No harm done

After freaking out for a good 24 hours, I went in to see the doctor, who graciously sawed off the cast to reveal nothing short of an intact Achilles.  Phew.  Funny, as soon as he said I was fine, it stopped hurting! Think I need to calm down a little?! The chic urban black cast is unfortunately long gone.  They ran out of the black wrapping, and so I’m back in standard off-white.  I think this will require a new pedicure to match!  The white is not as fun, but I think that it’s better than the black.  It looks so serious, and the black looked kinda fun.  Maybe the serious white cast will slow my ass down even more, which apparently I need to do.

My mom is gone, my sister’s gone, my visiting friend is gone, so tonight is my first night back alone in my apartment since the surgery.  I’m so glad I went and got checked out today by the doc so I know everything is on target and doing well.  Otherwise, I’m hoping I can do this without constant help! A friend took me grocery shopping today, and it’s a light week at school, so I think the rest of the week should be smooth, and hopefully a good transition back into a little bit of independence.

Oh NO!

I just tripped and fell.  My heel is KILLING me! I just called the doc, and he told me to calm down and wait and see if it got better. He said it’s pretty rare to do any damage once you’re in the hard cast… Has anyone had a non-damaging fall?? OH, I’m FREAKING.

Approaching 2 Weeks

Tomorrow marks the two week mark from my injury.  Boy. I still can’t believe how zapped my energy feels! I had a trainer come over yesterday to do some pilates, and it was so great to finally have a long sweaty work out, NWB of course! It just felt good to move my muscles around and stretch.  I even feel sore today, which is kind of nice.  After that work out, I had to sit for pretty much the rest of the day.  My calf and foot feel super claustrophobic in the cast, restless and tired, but the pain/discomfort of new position is fading.  The weirdest part of all this is that I’m feeling so much better than I did last weekend, but am just so drained after doing almost anything.  I can’t stand feeling like that. :(  I guess I just need to not get ahead of myself and slow WAY down.  Frustrating, yes.  I’m trying to find the lesson in it though! Patience has never been one of my virtues, maybe it will be now.

In other news, I’ve moved out of my mom’s apartment and back into my own, and I’ve never been happier that it’s so small, and so easy to clean!

New Cast!

Yesterday I felt really yuck all day.  I know this sounds crazy, but I actually think I went through percocet withdrawal. Is that possible? Has this happened to anyone else? I think maybe I took too many the first couple days and then I didn’t take any at all yesterday and felt like barfing all day. Oh well. Feeling much better now.

Today I went back to the doctor to get my fiber-glass cast. Yay! I had no idea, but he used dissolving stitches so I didn’t have to get anything removed, so no additional pain, which was an unexpected and lovely surprise.  My doctor is the best.  So he cut through the bandaging from the surgery, took a look at the incision (healing great!), washed my leg a bit, and then wrapped it up in the fiberglass.  He had me flex a little bit while he was wrapping and it has felt sore and tight ever since.  He said that was normal, so I’m not going to worry about it.  All in all, a good day.  I feel like, at least I’ve taken the next step with this thing, and the doc said I’d be walking in two shoes by Thanksgiving.  That doesn’t sound so bad! I think I can deal with that.  And out of the cast by Halloween. And then once I’m out of the cast (and into the boot) I’ll be able to start PT and go swimming, which is great news.  So really, it seems like this first month will be the worst.  Luckily, I’m a student, and October always flies by for whatever reason.  I think it’s all the holidays. 

Went out to dinner for the first time since the injury tonight too.  Mom’s leaving tomorrow so we thought we’d go out for her last night here.  I finally had an appetite and ate way too much! I have a late class tomorrow, so I’m looking forward to sleeping in with a full belly.  

Day 4 Post-OP

Sigh. I just finished my first full day of school.  I started strong, but by the time I made it to my third class I was totally wiped out! Luckily, my buddies were there to carry my books, help me up some stairs, get into my desk, etc.  Really, so far lesson number one has been my friends are completely awesome.  They’ve all been so supportive and helpful! I’m not surprised, but I’m delighted nonetheless.

I’ve arranged a lovely trainer to help me with some preliminary pilates on Saturday, which I’m definitely looking forward to.  I also tried a couple mellow floor exercises today when I got home.  Sit ups, “girl” push-ups, leg lifts, etc.  I put a pillow down and was able to stretch a little bit too, which felt good after trying to sit at a desk all day.  It was nice to work up a little sweat that didn’t involve crutches.

