Post Op Day 191 – stitches out

Energy level: low to grouchy
Pain level: 2.5

It’s only 13 days post hardware removal surgery and the doc says the stitches can come out and I can even go swimming next weekend!

Woo hoo!

More good news – in two days I can wash my foot! A shower would be heaven ~ I’m done with the bubble baths.

He also says I can start walking. The only thing that keeps me from jumping for joy is that dang plantar fasciitis, which is back with a vengeance.

The stitches come out with out a hitch! Okay, there was on stubborn one to which I would say the pain likened a deep pinch – like someone pinching my underarm fat as hard as possible. Not pleasant, but it only lasts a second.

I test standing for a moment and have a strange pins and needles sensation. The nerves are not yet connected. There’s no sensation of cushioning. I never fully appreciated the muscles and tissue that distance my bone from my skin until experiencing this strange flat stabbing sensation.

There’s a low level of soreness in my tender heel for the rest of the day. Two Tylenol help, but let’s just say I’m not the most pleasant person to be around. Perhaps the difference was last time I had the stitches removed I got to go back to bed for the rest of the day, today I immediately hitched a taxi back to work. It puzzles me a bit because I have more than 100 stitches on my body (3 long stories – but let’s just say 2 were due to klutzy incidents and 1 was another surgery.) I never remember being so agitated from stitch removal before. Okay, well… there was an incident more than a decade ago when a drainage tube was removed rather abruptly that I screamed very loud and when I left people in the waiting area gave me funny looks. Again – that was a quick pain like ripping off a band aid. This pain that lasts all day is rather annoying. Perhaps this is my Achilles’ tendon? [pun intended] ;)

It’s been lovely being pain free for nearly two weeks, and I suppose that if I never walked again that would be pain free living. Pain is the price I have to pay to walk. It really sucks to have to pay for every step that I used to be able to take for free.

C'est la vie.