This past Wednesday I visited the orthopedist again, to get a new cast.  I still had some surgical dressings inside the cast that needed to be checked or removed.  Some of the swelling had gone down, as well, so the cast I had was getting loose.

My first cast was a surgical cast, which basically was a bunch of plastic “plates” strapped over wads and wads of batting and held down with about 20 elastic bandages.  Okay, there were probably only four bandages, but there were a lot.  That cast was cut off with scissors.  The second cast, though, was fiberglass over wads of batting, and required a cast saw to remove.  That was a whole new experience for me, and not just a little frightening.  At one point the blade touched one of my surgical scars and I about jumped off the table.  There is so much nerve damage down there that any touch becomes somewhat of an overreaction by my nerves.  This was no different; once the cast was off it was obvious there had been no damage from the saw.

The foot and ankle are considerably less swollen, although still puffy and bruised.  This time, 12 days after my last cast was put on and 25 days after my break, my ankle was noticeably more stable, and I could move it slightly without feeling like it was going to fall apart like a house of cards.  The pain of moving it is more of an ache than a sharp jab, and that’s got to be a good sign.  The doctor removed the steri strips on the incision on the outside of my ankle, as those are no longer needed.  I told him about the strange pain I have been having on the inside part of the ankle, at my ankle bone above the incision.  He took a close look, cleaned off the area of the fracture blisters (which are healing very nicely) and found a staple that had been missed the last time.  Once he removed the dead skin covering the healing blisters, it was there, shiny and new, mocking all of us.  He removed it, but the pain is still there.  I do believe it is nerve damage, from my ankle having been dislocated for so long, and that it may eventually repair itself.  The skin is numb there, and I think when anything touches that area, no matter how lightly, the nerves that can feel it are overreacting and causing a much larger than necessary feeling of pain.  I can ignore it most of the time, but sometimes it’s pretty bad.  I’m hoping that eases after the cast is off.

Everything appears to be healing well, and I was refitted with another cast, again in hot pink, again non-weight-bearing.  The tech who put my cast on was nice enough to wash off my leg and foot before she put the new cast on, something that I desperately needed.  The doctor assured me that I will be weight-bearing when I walk out of the office on February 14th, cast-free.  I will go into a cam boot, and will likely start physical therapy after that as well. I’m looking forward to being able to move and drive and walk, but I’m not looking forward to the sure pain that will come with PT.  I broke this leg before, and tore up the ankle, and I well remember the torture of PT after that injury.

My poor foot is none too amused by all this cast stuff.  The bottom of my foot is scaly as an alligator.  Of course there’s nothing I can do about that.  The first thing I’m going to do when I get home after getting my cast off is walk up the stairs and take a nice long shower.  Then I’m going to soak the foot/ankle in epsom salts, and slather my foot in neosporin and Lubriderm, and put on a sock.  I might have to do that daily for a while.  If I don’t, all that alligator skin is going to crack and split and I’ll be a bloody mess.  Literally.

Now that I’m more than halfway through my cast waiting game, I’m feeling better.  I did go to work for a while Wednesday, before I got the new cast.  It was nice to talk to all my coworkers, to get some things done that I can’t do from home, and just be out and about for a while.  I am still hoping to arrange some transportation so I can get into the office a couple days a week, but so far I’ve not had luck with that.  There is a service that can take me, but seating is limited and so far I’ve not gotten lucky enough to get one of those seats.  Hopefully I’ll get a better shot this week.  I am working pretty much full time from home, though, so I’m not having to use up any of my precious vacation or sick time.  I am so very thankful for this, as it gives me something to do, and keeps the paycheck coming in.

I’m including some pictures below from my doctor’s visit.  Klown was taking the pictures and he has a shaky hand, so they aren’t very good.  But it still gives you an idea of what is going on as I heal.

The bottom of my foot, looking not so great…dry skin!!

View from the top – ankle is much less swollen than before, but still fat.

Outside of the ankle, before steri strips were removed.

Inside of ankle.  The blisters run perpendicular to the incision, at the very top.  These are greatly healed since the last time I saw them.  

Top of my leg, from my perspective.  I think it looks pretty good, overall!

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