8 Days Post-Surgery

So I went to the doctor yesterday. Things looked very well. The doctor took new x-rays of both feet. He said they both looked great and the incision was healing well. He gave me a compression sock for my left foot to help with the swelling that was still happening (even 4 weeks after surgery) and told me to take it off at night when I sleep. Also, I still had two sutures at the incision sticking out on the left foot. The nurse clipped the two sutures, which didn't hurt, and that foot was all done. For the right foot, I am still to wear the ACE bandage and boot to help compress the foot to keep swelling down. The doctor scheduled another check-up appointment for 4 weeks from now.

Here is a photo of my foot 1 week after surgery:

As you can see there is some bruising around the incision. What you can't see in these pictures is the additional bruising that has escaped away from the incision and is now along the outer side of the foot and on the toes. The bruising along the outer edges of my foot and toes does not hurt. The incision hurts, but is about a pain level 4 when pressed on and feels like a bad bruise...just sore.

I'm able to get my foot wet now. But during and after showering today, my foot was hurting because of the pressure from the swelling. I immediately wrapped my foot back up with the ACE bandage after the shower and it felt much better right away.

My next milestone is being able to drive. I need to be able to get my foot into a surgical shoe (instead of boot) to be able to drive. I have a surgical shoe, but the amount of swelling in my foot has prevented me from being able to Velcro the straps closed. I feel that in a day or two the swelling should be down enough. Otherwise, I'm getting around really well. I'm able to stay up on my feet all day at home without experiencing any pain.

I expect that before my next doctor appointment I will be back at work. I work as a waitress and need to be able to fit into my non-slip restaurant shoes before they will allow me to come back. My goal is to be able to begin working again two weeks from yesterday (3 weeks post-surgery).

I will continue to keep you posted!