...for a question...

If you have decided to keep one or more of your casts from the past, what did you do with it?

I get mine off in just 2 days, a lot of my friends/family wrote on it including a friend of mine from the Marine's who came to visit (we only get to see him like 2 times a year), so the cast kinda holds sentimental value. I just really have no idea what I am going to do with it! I am running out of shelf space in my bedroom, and if I leave one more thing on the floor I think my sister will beat me with it!! LOL Another question, I heard that casts smell when you get them off most of the time. If you have kept your cast(s) how did you get rid of that smell, or did you just let it airdry until it was gone??

Happy Healing,
-Britt

Countdown: 2 days 58 minutes!!:)

Wow, Britt...2 days. Thats awesome! Seems like time has flown by. I just replied to Kim's post about keeping the casts, and was telling her that the one I just had taken off is the only one that I haven't kept because it was soooo nasty. When she took it off, the inside of the foot area was this yellowish-brown color, i guess from where I had sweated so much. Ewww...I just had her trash it. The cast was also pretty demolished after she cut it off also because the thing was so thick she had to cut and saw for ages to get the thing off.

Anyways, about getting the smell out. Usually when they have taken the casts off, they will cut out the padding and stockinette, so you're just left with the hard fiberglass shell of the cast to take with you. All the stench is basically in the padding and stockinette, so if they cut that out and trash it, it doesn't really stink anymore.

Megan

Thanks, thanks, thanks Megan! (can you tell I am excited!!) I have started the road to life after cast by getting my hair cut! I crutched 4 blocks to the hair salon and got it done!! When I was in the shower the last time, on the crutches, I realized that my hair was too damn long to actually wash correctly! I have barely-manageable curly/frizzy hair, there is a lot I have to do to my hair in order to wear it down...so I usually just wear it in a pony tail. Well, being as it's getting too long to even take care of, I got it cut short enough for me to be able to easily wash it while on my crutches, and long enough to just fit in a ponytail! I feel better alright!! They always style my hair at the salon (the go nuts for my curls!) so today is the first time in about 2 months that I actually have my hair down!! I feel like such a girl! Of course by the end of the day it will be back in the ponytail because of the humidity!

Anyways, I have one more question, did anyone else suffer from extreme hair loss after surgery?? I noticed I was losing a lot of hair in the shower, but I thought it was because of not taking care of my hair that well. When I got my hair done today the woman (who has been doing my hair since I was about 8) told me that I was losing an unusual amount of hair. She said she thought it might be from the antibiotic that I was on, and then the other stylist asked me if I had general anesthesia and I told her I did and she said that might have caused it! I never heard of that before... anyone else??

Okay enough rambling! I have excited fingers to go along with my excited mind! LOL Hope everything is good!

-Britt :blob_fire (<~~ Me jumping for joy)

I had two. Threw both away at the Doctors office.
Not too nasty, I was just ready to move on and I had nothing to do with them.

Britt,

When you get the cast off, do you get to start pwb with a boot? You're going to feel so free! Being able to take a normal shower and shave my leg was the greatest. I think I could have stayed in the shower for days right after the cast came off! Crutched 4 blocks?? wow...thats a long way for crutches! You must have some killer biceps by now..lol I'm definitely with ya on the hair issue...I don't do hair...so mine is always pulled back. I am a very low-maintenance person. I don't own a bit of makeup, and always wear a ponytail! I am usually a really active person, so makeup and a stylish hairdo would just get in my way! I think I might go do a little personal pampering before the surgery though...get my hair cut and brows waxed and maybe even get my poor tootsies a pedicure!

Hmm...I've never had a prob with my hair coming out after any surgery that I have had. I do have a problem with it being pretty brittle and breaking off pretty easily, but I think it's because of some of the meds I am taking. Never heard of general anesthesia causing a problem with hair loss though.

Britt,

When you get the cast off, do you get to start pwb with a boot? You're going to feel so free! Being able to take a normal shower and shave my leg was the greatest. I think I could have stayed in the shower for days right after the cast came off! Crutched 4 blocks??

Megan,

I am really not sure if I will be PWB after the cast comes off TOMORROW (I still can't believe that in 23 hrs. 53 min. I will be cast free) the doc never really made that clear. He told me that I would be in PT but he never said whether or not I will be in the boot, or how I will be getting around. I genuinely hope that it is back to the CAM-Walker (more affectionately known as the boot, in my house), I can't imagine walking any other way at this point. I was in the boot for 6 weeks before surgery, out of it for one week, and then I had the surgery. I have no idea if my foot even remembers how to walk. LOL I think it is getting use to the cushy feeling of the inside of the cast. I remember everyone telling me what a PITA the fiberglass was going to be, and I am happy to report that it wasn't bad for me.

