post op day 20 - this boot: not made for hopping

Energy level: good
Pain level: 2 – 4 (very sore after the stitches are pulled out.)

The stitches come out without a hitch – except for one.  I’m extremely sore, but glad that I timed the Oxycodone to be in full effect when she was pulling them out.  JP had ring side seating and found the procedure to be “interesting”.  I’m thinking that he’s enjoying this a bit too much.  I’m so happy that he’s there for moral support and to keep me company when Nurse D disappears for half an hour.   She eventually returns with “good news”.

The “good” news is that I’m ready for “the boot”.  But the real kicker is that my insurance will not cover the boot they have on hand.  Instead we have to get my tender foot and sensitive stomach a mile down the road to some little back alley shop to get the cheapest boot in town.  Okay, it’s really on a busy boulevard, but this sparse “waiting room” gives me the willies.  Really, what kind of prosthetics shop has the receptionist sit behind bullet proof banker’s glass and has to buzz you in?  

We’re lead into yet another sparse room that feels like a stock closet.  The woman asks me to step into a bondage lover’s wet dream with no less than five thick Velcro straps. 

I find being asked to step into the boot a bit ironic since I’m supposed to be “non-weight bearing”.  She asks if my heel is all the way in.  Heck if I know!  I haven’t had any sensation in my heel since they sliced the thing open.  I see her hand moving to check and I bark that she had better not touch any part of my heel!  What is it with people  always wanting to grope my inflamed heel?

There are three screws lodged in my heel and although there is not feeling in the bone, the surrounding tissue is extremely sensitive!