But the minor concerns are still hanging around, namely the ankle swelling and the pin site discomfort.
I can't seem to keep my ankle swelling down for any length of time. The minute I'm not elevating it, it comes back. And when I'm at work, it's impossible to keep it elevated all the time. Also the more I walk on it, the more swollen it gets. My physical therapist told me that as I walk more and more, my ankle swelling will dissipate. That hasn't been the case yet, but I'm still not walking anywhere near normally, so hopefully once I do, the ankle swelling won't be an issue.
And my pins sites, though generally healthy, are still causing problems from time to time.
Here's a picture of my top two pin sites:
If you really want to get a good look at the sites, click on the picture to enlarge it. You can see some yellow looking stuff in the corner of the one on the left, which is the top pin site. Right now my top pin site is very stingy in that area, so I've upped my antibiotics to four a day for two days to prevent an infection from developing.
I've been using Bacitracin around my top two pin sites to help with the painfully dry skin, but it doesn't seem to be helping. I tried some A&D ointment around the area, and that helped, but my skin also turned red after a few days. How something used to treat diaper rash could have given me a rash, I don't know, but I guess I can't continue to use it now.
Here are my bottom two pin sites:
They have been pretty much fine this entire time. I haven't had the dryness or stinging and itching around them that I have with my top two pin sites. I have no idea why that is, but I'll take it.
Mia and her mom, Jenny, came by for a lovely little visit the other night. Here's a picture of them and their cute haircuts:
Jenny has been through her own orthopedic surgery and recovery ordeal, so it's been great to have her experience and wise advice helping me along the way. Also she brought me flowers and apple cider from the Union Square farmer's market. Mia brought me a vintage Playboy magazine. There's not a boob to be found anywhere in it. It's full of like, articles, and stuff. Boo!
2 comments:
Hi Allison,
Today is my 1 yr anniversary! I had the ankel swelling as well, it went down after about 6-8 weeks. My walking was still pretty rough for another 3-4 months after that and as of today I still get cramping in my right calf and the arch of my right foot gets tired very easily. I am sure what I am going to say isn't what you want to hear, but the more I walk and continue to walk, the better I feel. Oh, and massages work well too!
Brian and Claudia and Jesse and Barb and I went bowling tonight. Wish you had been there, too. We may have just played right in front of you and laughed because we all have working legs right now; we may have pretended like nothing was wrong while you used the pathetic ramp thing (this thing they let kids use who are strong enough to lift the ball to the top of a tall ramp yet who still can't figure out how to roll a ball.) I don't know, our scores were pretty terrible. If you'd beaten us with the ramp we'd have had to shut all our smack talk up.
We want to come out for Thanksgiving, but need to talk out the details. Call me when you're not busy. Ha!
Post a Comment