No More Stitches, B1tches!

Week 3 came rather fast and with it Friday and the day the stitches came out!

My friend Gail drove me to the clinic and willingly took some pictures to show off some stitches!

All 15 came out without a hitch and after x-rays confirmed the bone anchor was still in place in the ankle I got recast.

Gail and I figured we'd be in for a quiet lunch and some shopping but each of us encountered mad drivers and possible worse case scenarios before we got to lunch.

In the parking garage I escaped being hit by a car first.

In front of the clinic is a little horse shoe parking space and normally I wait there for my ride to come.

But we decided I was to wait on the side of a crossing path a few feet away and Gail would get the car.

As she was rounding the corner she motioned to me and I looked towards the horseshoe only to see a white Sedan scale the sidewalk and come to as stop past where I would have waited had we not changed our minds.

The woman in the car backed up and drove off the sidewalk only to go back onto it again.

We watched in stunned silence as she then maneuvered back into the horseshoe drop-off zone after this.

Later as we were at our lunch stop and Gail was getting my scooter out of the car she looked up just in time to move out of the path of a backing up mini-van.

We decided our Karma banks were pretty empty by then.

The rest of our day passed uneventful, luckily.

Next appointment, November 2nd and then I get an air cast!

It's been a week.....

My mom used to say
"if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all".

Going in to this surgery and the recovery I knew full well it wasn't going to be fine all the time.
But I guess I was lulled into this false sense of well being by the lack of pain I experienced the first 10 days.
Sure getting up from either the couch or bed took some deliberation and showering was an hour task, but I pretty much took that as distractions to look forward to.
All in all watching Dutch TV online was fun, knitting broke the boredom and playing on Facebook wasn't that old, yet.
Then Friday brought a whole new set of rules so to speak.
It started with small twinges of sharp pain in my foot, evidence that the nerves were making themselves known.
Intermittently they would fire up to the brain, giving my right leg the sensation of goose bumps like ripples of nerve signals.
Odd feeling not altogether pleasant.
Taking painkillers for nerve pain, failure.

I had been in a somewhat 'serene' mood but by Friday and end of week 2 I got a bit pissy, grumpy and impatient.
Some of my friends and TEAM mates were in San Francisco preparing to walk/run the  Nike Woman's Marathon I so had wanted to do this year.
Hearing their stories really made me want to get out and do a race! Even if it was only a 5k, my right foot for a 5k!!!!

Never mind that the days crawled by, sometimes I'd look at the clock and it was only 9am, no sleeping in for me. I get up at 7 with the kids anyway.
Added to all the perceived misery I was in was the fact that my oldest dog Iris was failing.
She and I had spent all of my recovery days together in the bedroom.
She on her bed behind the baby gate and I 2 feet away watching her fight for air.
There were moments since that Friday that she slept very soundly and I'd check her breathing.
Sometimes I'd wake her up by accident and fiddle with her ears a bit.
She stopped eating on Sunday and would take little bits of chicken broth but she was exhausted.
On Wednesday husband and Iris took her final ride and we had to let her go.

Now I'm in a very quiet bedroom with the occasional snore or sigh from the other dogs.
Tomorrow marks week 3 and the removal of stitches.

I decided that I'm not going to heed my mom's saying, it's not all going to be pretty along the way in this recovery and the road towards my final goal.
I might as well apologize now for any whining that might go down in the future.

Heal!

I woke up at 4 am with Iris who is having a hard time with the whole being the oldest/most ill dog.
Husband has been babying her because she is obviously on the decline and needing a lot of extra love and care.
This breed tends to suffer from "fatty tumors" and quite possibly the one on her chest has becoming invasive and it bothers her a lot.
They are benign but can get big, hers is the size of a grapefruit right now.
Another month and she will be 13, but if her quality of life deteriorates more I fear she won't see that birthday.
Until then it's boiled chicken and rice hand fed by the husband and that is fine, she has earned that with all the health issues she was dealt with.

Today marks the 11th day since surgery and visit to Dr. B. was on the books.
We woke up to the first "winter storm" for California, this translates into rain and high winds.
Husband took me to the clinic.

I have this scooter now for getting around and make quite the entrance with it where ever I go, the Dr's office was no exception. At least 2 women commented on my wheels and maybe were a bit envious? I cannot imagine using crutches right now, this scooter thing takes the strain off my shoulders and arms.

