2 days out of the cast

I’ve been making up a bit for being trapped at home in a cast. I couldn’t drive, the driveway was so steep and using a knee crutch on public transport was “interesting.” I did a complete pivot and fell once trying to get into a seat on a bus.

Being able to take the moon boot off to drive has meant I can get out of the house much more easily. I haven’t done anything major, grocery shopping and a visit to a cafe.

Pain wise it’s hard to tell. I have a very high pain tolerance so I tend to block out pain. My toes are no longer numb. I was a bit concerned about this when I was in the cast. It wasn’t tight but they definitely lost sensation. I can wiggle them quite happily. My foot is still swollen and the skin is really dry so it feels a bit strange wiggling the foot. If I try to circle my ankle when seated I get a sharpshooter pain on the outside at the bone. There’s no pain around my incision but when I walk my sole below it feels a bit sore. I also have a bit of pain at the back of my heel. It feels like a carpet burn. So not much pain really. I can walk without the moon boot, for example getting into the shower and I only limp a little.

My biggest issue is the moon boot. I’ve got a small but my calf is so wasted that when I go up and down stairs it moves up and down. Even with the pads placed on my calf it still gaps!

So far I’m very happy with the surgery and I’m looking forward to really testing it out down the track.

My foot is free (sort of)

Yesterday was my 6 week appointment with the surgeon. I’d read up on what to expect at the appointment and following. I knew that the odds were good that my cast and I would part company.

When I arrived I had the cast removed before xraying. It was so good!

My leg was like a hairy reptile! Plus it still had the arrow pointing out it was the right leg.

So now I was back on crutches but without the heavy weight of my cast. I had brought my moonboot because I was hoping I would be signed off on light weight bearing.

Once I’d been x-rayed I saw the surgeon. She showed me the x-ray but said at this time it was impossible to really know if it had fused completely and I’d have another x-ray and appointment in six weeks. It was interesting to see my other ankle bones with space between them and my fused ankle sitting flat on with its screws.

She said I would need to wear the moon boot when I was walking but I could take it off when I was sitting down, driving (yay!), showering and bathing and when I was in bed.  That sounded pretty much what I had read but the next thing was not! She said I could weight bear straight away. I could use crutches or a crutch if I wanted or needed to but basically I could walk as per normal. I put the Moon boot on and took a few steps and my calf cramped up big time! And I couldn’t pull my toes back to stop it. I used one crutch to support me a bit and that helped.

I was a happy camper, if somewhat surprised. 

The side view of the withered limb.

Looking at both my legs together is hilarious. I’ve lost so much muscle mass off the right leg. It is 5cm narrower in dimension than my left. I’m going to have to pay in some pretty serious leg work to get  it back to normal.

The difference. Both legs look swollen due to the angle!

The ankle movement is fantastic already, even with the swelling. The only moment I can’t do is what you would use for a side kick in karate and I’m pretty sure I can survive without that .

I was able to go out grocery shopping today, which was good because online shopping always seems to end with me forgetting to order something.

Below is a video of my range of motion. Enjoy!

 

The thing about using one leg

I have already talked about my poor left knee suffering under the weight of being the soul usable leg.

A couple of days after the ultrasound that definitely diagnosed my Bakers cyst, (which had ruptured and was separating my calf muscles!) my GP phoned. She told me what I already knew but was more inclined to refer me for a steroid injection than she had been at my first appointment. She put a referral through for an aspiration of my Baker’s cyst and a steroid injection.

I rang through to make my appointment. The receptionist said that they only had one radiologist on that week and he hadn’t done this procedure. Did I want to see him or wait until next week when the other doctors will be back on board? Ah, waiting please.

So today I went in for an ultrasound and treatment of the Baker’s cyst. The radiologist was happy to do the steroid but didn’t think aspiration would be necessary. So I had a nice shot of local into the top (not the back) of my knee and then he removed the syringe and put the steroid syringe on so no double dipping around.

So now I’m back home and of course it feels great because the local is doing its thing. I went from a 6 to a 2 on the pain scale, only my calf hurt. Unfortunately it’s going to wear off in a few hours and then it’ll take about 36-48 hours for the steroid to kick in. During that time period I’m likely to get my cast off so some light weight bearing might start so poor old lefty will have a bit less of a load to bear. It was naturally happier when I used my knee crutches rather than fore arm crutches. There was also no way it could propel me up stairs. It could not do the nice pop up.

I haven’t tried since the steroid went in. 

The other problem I encountered was I fell, a lot! My left leg would just go on strike. Most times it was no problem. I tried to step over a speed bump in our driveway and ended up sprawled on the ground. I had to take the crutch off, hard when you’re splayed, stand up with no support and put it back on.  No real injuries following that or any inside falls. The only damaging fall was on a bus, which was stationary. I pivoted around and crashed to the ground. In the process I managed to push my right knee sideways (a trick of mine) and sprain my right shoulder. Because I bruise easily anyway and I’m on aspirin I developed some lovely bruises. My shoulder is still sore but everything else is fine.

I’ve done much and blogged little

My orange cast was so uninspiring. I googled ideas to decorate casts and saw a few using Ironman. My Marvel hero is Captain Marvel so I decided to paint my cast as her boot.
I even managed a visit to the movie to check for accuracy.

Painting an half leg cast is a bit of an exercise in flexibility. I decided I’d paint it as bursting out of my cast. I thought I had acrylic paints but I had watercolour. I thought it would be fine if I sealed it. It was a mistake. The leg bits were fine but the black sole was a recurring nightmare. I couldn’t reach so I got my husband to do it and he was very diligent and painted it nice and thick so no orange showed through. I sealed it but the problem was some areas were still wet underneath and they squished out and I left black marks everywhere my foot touched - the bed sheets, towels...

It was ok but not what I really envisioned. So I bought some paint sample pots in red, blue and gold. Yes that’s right my black paint was a problem but I did not buy black paint. I don’t know what I was thinking. Maybe I didn’t want to have to ask for assistance so I left it out.

The result was much better.

Even the black started to behave after I sealed it all again. That was until I really needed a bath. I knew I could use my cast protector in the bath. All I had to do was equalise the air by opening the seal when the cast was under the water. Yeah, about that, make sure the back of the seal is not under water. A small bit got through. I noticed it in the top corner by the seal and pulled my leg out of the water, threw it over the side of the bath (like I should have done in the first place. Little grey drips fell from the heel and the lining at the top and bottom felt damp. A very long session with the hairdryer on the outside (not top hot setting or you will sizzle your toes) and it was good as new. No dripping black since and no squishiness inside.