April’s Blog

On Monday my doctor called to see how I was doing and asked if the wound was still draining from the last time we talked and I told him yes.  So the doctor wanted me to see a wound and infectious disease doctor before I see him again.  Well, I saw the specialist today and the good news is the wound is not infected and she gave me a special gel to apply each day until I see her again next week.  Unfortunately,  I have to remain off the foot and use the crutches and my PT has been canceled for next week (that makes it two weeks now that PT is canceled).

Anyway,  I am happy there is no infection and that all is needed is time which I have plenty of

The draining that I am having with part of my incision seems to be drying up :-)  I did a little experiment last night where I slept without the boot or a bandage to let that area get some air and possibly help dry the area.  When I got up this morning the area was completely dry and seemed to have formed a scab…so guess what I am going to do again tonight.

Almost 3 weeks ago I slipped coming out of the shower and landed on the foot at which time I’m sure everyone in the world heard my scream.  Once the initial shock and the nauseau subsided I looked at my leg and saw a pool of blood.  Yep I had ripped open part of the incision but my mine concern was did I re-rupture the tendon.  Made a call to the emergency clinic where my doctor is at (mind you this was a Saturday night) hoping to talk to someone and hoping that I didn’t need to go into the ER.  Luckily my doctor was on-call and I was able to talk to him.  He felt that I didn’t injure the tendon but to come in on Monday.

So I saw my doctor on Monday and he did the Thompson test and said the tendon was fine but the part of the incision that was ripped open was a different story.  He had to put two new stitches (man did that hurt like hell) in to close it up.   The other thing that was going was I was having this awful pain on the outside of the ankle which started happening after the fall…the best way to describe the pain is like the nerve endings were exposed.  The pain would come and go and vicidin didn’t help.

Had another follow-up appointment a week later and the doctor took the stitches boot put 15 degrees and  was given the green light to start putting partial weight on foot but he wanted to see me again in a week.  Another week goes by and the area that was stitched is healing ok but still have a lot of discharge so he becomes concern.  He gave me some special gause to dress the area for another week.

So on Monday I saw him yet again and the area is still draining but not nearly as much as the week before but the doctor was very perplexed.  Well, I got a call today from the doctor asking if the area was still draining and I said yes and the next thing out of his mouth just made me want to cry.  He said “stop putting weight on the leg, stop doing the exercises,  and keep the boot on while sleeping”.   He felt that the pressure of walking and moving the foot around is not allowing the area to heal so guess what I have to follow doctor’s orders.  The disappoint comes in because I was really starting to feel good about the progress and the anticipation of not having the crutches anymore.

As I said before this is a journey and it will be a long one….

Well, on June 10th I was playing softball at a company event and ruptured the right Achilles.  I wish I could say that I was sliding into home for the winning score but no I was the pitcher and just pitched the ball and watched the hitter hit the ball.  I turned to see where the ball was going and the next thing I know I heard the POP and felt the POP all at the sametime.

The moment I went down I knew exactly what happened as I had ruptured my left Achilles 18 years ago so I knew what was in store.

So the journey has begun and it is a long one….