Sleep keeps improving, and though I had a little pain today, it gets better and better.  Hopefully, the stitches will come out on Thursday and I’ll be in the hard-cast by the end of the week.  Each day is a step forward!  Trying to stay positive and not get overwhelmed.  The wonderful wonderful support has really helped make my days way better.

Debut of the Chair

It took over an hour to get to Pinkberry.  I swear I was smiling at one point.

Day 2 Post OP

Last night was pretty rough.  Although I seemed to have fallen asleep ok, my foot kept twitching in the middle of the night.  Each twitch was incredibly painful and woke me up.  I was so tired, but it hurt so bad! I was worried that every time I relaxed again, the foot would just keep twitching.  On top of that, the percocet did make me rather nauseated, so I didn’t want to take another one if I really didn’t have to.  I thought I was going to puke, but the thought of having to get up to go to the bathroom and deal with the pain that would cause was enough for me to keep it under control.  I just tried to remain calm, and breathe through it.  Eventually, the pain subsided, and I was able to sleep all morning.  Once I got out of bed, I actually felt much better and haven’t needed another percocet yet. Initially I was concerned that the twitching was going to screw things up.  But when I felt fine later this morning, I assumed it wasn’t a big deal.

I’m getting a little stir-crazy as I haven’t left the apartment since my surgery on Friday, but I suppose this is what it is, and one of my lessons here is patience.  Emotionally, I’m feeling fried, but I’m so glad my mom is here to help and take care of me! A blessing indeed.  Hopefully, I’ll be a little more self-sufficient by the end of the week so I can take care of myself without so much help.  For now I’m just lazing around, reading some wonderfully trashy magazines, and eventually I’ll tackle the Sunday Times, but for now, I want only light fluffy news, where the worst thing I read is that Brad and Angie have a messy house. Duh.  Sigh.

Has anyone else resorted to being carted around in a wheelchair? I live in the city, so driving, or being driven, is not so much an option.  Is a wheelchair lazy, or just kind of a good idea? And I’m anxious to ask the doctor about how long I have to leave this puppy elevated.

This is my view from bed. 

Day 1 Post Surgery

I was playing soccer on Monday night, when I suddenly fell to the ground, thinking some jerk had kicked me super hard in the back of my leg.  I pitched forward, unable to walk, and had a teammate carry me off to the sidelines where I watched my team go on to win (yay!).  When I wasn’t feeling better by Tuesday, I knew something was up, and called my AMAZING friend Daveed, who just happens to be an orthopedic surgeon.  He confirmed my fear… Ruptured Achilles. Shit.

So, I finally got in to see someone on Thursday, and was scheduled for surgery on Friday morning (yesterday.)  I went in to the surgical center, they drugged the crap out of me and my whole left leg, and I was rolled out early on Friday afternoon in a soft cast.  All day yesterday wasn’t so bad, mostly because the anaesthesia left me in a fog of painless delirium.

I couldn’t sleep last night, and around 2 a.m., the so-called nerve-blockers wore off.  My heel felt full of pressure and prickly all over, like tiny starving pygmies with filed teeth were gnawing away at it.  I tried to chant “om” to myself until I fell asleep.  I thought maybe the vibrational meditation would help.  It kind of did. Ahh, Buddhism.  So clutch.

The power of OM lasted until 7:44 this morning.  I opened my bleary eyes only to have them burn with hot tears of pain.  I’ve never felt anything like it.  It felt like my foot was being crushed like Han Solo in the garbage compactor.  And then the pygmies came back. Oy.

So I took another percocet, and about 40 minutes later I passed out for another four hours.  I woke up, and took another.

My biggest worry with this thing is trying to catch up on my school work.  Will the pain be too bad to sit in class? Is it possible to have my foot properly elevated in class? Will I ever make up this past week of Partnership Tax, Debtor-Creditor, and Environmental Law? I’m getting pretty anxious about that.

In the Anxiety # 2 spot is getting FAT.  I know this probably happened in the first place because I’m a maniac.  I bike(d) everywhere! I run almost every day, do some weight-training, play tennis and soccer once a week… I stretch, I yoga… I’m, well, I was, so committed to my body! I’m SO freaked out that without moving around I’ll gain weight and look all soft and mushy by the spring time.  I’m wondering if there is something I can do on top of physical therapy to keep me in shape.  I guess the hardest thing will be cardio, but the crutches may take care of that… maybe pilates might work? If anyone knows or has a similar getting fat concern, I’d love to commiserate/share advice…