I felt for one gal, freshly casted in a walking boot trying to work the crutches. Her husband wasn't the kindest either, he almost was running out of the door with her trying to keep up.
I so would have smacked him as soon as he got within reach of my crutches.
Dr. B. saw me in the cast room and bandages were removed. To say I was a bit apprehensive about what it all would look like is an understatement. So much is riding on the first few days, if it got infected or die off I'd be in trouble.
But not only was there no swelling, the stitches looked very pretty and in order. No infection, all of me is still 100% alive!
There are about 15 of them and the scar does look like a first time sewing project all crooked and zig-zag. Dr. B. explained to me it could not be a straight line because of the way these surgeries heal. A straight incision would pucker over time and with that comes a whole new set of healing issues.
He was so pleased I half expected him to high-five me right there but he didn't.
He took care of the dressing and we waited for the new cast/splint.

I've been in cast rooms before and have always found it intriguing. For some reason there is always someone ahead being cast and you sit back and watch that poor soul getting all wrapped up.
Today a young Asian kid, in obviously a lot of pain, got his cast removed and replaced.
Took the tech 40 minutes during which we had the opportunity to watch him use the cast saw three times!

When it was my turn husband seemed a bit disappointed no saws were needed for me.

Anyhow, I'm all wrapped up. New appointment set for in 10 days, the stitches will come out and I get a new cast/splint.

It's the same old, same old until then. Rest and elevate.
I'm getting good at it too!

Just me and the dogs

For all intent and purposes our morning routine is pretty much the same.

Resident Teen has to get up at 6:30 and Little Man at 7 am. The weeks before the surgery I was the main driver as my old car, the Taurus, finally decided to die in the middle of El Camino.

We were down to one car, not an issue right now because I'm not walking for 4 weeks and who knows what will happen as soon as this cast comes off.

However, my husband is not a morning person, at all.

He rarely goes to sleep before 1 am, not easy if you have to get up at 6:30 am.

So for 45 minutes there is the slamming of cupboards, complaining about homework needing signing and the general angst that is inherent with having an almost 16 year old girl in the house.

It's tends to be quite the dramatic exit at 7:15 by Dad and daughter with the quieter departure of the younger one 45 minutes later.

We have three dogs, all Bouvier des Flandres. There's Iris (13) Barend (4.5) and Miss Izzy (4). We've always had this breed and as dogs go they are my kind of dog. A bit big but very calm and quiet when needed.

As soon as the activity and the flurry of the morning has faded the dogs get down to some serious nap time.
By 9 am there is a chorus of snoring, occasional fart and when they really apply themselves there is the running in the sleep.
Ah bliss.

Iris (top) Isolde aka Dizzy Izzy (bottom)  

Last night wasn't a good night for Iris, she was up every hour and at some point got stuck in the bathroom and kept us awake for hours.

I have cursed her backyard breeder every day since she was 5 years old for breeding too many puppies too soon.

Now we  have a dog with severe hip problems.

As a result of the restless night I'm dragging today, my foot is warm but the toes cool to the touch.

I'm feeling the misuse of my right calf muscle, am stretching the left when I can.

So in general the day moves on, I get up every hour to do something, keep the blood flowing and the rear end from falling asleep.

By 3 pm something triggers in the dogs brain, the kids are slated to come home soon. It's an event I now look forward too.

They get up and check the back yard for squirrels.

And then the kids are home and there's life in the place.

Another day has passed, repeat it tomorrow again.

Ah, the life of a dog.

Some background first.

I've never seen myself as a sporty person but in 2007 I joined  Team in Training and prepared for the first of my half Marathons with them.
I was having good training's and the spirit of getting fit and by doing so helping others propelled me along.
Until March 15th of 2007, I stepped off a ladder and felt a sharp pain in my heel.
I iced it, rested and went on to the San Diego Rock and Roll half Marathon on June 3rd 2007. I finished and was a Marathoner now!
But the foot never felt good after. I continued on to the San Jose Rock and Roll, trained for the San Diego event again but ended up again with the injury flaring up after a local 10k. Still stubborn I trained on and did Seattle 2 days after Thanksgiving.
By now I had burned the carpet at a local podiatrist without result.
Bursitis was his diagnosis and back to PT I went.
The new year 2009 saw me back with TEAM and in May I completed my 3rd Rock and Roll.
During my training the pain never was an issue but as soon as the running shoes came off the pain started.
I found a new podiatrist, the same who had treated me 20 years ago when I tore some ligaments, and he diagnosed me with Haglunds Deformity
After the X-rays confirmed this it was pretty clear come fall I'd be hanging my running shoes up for awhile as it meant surgery and a long period of healing.

I've had surgery now and I want to share how the road ahead is for me.
This blog is part sounding board for me, part information for who wants to read it.
It will be a long journey and I hope you'll walk a little with me along the way.
What is my ultimate plan?

I know this walking sport is it for me, it sets me free, I have time to think and can concentrate on what is important.
I want to get back and walk a Half Marathon.
When, who knows.
But it's going to happen!