A month plus three days post surgery

There were a couple of weeks there where I think I was in a funk.  Everyday it was the same thing--wake up, put on the same clothes I've been wearing for a few days (remember, I don't have access to my laundry room yet so I have to be thrifty with my clothes), scoot into the kitchen to make coffee, grab my ice pack and something to eat, bring these things into the living room, sit on the couch and raise my foot and ice it, start to watch TV. During the day, I'd take breaks by bringing the ice pack back into the kitchen to refreeze, put my sock on and off, scoot here and there to do simple things and more complicated things like dust, vacuum and Swiffer. The welcome breaks in this tedium were holiday guests. My son was very fortunate to receive two long weekends off at his job so he was around a little more. So nice.

January 2 I had my one month post surgery follow-up appointment with my surgeon. He pulled out the pin in the 2nd toe and said that I could start putting some weight on the foot but to use the scooter for the long distances. And I need to ramp up the massaging of the foot. The big news was that I didn't have to wear the boot overnight in bed! My next appt. is in a month. He did say that if I am bored out of my mind at home and feel comfortable maneuvering, I could entertain returning to work in about a week. All good news. I took the rest of that day off because it was a long wait in the waiting room and the drive back and forth left my foot swelled up so I decided to elevate it and ice it instead of stepping on it.

The next day I DID manage to grab the crutches and made a fashion leap by putting on a heavy wool sock vs. the old white sweat sock that had the toe cut open to accommodate the pin. I took a few steps and realized that it was a bit painful and awkward. Very discouraging. I found a comfy clog with rubber soles / heels and later tried that on the good foot. It was better but still painful. I massaged the foot a lot that day and the next few days along with making more treks in the house with the crutches.

I found that I had to look for teeny tiny improvements. Today which is day four of putting weight on the foot is better than day three and far better than day one.

Yesterday I mailed in all of my paperwork needed to return to work to the surgeon to fill out. It all has to be done via US Mail since they don't have email there which I thought would be better since I could scan my documents and email them in and then have them mail them back to me. I, of course, don't have a fax machine in the house and since I can't get out yet, I don't know how else to manage this shuffling of paperwork.

The thing that is causing me the most anxiety is the snow that fell over the last few days. I, of course, have to rely on my son to remove it. He works 2nd shift so we are not on the same schedule. I go to bed worried about having it cleaned up and hope it's done the next morning. If I was going to work already, this would be a huge deal since I have to maneuver a scooter to my car and crutches and I will need a clean back door area and driveway. It makes me nervous to even THINK about it without even trying it.

One thing that I do not want to do is fall and end up in a worse place.

The view these days. A real sock!

 Right after doing my "walking."  It's a little puffed up.

After some massaging. 

After more elevation. It really helps.