bear and learn to walk again!
I'm terrified of how it's going to feel when I take my first steps. It's only been 6 weeks, but my left calf has shrink to the size of a slim gazelle! There is very little muscle left, by the looks of it. Not to mention the scary ankle and foot scar.

I'm sure it will be OK, but it is a bit of a scary thing to contemplate right now. I'm pleased that I'll have the Easter long weekend to get used to being boot and crutch less before going back to work the following week.

D turns 8 today, so we're heading out for Pizza tonight. J will wheel me there in the chair of torture.

Weeks 2 - 3

Things are starting to settle down into a slow and steady routine.
I had a great birthday - dinner with J and 8 friends at Deus ex Machina. It was the perfect disabled venue: huge space, no stairs and a disabled loo. The food was pretty good and I had some delicious Chablis. It was so good to be out at night!
Clothes are a bit of an issue, as it was chilly, but I keep reminding myself of how exciting it will be once I can wear proper clothes and shoes again. I was exhausted by the time I got home (10pm!! So early!)
My wonderful parents invited us round for lunch, too, and my mother cooked me delicious food and her very alcoholic Tiramisu! Altogether a great birthday, despite my lack of mobility.

The ankle still hurts quite a bit at night. It throbs and tingles and consequently, I've been sleeping badly. I wake up every hour or so in pain. It's annoying, so yesterday, I went to my GP to get the wound checked and see if I could get a script for something stronger than basic Paracetomol.
The Dr checked it out, and says it's looking fine, although still not quite closed up at the side. In addition, the top of my boot where the bone was removed is still REALLY bruised and discoloured. It looks terrifying!
she also wrote me a script for Endone (oxycodine), and last night I had my first decent night's sleep in ages.

This weekend, we're going away to stay with friends at their beach house. I'm very much looking forward to spending some time away from our house, and hope to sit outside on their deck to get some vitamin D!

my birthday lunch

birthday cake

Chair lift at the Dr's surgery - very exciting indeed!

Day 8. Cast off

Today was removal of cast day. Stitches were also removed. J took pics, but they're pretty gruesome, so don't scroll down if you're squeamish. The poor old foot is very swollen still, and feels like some alien creature attached to my leg without its supportive cast. It's very shaky and sore.
I hobbled to the Physio next to the Dr's room and got fitted with a boot. It's huge!
I have to wear it 24 hours a day, apart from when I shower. I also can't weight bear at all for another 5 weeks. I need to do basic foot up and down movements in the shower, but that's it 'til the end of March.

Day 6

Yesterday was a bit of a down day. My ankle hurt a lot and I'm trying not to reach for the morphine too frequently. I've only got a couple left, so I'm only allowing myself to take them at night.
Today is a bit better. The effort of showering is still huge, it's such a major faff taping the leg into a plastic bag, arranging the chair in the shower etc etc etc.
If nothing else, this period of being disabled is giving me some idea of how challenging it must be to live with a permanent disability. I really need someone around to help most of the time.

I've also been pondering what to do on my upcoming birthday. Usually I'd go out for dinner with a group of friends, but the thought of trying to find a place that can accommodate my needs is daunting. The crutches necessitate a certain amount of space, few steps and a loo big enough to manoeuvre with crutches. I'm sure many places exist which fulfil these criteria, but buggered if I know any of them!
A compromise might be to host a dinner here, but get everyone to bring a dish. I'd prefer to go out, though, as I've been stuck inside since last Thursday.
I'm getting quite excited about my trip to the hospital on Friday. It will be good to put on some proper clothes and see the outside world.....

Recovery days 1 - 4

The first few days have been much harder than I'd anticipated. Not being able to weight-bear at all on my left leg is REALLY annoying.
Straight after coming round from surgery I braved a trip to the loo on my crutches. It was terrifying. The combination of dizzyness post GA and total lack of crutch experience made me very slow and unsteady. A very humbling experience for me. I'm very active and physically fit, so take movement and dexterity for-granted. Now I feel like a total invalid - everything is an effort.
In addition, the pain is fierce. About 4 hours post-op the local anaesthetic injected while I was under General anaesthetic wore off.
Morphine is a great drug, but the accompanying nausea and dizziness are awful. I spent one night in hospital, completely off my face on morphine and temazepan, alternating between throwing up and sleeping.
Note my intact pedicure! A girl friend who is an anaesthetist informed that there's absolutely no need to remove nail polish before GA - there are plenty of ways to ensure a patient is oxygenated.

The following day I came home, and am now settled into my 'home' for the next few weeks: the study downstairs. Our house has terrifyingly steep stairs, so there's no way I'm attempting those on crutches. Our bathroom is, luckily for me, downstairs, so easily accessible on my crutches.
The children and J are being amazing - fetching me stuff and attending to my needs. Not sure how long the novelty of having an almost bed-ridden mother will last.
I seem to have sorted out my morphine dosage so that I'm taking enough to dull the pain, but not enough to make throw up.
The other very glam thing I have to do every day is inject myself in the stomach with Clexane.
This is a drug to prevent blood-clotting in people post-operatively. It's a good job I don't mind needles.....

Only 4 more sleeps until I return to hospital to have this cast removed. If all goes well, I'll have a boot instead, which will make showering a lot less of a faff.

Surgery

Here's a picture that my surgeon (Kim Slater) took during the op. the tendon is grossly inflamed and has a huge split down the middle.
I'm very lucky that my employer's insurance covered all of this. Dr Slater is apparently one of the best at ankle surgery, which gives my great confidence!

A very long break....

I've neglected this blog for the past 6 years! Pretty lazy really, although in my defence I work full-time and have 2 children.
I've decided to resurrect the blog to document my recovery from surgery on my Peroneal Tendon.
Here's a précis of the story to date.
Last October, I twisted my left ankle on the cobblestones at work. I was rushing across campus wearing flat sandals and twisted it outwards. I remember it hurting a fair bit, but I could walk, so I hobbled back to my office and tried to rest it for the remainder of the day. I've sprained my right ankle numerous times, but this injury didn't feel the same, so I presumed it wasn't serious. It didn't hurt too much and the swelling was minimal.
3 months later, after an MRI, ultrasounds and numerous visits to specialists a diagnosis was reached of a split tear to my Peroneus Brevis tendon.
I had surgery to repair it 4 days ago on 14th Feb, and thought I'd document the process here, seeing as I'm unable to walk for 6 long weeks.

Just a word of warning: I'm planning to post pics of it, some of which may be unpleasant, so if you're squeamish, beware!