And the “excitement” continues!

    First I wanted to give a quick update about my post-op appointment that I had mentioned in my last post. I saw the PA that works with my surgeon and she is happy with the way things are progressing! The X-rays of my back looked good and all of my hardware is in place. Now on to the exciting part. “Exciting” would be written in sarcasm font if such a thing existed… 

   I think I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t have feeling in most of my left leg from the knee down. I also have something called foot drop and this is all due to some nerve damage that was done before surgery as well as inflammation that is still present in the area. This should improve and hopefully will completely resolve but it could take 6-12 months, maybe more. 

   The problem with foot drop and numbness is that my left foot was dragging when I would try to step so I have not been able to move around much and last week my ankle collapsed from under me when I was just standing still. Since then it has happened a few more times and my foot is now very swollen and bruised. My PCP had me come in for X-rays and thankfully it is not fractured but it is badly sprained so I will be in an aircast for a while. 

  This pushes physical therapy back until my ankle sprain heals but my surgeon’s office is aware of it and are keeping extra close tabs on me and have scheduled extra post-op appointments. I will have a virtual appointment in 2 weeks and then another one 2 weeks after that. 

    I received my aircast today and I will say that I am much more confident when I move around now since I’m not worried about my ankle collapsing on me anymore so that is definitely a positive. I can’t sneak up on anyone with this thing because I sound like a pirate with a peg leg but at least I’m more stable. Physically at least 😂 Mentally, not so great but I know it’ll be alright eventually. Gotta keep moving forward!

    That’s pretty much it for this update I think. I’m really frustrated because this feels never-ending but I am trying hard to focus more on the positive things. I am not always successful at it but the effort is there. I also like to make jokes as a coping mechanism. Laughing beats crying any day!

   So here I am with my new accessory. It matches well with my back brace and walker. I’ll save those pictures for another day though - I’m not sure everyone is ready for all of that just yet lol. I know I sure wasn’t. 

She always figures out a way to be as close as possible to me. Velcro Dane!