Saturday, August 17, 2013

Stitches out and boot off!

Yesterday, 15 days after the procedure, my stitches came out. It was the most painful part of the procedure! I acted as if I were 4 years old. What can I say, I hate pain!!

The only dressing is a large Band-Aid. I still can't shower - have to wait another 4 days until the holes the stitches were in heal. But then, finally, a nice hot shower.

I can walk without the boot in a regular running shoe. When it starts to hurt I should rest. That's it. Because my plantar fasciitis is so bad, I am wearing an AirCast AirHeel ankle brace to cushion my arch until it heals.

My ankle hurts a little, kind of like a mild sprain (with which I am extremely familiar).

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

11 days post-op

The Hyprocure stent was inserted almost 2 weeks ago. The procedure was done in my podiatrist's office  - my foot was frozen but I didn't receive any other medication. The whole thing took less than 90 minutes - and I walked out of the office with my foot in a rigid cloth boot with Velcro straps.

I was given an antibiotic and a combination pain killer/anti-inflammatory and told to ice 30 minutes out of 60 for the first 48 hours. Walking was restricted to bathroom breaks for the first 48 hours.

Not only have I felt no pain since the procedure, but during the procedure, when the stent was placed in its final position, my ankle felt better than it had ever felt in my life!

7 days after the procedure, I went for my first post-op appointment. The nurse removed the dressing and we saw that there was very little bruising or swelling - it is healing beautifully. I can now take the boot off to drive, to do range of motion exercises and to sleep. Yahoo!

My next appointment is this Friday when my stitches will be removed and I will be given an ankle brace that is to be used with regular shoes. 2 weeks after the procedure and I will be in regular shoes! Wow!

My plantar fasciitis is virtually gone and I can walk without the boot without any pain. I have reasonably good range of motion - it hurts a little bit when I rotate my foot towards center.

Overall, this has been a really positive experience and I am looking forward to having my left ankle done in September.