Finally

I finally was free to soak my leg tonight to get the dead skin off and shave the inch long hair.  I am now in a boot for 6 weeks, will wean off crutches as the boot stops feeling scary, get to wear a splint at night instead of the huge boot (thank God, I'd never sleep in that thing) and I'm starting PT on Tuesday.  The steri-strips are off and my incision looks fabulous.  I'm sure things will change with the steri-strips off but it looks like I'm not going to have much of a scar because they were on so long.  Of course by the time I looked in the mirror at the incision my leg was really swollen and purple so it may look worse than I think.  It's still not closed 100% because the cast kept it so moist and I opened it up a little while I was soaking my leg (draped it over the side of the tub while I sat outside the tub on the shower chair) but nothing that I can't handle.  I'm really enjoying moving my toes freely and I'm supposed to do plantar flexion/dorsiflexion several times daily.  I have more inversion/eversion than I thought I would; it's minimal but it is there.  4 weeks ago I didn't have much more than a hint when the doctor asked me to move it so that's good.  And I'm very excited because I went into this knowing that I might need further surgery on my Achilles later.  It was torn as well as everything else and had scarred into a nodule that rubbed and really hurt.  With all the time of immobilzation the nodule is completely gone.  It could come back but if I do massage and watch and have the PT do ultrasound on it if I starts to return I think it is possible to break it up and have it go away.  Even if it does return with the ankle moving normally it might not be a problem.  And my ankle does move normally.  It is fascinating to watch it move and not be pulled in by unbalanced ligaments.  It moves like it is supposed to and that is a very exciting thing.

It was a long day and I'm really tired from it (walking with the boot is really hard and I'm very wobbly and so walking is a lot of work) but it was worth it to feel like I've hit a point that it is time for the work part of healing to start.  From here on healing isn't just about how well I sit around, it's about actually doing something to help myself and that is extremely exciting.

And with that I'm going to get something to eat.  I have the best cantaloupe ever right now.  It was enormous when my mom bought it for me (the size of a small watermelon) and it is so sweet and delicious I can't stop eating it, especially knowing that melons won't be fresh for much longer.  It's so weird to have summer be ending when I've spent so much of it waiting to get to this point.

Next up is a couple days at home and then Geraldine's 1st birthday party is this weekend.  I met her exactly one year ago today.  She's changed so much from the pale baby that was having trouble managing her secretions to the almost-toddler (she totally can walk but doesn't want to because she crawls faster than anyone can walk) who loves to label everything.  She sees me and she says "Jen, Jen, Jen" a few times and then won't call me by name again.  Sometimes there's an aunt on it but usually just Jen, said very quietly.  I'm special though; she calls both her parents and my mom the same nonsense syllables that my sister thinks mean "one who takes care of me".  Her sister has an approximation of her name and that's used a lot.  She also tells you Dawwgggg, Bawwwlllll, baaby, and various other labels.  She just hasn't decided that she is all that worried about talking too much, probably because her sister says everything she needs to communicate anyway.

I am so itchy tonight.  It's a little disturbing, like I'm allergic to something but I don't have a rash.  Who knows?  I have seasonal allergies in the early fall so that's probably the cause. 

And I really need to put the boot on, get some food and work on my mom's birthday present.