Broken Ankle Week 9
It is just 8 days until the date the surgeon told me I could start weight bearing. In anticipation I have just lightly set my bare foot on the bamboo floor in our house to see what it feels like. Tingly and feels so good to feel just a bit of floor on bottom of my foot (no weight).
My wife kindly drove me out to Ocean Beach so I could look at the ocean from the car. Probably 3–4 months until I can walk on the beach.
I’ve been trying to clean up the skin on my foot and ankle — all the dead skin from being in splints and cast for weeks. It’s been difficult because I haven’t regained all the feeling in my foot/ankle and parts still feel a bit tingly numb. I had bought this foot scrubber and it’s a bit too rough for how tender my skin feels. It’s especially tender where the cast caused blisters.
Everyone told me the steri-strips would fall off. They hadn’t fallen off so I peeled them off (which was basically exfoliation — ew).
I’ve been instructed not to soak my foot/ankle, for now, so I run water over it and use a washcloth to try to slough away the dead skin. It’s a slow process and I avoid the incision areas. Sometimes I just give up, dry my foot and ankle off, slather with oil and lotion and pull on a sock.
I’m continuing non weight bearing, gently stretching with a stretch strap when boot is off, practicing dorsiflexion and plantarflexion, doing leg lifts, trying to be patient waiting for PT to start.
It’s a long journey.