Of course, showering is another story! I seriously had the shower from hell last night! I went in about an hour after my sister got out (to ensure hot water) not realizing that she had changed the pressure thing on the shower head to pulsate. When I started the water the water pressure literally knocked the crutch out of my arm and left me reaching to grab something to prevent falling. (::Side Note:: When are television networks going to get a clue and make a comedy about someone crutches-bound?LOL) I finally stand upright and get the crutch under my arm when I realize that I didn't straighten out the xero-sox and it is now rolling down (first problem I had with it)toward the cast. So I have the crutch under my right arm and I am using my left to try and roll the thing back up, I finally get it and realize that I must have had the thing to far up on my thigh so everytime I bend my knee it rolls down! :mad: So I had to keep my leg straight which made for picking up soap/shampoo/conditoner a hell of a lot harder! I was so mad!!! I was like grunting LOL So I made it quick, and then hopped out of the shower, and then the wet crutch slides right out from under my armpit, and send me flying trying to keep the leg straight!!!!!!!!! If it wasn't happening to me it would have been hilarious! I landed on the toilet bowl, lid closed (thankfully) and so ended my showering SAGA! I got out and told my mom, "I don't care how much I smell for the doctor I am not showering again until the cast comes off!" I seriously don't think I am going to...not like I am going to get too sweating watching TV and playing computer games (the Sims 2, 'my name is Brittani, and I am addicted to the Sims)!

I have to agree with you on some points: 1. I am also very low maintenance, the only make-up I have is for special occassions...now if only my hair would cooperate with my 'low-maintenance' persona. That's a whole saga in it's own, I have more product for my hair then I have clothes, seriously. 2. I can totally see myself in the shower for days after the doctor's tomorrow, but I think it's probably going to be the pool. I also can't wait to shave, my mother's friend said he is going to be a hair stylist for my leg hair and he is going to comb it, hold it between his fingers and cut it, like they do at the hair salon. I told him be my guest as long as the hair is gone! 3. I have already talked BF into giving me the money to get my pedicure done on Friday, after all the trauma my toes have been through, and it wasn't even their fault (stupid ankle), I think they deserve a little color and foot rub. I am also getting a foot massage (for free) from a girl at work who put herself through school to become a massage therapist. Woohooo, post-cast sounds like fun! 4. Crutching 4 blocks was a lot, and I really regret it today. My body is achey and crutching is a task today! But I do have my manageable hair to show for it LOL! :D Always a brightside!

I can't wait to get this thing off! (23 hr. 29 min. now! LOL) My pool is waiting and they took the t-storms out of the forecast for tomorrow so I am excited.
I will probably be on to post again sometime tonight, if not, then definitely tomorrow after I get the cast off.. I have to eat now, the excitement has knots in my stomach!

Happy Healing, as always...
-Britt

P.S. When you go to get the cast off, do you bring your other shoe, a sock, the boot, if the doc never told you how you were going to be walking afterwards?? I washed up the lining of my boot and it is ready for me, but to be on the safe side I think I am going to bring a sneaker and sock too!

Less than 24 hours! WooHoo! Thats awesome!

That definitely sounds like a crappy shower...showering with a cast and crutches was a big problem for me after surgery. I used the shower in my parents master bathroom for months afterwards because it has a seat thingy built in it...made life easier. I am going to relish my showers for the next 13 (and counting) days, then it's back to the "old lifestyle" of the cast and crutches! I wouldn't shower again either...when they take off the cast, the cast room is gonna smell anyways because of your foot, so why not just add a little b.o. into the mix? LOL

I've still been running around brace free with a naked ankle...and it feels great. I even wore some flip-flops yesterday. I figure what the heck, if I hurt it again before now and day of surgery, he's gonna be in there anyways, so he can fix it? I guess that's not really the right mindset for that issue, but when you've already spent a month and a half of your summer in a cast, and get to spend another 2 months in a cast or a boot, I would like to enjoy these two weeks being "free"!

I think all of us "ankle girls" should get together somewhere when were all healed up...we need a vacation..lol We should do a reality TV show that chronicled the lives of people with foot and ankle injuries and surgery who face the daily challenges of living with a casted leg on crutches...might turn out to be a primetime hit! LOL

When my doc took my cast off and I went into the boot, he just told me to slowly wean myself off the crutches. I went from two crutches to none at all in a day or two. My first day of PT, I hobbled in without my crutches and was reprimanded for not using them! My PT Andy said he was going to slap me upside the head with a crutch next time I came in without them. He thought I made the pwb to fwb transition too fast. I know my PT very well as I have been going to him off and on for about two and a half years. He also happens to be best friends with my OS, and even came to the hospital when I had my surgery to observe it. I enjoy PT as it always feels good to get moving, we have alot of fun. His motto is "No Pain, No Paycheck"..LOL

Oh yeah, on the taking the shoe with you...you might ought to take one just in case. When I got the cast off after the surgery, my doc told me to bring my boot with me...I actually took two with me to see which one he preferred. But I made the mistake last week and didn't take anything with me, because he told me I would go back into a boot, and he would give me a new one because all the ones I have are falling apart. So, last week, I walked out with nothing on my foot at all, since he just wanted me back into the brace, which happened to be at home with my left shoe. I felt like an idiot walking out of his office with one shoe on and an extremely hairy leg! My mom wanted to take me out to breakfast afterwards, but I couldn't go because I didn't have a shoe..I had to go home first and shave my leg and find my left tennis shoe before I could go out in public again!

