2 week Post Op Dr Visit
Posted by bennet on May 27, 2009
Yesterday was my 2 week Post Op visit with my surgeon. He walks in and says, “Let’s take a look!” and proceeds to rip the dressing/bandaid off my leg. Here I have been changing the dressing every 2 days and gently pulling the dressing/bandaid off in fear of ripping the skin and opening the incision again. So it hurt a bit when he ripped off the dressing/bandaid but the pain quickly went away when he announced, “Hey everything looks good. Take out the stitches.”
So I had my stitches removed and now back in my aircast. No pain at all and I am putting more and more weight onto my foot so have declared myself PWB now. I hoping to ditch the crutches soon but the physio wants me to work on my quadricep muscles before taking them away. So I’m starting to do leg lifts on the weight machines everyday now.
And I passed the Thompson test yesterday meaning that my foot did move on my left leg so looks like the surgery was a success. Movement was not as great as my right leg but this is normal.
So having a good day so far and ready to hit the weights and start getting my life a little bit more back to “normal”.
May 27th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Great to hear everything is going well Bennett. I can relate to the Dr tearing in there on the bandaging, mine attacked my bandaging with a pair of scissors like a man possessed, I thought he was going to chop the tendon.
Quick question which brand of boot are you wearing? I have spoken to my physio at the Beijing United but he seems to only be able to get the silver and green Aircast boot without wedges? Perhaps the SH United can give him some guidance…
May 27th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Hey Tommo. Thanks for the encouragement. I have the Aircast brand, the XP Walker. Here is the link: http://www.aircast.com/index.asp/fuseaction/products.list/cat/2
They also have the heel wedges on the website.
I got my aircast boot including wedges from the hospital. A big rip-off though as they charged me something like 7000 rmb (over $1000 USD). I know you can get it in the States for under $200. But insurance paid for it… No wonder why I have such high premiums!!!
May 27th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
you know it! BJ United told me RMB4000 for the boot, riii-diculous. I actually showed them a website with this boot for USD$198, the physio looked mighty sheepish, I even (almost) felt sorry for my insurance company…
Had some light massage on the tendon from the physio today, felt very weird and a little scary but got through it. Have you started any physio yet or done any radiowave on the achilles or electro-therapy on the quad yet?
Tommo
May 28th, 2009 at 6:57 am
Sounds like you got the boot then. How does it feel? How many inserts are you on?
I’ve been doing physio since 2 days after surgery. All the same things - massage and ultrasound to reduce scar tissue, the “Russian” electo-therapy on the calf to “use” the muscle. Also have been doing stationary biking and leg lifts for my quads.
That’s really been the extent of my physio as we really can’t do too much else. Just trying to keep the muscles around the achilles in shape so when I can put FWB pressure on my foot and begin more extensive physio, the rest of the body will cooperate.
May 29th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
HI BEnnett,
nah, haven’t got the boot yet, still in the slab cast up to just below my knee with the foot pointed down. It’s not uncomfortable, but annoying as the injured leg is longer than the uninjured one, meaning I have to hold it up when standing or walking, making the hip flexors really sore.
The physio is talking about transferring to the boot after 4 weeks (ie. 1 more week), but without any heel wedges it seems to be a big transition from my foot pointed down at 45 degrees to go all the way up to 90 degrees. I tried to move the foot and stretch the tendon a bit when my cast was off to remove the stitches, but couldn’t really get anywhere…
Tom
May 29th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Hey Tommo:
You should demand heel wedges. I think it would not be good to go right from the cast to an aircast with no heel wedges.
It’s ridiculous that BJ United or your physio don’t have the wedges. Get them to get SH United to send some up. I’m taking my last insert out tomorrow and if all feels good, will be in the boot without wedges. I can send you my old ones but only have two. They may need to start you out with more… Don’t know.
-B
May 29th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Podiatry Care…
[...] No pain at all and I am putting more and more weight onto my foot so have declared myself PWB now. I hoping to ditch the crutches soon but the physio wants me to work on my quadricep muscles before taking them away. … [...]…
May 30th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
will do Bennett. I have an appointment with the physio and the doctor on Monday, so will start talking to them then about it. Appreciate the offer, will let you know if they manage to bungle it up and I need to take you up on it!!