6 weeks Post Cast

Today I went back to the doc. Got some new x-rays that are looking fairly good. Still alignment issues with 2nd metatarsal but the doc thinks it will be okay. Same advice -- if I have pain when I walk -- then let him know. He thinks I've made good progress in 6 weeks. I go back in 2 months and can continue with the bone stimulator for another 4 weeks.

I finished my 15 visits of physical therapy last week. The physical therapist said I could try to get more therapy but it would only be beneficial to continue on with her if I could walk through my metatarsals. Otherwise I could continue the same exercises at home. She wanted to know the x-ray results, first though, before I would be assigned back to her. Being able to walk through the foot would open up more variety of exercises. I asked the doctor and he approved. I think I"ll be covered by insurance for another 4 weeks, twice a week now rather than 3 times per week. I'm still not totally satisfied with the foot but hoping time and more exercising will continue to make it better. Both doctor and PT say it still could take up to a year.

Some days are better than others. I usually wake up with the foot a little tight but the swelling is down. By the end of the day, the swelling is usually worse. To help reduce swelling, I'm trying to ice my foot 5-6 times a day. That's an easy thing to do at work while I'm sitting at my computer.

Tonight I took a walk in the woods with the dogs, while it was still light. I also took one Saturday morning. My foot felt really good on that walk. Tonight it was a bit achy after about 5 minutes down the trail. There's definitely a difference between morning walking around after all night's rest and evening time when the foot is swollen. I sure hope that feature of the foot gets better. I'm anxious to just be able to go for a hike without any issues.

Before my walk, this is what I found in the back yard. I had to go get my snake handler...

Right Foot Driving

Since I'm back into shoes, I am also back into driving with my right foot, which means I'm back into my car which has a manual transmission. I started driving the Jetta April 1st and am enjoying being back into my car. Plus it gets better gas mileage for trekking back and forth 17 miles one way to work. I don't use my handicap parking privilege at work but instead park where I have to walk up two flights of stairs. I figure the stairs is good exercise for my calf muscles. The handicap parking was near the elevator but the elevator was a longer ways from my office.

Just some stats:

• 9 weeks no driving
• 7 weeks carpooling to work (thanks to everyone who helped me with rides)
  
• 4 weeks left footed driving

Things continue to improve for which I am very grateful. I spent the weekend in Crocs and my Salomon TechAmphibian "sandals". It's the only sneaker-type shoe I can get my foot in right now. It was another beautiful weekend to be outdoors so I worked a little outside raking up some pine straw, leaves, and sweet gum balls from our backyard. Sunday evening when I went to bed, my feet were tired and sore like I had been shopping all day long. But I can't say I really have pain. My toes are still tight and can't be scrunched, too much, although I'm starting to be able to crunch the outside toes working slowly towards the big toe. The big toe, probably the most important, is slow to bounce back, but I do have faith with continued therapy, it will get there. The Physical Therapist said on Monday, I'd be ready soon for some marble therapy. The swelling has come down a bunch. When you push a finger into my foot and then let go, the skin pops back into place now, rather than leaving a little indentation.

At Monday's PT, my session ended with the Game Ready ice therapy, without the electrical stimulation underneath. Maybe it was all in my head but that seemed a heck of alot colder on my foot than the ice with the electrodes. It's about 10-15 minutes of 41 degrees of C-O-O-O-L-D. I still do the contrast bath at home but that's only 2 minutes of ice at a time.