Well, I think I have started to write a book here, so I will shut up now!

Megan

Your book has kept me entertained and my mind off the time (a little under 15 hours now)! I seriously am soooo bored right now, and wish this thing was off already! The hours seem like they are taking days to pass. I am sooo anxious!

I get you on your mom wanting to take you out to breakfast. I am seriously considering bringing pants with me tomorrow so I don't miss out on a good meal after the doctor. That probably won't happen this time as my mom is using her lunch to take me to the doctor. The first appointment post-op, when my Aunt took me, we went to the Olive Garden for lunch and it was soooo good, I just had the surgical wrapping on.. talk about the stares I got from people LOL But the food made up for it!

today, my body is aching from the walk yesterday, and then my bf and I get in this big fight about him wanting to go into the military, and he walks out of his house...leaving me to walk the 8 blocks between our houses! Men @@! :mad: I was so angry.. I got a little over half way home, when my Uncle pulled up and asked if I wanted a ride. I was soo mad, the adrenaline was rushing through me.. and I didn't even feel out of breath when my Uncle picked me up. I wish I would have had that the entire time I was on the crutches.. my muscles would be even bigger then they are now! LOL

Well, I have decided to bring my right shoe and the boot. I will need a sock either way so that's a given! LOL Maybe I should pack a bag.. I just want this day to go by! I can't wait to go to sleep and wake up and then bam it's tomorrow! Although, I know I will probably not sleep at all tonight. :yawn: Well, there is always wishful thinking.

I am gonna go try and find something to do. Hope you are enjoying your last few days of freedom! :)

-Britt

Today's the day!! You're going to feel like a new woman when you get that cast off! Please let us know how your appt. went when you get home!

I have still been making the most of my last days of freedom...12 and counting! I went and biked 10 miles last night. It felt great being able to get out and sweat! The ankle protested quite a bit, but I rode through the pain. Every time I pedal and the ankle flexes, it locks up and pops...but hopefully for only 12 more days!

I need to do some training to get myself in shape for crutches...I told my mom yesterday I was going to take my crutches and go to the track and walk with them for a couple of miles. Wouldn't I be cute crutching around an athletic track? LOL

Okay here is the update.. I went in at 12:30 he didn't see me until like 1. The nurse came and cut the cast off.. it didn't really smell, but the saw tickled me something fierce. She removed it, taped it up and handed it to me. The doc came in, looked at the incision, had me move it up and down (I have a 55 degree range of motion that way) and then explained to me all the do's and don'ts. It was a lot of info, but my mom got most of it down so I'm good. LOL

I am PWB now in...(get this) a sneaker!!!! :) No CAM-Walker or anything woohoo. I have 3 weeks now to wean myself off the crutches and he wants to see me walk(keywor) into his office at my next appointment August 17th. I was so excited but the incision to me looks gross! The steri-strips were still on when the cast came off so he told me to wait for them to fall off. The only problems are that the top of my foot is swollen, and I have a shorter range of motion when I am pointing my toes.

Right now I have my foot iced and elevated (as per the doctor's orders) while I reply to some messages. I think I have decided against going to get a pedicure tomorrow, I think I am going to give it a week or so. My entire foot is loosing soooo much skin!! It's gross!

The first thing I did when I got home was start my 'physical therapy' in the swimming pool. I was in for 2 hours and I am going back in when I am done with posting. He wants me to swim one lap and then walk one lap, repeatedly, so that's what I was doing. It feels sooo strange to have 2 feet on the ground!! My other exercise includes flexing down and up while watching tv or reading. No biggie there.. he said after three weeks then he will look into going into formal physical therapy if I need it! :) I lost most of the steri-strips in the pool LOL and the others are just hanging on. I am not one to peel at things so they will be there until they fall off!!

I am having mixed emotions right now :dizzy: I am happy it is off and life is getting back to normal, but I am sooo nervous walking with one crutch and nothing covering my ankle. Any suggestions in how to overcome this nervousness?

Well, my bed is getting really uncomfortable and it soo warm I just have to get back in the pool. I will update you with any further developments later on!

-Britt
P.S. it's great you got to ride the bike..sucks your ankle was acting up. I can imagine you at the track on the crutches, I seriously thought of using them again even when I don't need them, maybe to tone the bad leg and for strength training. idk. LOL

Britt-

Wow, a bare ankle! Doesn't it feel awesome? Your doc doesn't have you in any kind of brace at all? Be careful! Sounds like you are definitely on your way back to normal. I bet being in the pool feels great. I wish we had a pool. You'll probably make the transition to walking pretty fast, I know I did before. The only thing different with me is that I was walking in the boot. But it's good that you don't have to wear a boot because now you're able to get your muscles moving again and get some strength back!

For the first couple of days while trying to wean off the crutches, you might ought to use a lightweight brace of some sort for a little support. Your ankle is probably so weak right now from being immobilized so long, you run the risk of hurting it again by trying to walk unsupported.

Take care!

Megan