Hi Folks--

I wanted to wait until I got my cast on to update.

This is day eight after surgery. I still have a bit of pain, but not as much as I expected. I am doing best with keeping the foot elevated as it really hurts when I have it down. I was hoping to be up and around (at least on crutches this week), but it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

They took off my splint today, took out the stitches (which really hurt) and put on a cast. It is fiberglass, and then I get a removable cast in three weeks. I didn't take any pain medication because I wanted to be awake for the appointment, but I am not sure I would do that again.

My ankle was very ugly but my doctor says it is healing nicely, no infection, and not that much swelling. He also said is will probably be next week until I want to really will be up and around.

Anyway, thanks for everyone's good thoughts. Astim--I used you ice pack behind the knee trick and it helped tremendously.

I think I am out of the worse of it at this point, but I expect it to be still slow. My Dr. gave me yet another persciption for percocet, so I will probably be in pain for at least another week or so.

All the best to everyone,

Rose (isarose)

Yup... I agree... Getting the stitches out was not fun! I didn't get them out until two weeks after, and the nurse was digging around trying to find them in the skin. Yowch! Your ankle will look pretty gross for a while, because of the bruising and also because the stuff they scrubbed your ankle with before surgery gives it a yellow look, and that won't go away until you actually get to shower.

It's good that you are feeling better. It will keep getting a little bit better every day, although you won't be able to tell. As for letting your leg hang down for extended periods of time, it will be a while. I didn't drive until 3.5 weeks after surgery because it hurt too much to have my foot down for the amount of time it took me to drive anywhere. I did have some interesting excursions to stores, using the electric carts. It you are careful, you can manage to get your leg up and resting in the basket without interfering with the steering too much (although it does take some practice to get it positioned up there without completely inhibiting your ability to steer). That can provide a little bit of relief from the monotony of the couch, though.

Hope you continue to improve without complications!