The Week In Pictures

Phew! So earlier this week, Wednesday, I had my official two-week and third post-op appointment with Dr. Niccoli. The bandages came off, and the stitches (mostly) came out...

Here's the poofy gauze under the red wrap:

So it's not THAT bad!  It actually looks worse now, three days after this photo was taken... the wrinkly skin shows how much swelling there was post-surgery. The brownish stain is the disinfectant stuff they put on under the bandages. I should have gotten a way closer up pic of this.

Some of the stitches weren't ready to come out. I was so squeamish about it - it definitely wasn't great, and I thought it would be much worse. I appreciated the nurse holding my leg down and forcing me to sit still! The doc put butterflies on the length of the 3" incision. I so greatly welcome this safety backup, because I always think it's all going to split wide open when the blood rushes down to it...hey, when you go through this crazy foot surgery, you think about this kind of thing.

Then this tight mesh compression sleeve was put on (Spanx for feet!?) and held in place with some blue bandage and I was sent on my way with a bunch of new instructions:
Increase the manual rotation exercises
Start resistance exercises using the sleeve to "raise" and "lower" the toe
Start "contrast bath" 2x/day (alt hot/cold soak! hooray!)
Green light to start taking normal showers!
Continue the diuretics to help reduce swelling

Ultimately I am making good progress. I was still fatigued, having pain, not getting around much and not feeling that great right up to Day 13. There was a big improvement jump the next day - hitting the two week mark was a big one - massive improvement in mobility, strength, pain, swelling. So if you ever have to do this, believe it that sitting still for the first two weeks is the right plan.



If you're still reading this, and want to see the super gross pic, here is the foot on the one-week bandage change visit: