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Injury report: day 31
Sep. 29th, 2005 11:19 pmI had my second followup appointment today. They cut off the old cast and inspected my leg. It's still swollen and somewhat bruised; I am told that this is normal. Today they adjusted the angle of my foot. It had been at about 140 degrees from my leg; it is now closer to 100. Based on my prior experience of having a foot in a cast* I was expecting the adjustment to hurt a great deal. Fortunately, my ankle still had a fair bit of flexibility to it, and I am only feeling a bit of tension with no appreciable pain. The doctor gently pushed my foot until he felt the tension in my Achilles tendon and calf were about right, and built the cast himself**. I now have a sky blue cast. I have another followup appointment in two weeks; I get a walking boot then***.
* 21 years ago, I broke a flat piece off the bottom of my right shinbone. Because it was potentially still a growing piece, I had to get it screwed back on, or risk a fused ankle. After surgery, I spent six weeks in a cast. When the doctor removed the cast, and asked me to flex my ankle, I could manage maybe 1/4" of movement -- measured at the toes -- in any direction. When anyone tried to move my foot beyond that, it *hurt*.
** To keep my foot at the desired angle, with tension on my tendon and calf, the doctor used a rig built out of tube steel that sat square on the floor with a vertical post of tube steel and a long steel tongue mounted off one side of the vertical, parallel to the ground. He put my leg and foot in a cotton tube (which is the base of the cast; it's been part of each cast so far). He then threaded the flat bit of steel between my foot and the cotton tube, pushed the whole rig toward me until my foot was at the angle he thought best, and build the cast with my foot on the rig. Only when the cast was complete did he pull the rig out of the finished cast. I had wondered how they were going to keep my foot at the correct angle...
*** There was another Achilles tendon patient in the office at the same time I was. He got his walking boot today. The boot is a big clunky thing, but at least it comes *off*, so I can take a proper bath, and eventually take a shower again. He was looking forward to being able to shower again, too. I also suspect I will also be able to sleep without the thing on my leg. Showers and cast-free sleeping will be a major improvement.
* 21 years ago, I broke a flat piece off the bottom of my right shinbone. Because it was potentially still a growing piece, I had to get it screwed back on, or risk a fused ankle. After surgery, I spent six weeks in a cast. When the doctor removed the cast, and asked me to flex my ankle, I could manage maybe 1/4" of movement -- measured at the toes -- in any direction. When anyone tried to move my foot beyond that, it *hurt*.
** To keep my foot at the desired angle, with tension on my tendon and calf, the doctor used a rig built out of tube steel that sat square on the floor with a vertical post of tube steel and a long steel tongue mounted off one side of the vertical, parallel to the ground. He put my leg and foot in a cotton tube (which is the base of the cast; it's been part of each cast so far). He then threaded the flat bit of steel between my foot and the cotton tube, pushed the whole rig toward me until my foot was at the angle he thought best, and build the cast with my foot on the rig. Only when the cast was complete did he pull the rig out of the finished cast. I had wondered how they were going to keep my foot at the correct angle...
*** There was another Achilles tendon patient in the office at the same time I was. He got his walking boot today. The boot is a big clunky thing, but at least it comes *off*, so I can take a proper bath, and eventually take a shower again. He was looking forward to being able to shower again, too. I also suspect I will also be able to sleep without the thing on my leg. Showers and cast-free sleeping will be a major improvement.
