Feb 22 2010
Back at it
Well today I feel much better than last week. I’m not really feeling any pain which I think is a good thing. Nowhere as near as sore as last week. Although the itching is starting to drive me crazy. The only thing keeping me sane is I get the cast off for short time on Wednesday when the staples are taken out. Then two more weeks in the cast. Blech.
I hope you don’t experience what I did when it comes to itching. I THINK my rash and associated misery was caused by me shaving my own leg prior to surgery (allowing infection to get in), but no one is sure. It could have just been an allergic reaction to the fiberglass in the splint as well. Have a good look when the cast comes off and ask to see a dermatologist before they recast if things don’t look right. I would save anyone the misery I experienced - which really takes away from the focus on actual ATR healing. I am now past 5 weeks and just now getting over the itching.
Itching is not necessary a bad thing, most of the times is good, because that means that the lips of your wound are getting together.
I shaved my legs the night prior to the operation. Also, my doctor changed the internal on-wound bandage and cleaned the whole area once a week, until I wore the boot. When I removed the cast, my skin was looking like my grandma’s, it was pealed off and in some areas had tiny cuts. Soon as I was allowed to wash it, I popped into my bathtub, got a new razor and shaved it. Huge mistake. Much pain on the cuts after that, I put a pharmaceutical creme to avoid any possible infection which also hydrated the area. Took me 4-5 days rubbing my foot to get rid of all dead cells and make my skin look young and healthy again…
As peteco says, it is wise to check your skin soon as you come out of the cast, just to be on the safe side.
Yeah I’m not really looking forward to the dead skin et al. Unlike when I broke my leg, I don’t really want to run anything down the cast to scratch the Itch! I remember using a wire coat hanger for relief. Peteco thanks for the information, I plan to take a real long look when the cast is off. I know each doctor has his/her reasons for treatments, just wish I was done with the cast. I guess I can survive two more weeks.
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If itchy or dead skin is your biggest problem after you tear your AT (especially without a serious infection), you have NO problems!
I had a lot of skin that looked like grandma’s. Now, around 4 weeks after I started showering without the boot, the skin is ALMOST all back to normal. The one exception is the skin underneath my heel. After lots of scrubbing in the shower, and scratching and Pedi-Egg “grater-ing” after the shower, it feels pretty normal to the touch. But when I slide my heel over the carpet, it still feels like there’s a piece of paper sliding along with my foot! Dead nerve endings??
If that persists, and it’s my biggest complaint in another 6 or 8 months, I’ll be a winner! (My biggest complaint after my first ATR was that my ankle clicked when I did my first heel-lift stretch of the day! NO complaints!
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