All the fractures are now officially healed. The talus took the longest, a total of 7 full months before I was given the all clear, five of those months were spent in a cast.
A little bit about the whole experience since my last post was in October when I was first given clearance to walk. That was not a fun experience. For the first couple of weeks or so I was very unsure about placing any weight on the bad foot. I used a cane for those weeks. Eventually I was able to progress to walking without the cane, but I was only able to do it with a cast on. So, because I did not feel secure in the boot, my OS placed me in a removable cast. That worked out very well. I was up an walking within a week of receiving the removable cast. In December, he let me take the cast off completely and gave me a small ankle brace (like the type pro athletes use when they sprain an ankle). On 12/13/06 was the first time I was able to walk without any external bracing of any sort - and it was a short trip from my bed to the bathroom. I walked barefoot, something that I had not been able to do since July 14, 06! A whole five months! Let me tell you, it was not easy convincing my surgeon to let me out of the cast either. He kept saying, "Deva, I just don't think you understand the severity of this type of fracture." But I felt good, and he told me that after 6 months from the surgery I would be back to normal. How could I be back to normal if five months in I was still in a cast. So, a visit in December which involved x-rays and then I was on my feet without a boot or a cast. WooHoo!
The x-rays from the visit showed possible avascular necrosis. This saddened me because who wants to know that they are going to have arthritis in their ankle no matter what.
So, 2 months passed and I went in for a check up. In February I was given the all clear. And, great news, new x-rays were more promising. These showed no real sign of AVN. My OS told me to take it easy for another couple of months. No running, no kickboxing. Give it some time. And I have been. I still have a bit of a limp on long shopping trips. My ankle still gets sore first thing in the morning, but it loosens up throughout the day. The swelling is much better, only swelling very marginally. No real pain to speak of. I was warned that I may need a cortisone injection after a couple of months if I did have pain in the joint, but so far I have not had any symptoms to indicate that I will need that.
And, to answer a comment question, my pins are internal all 6 of them and the plate. The bone was in fragments, so my OS put it back together using the plate (a technique he had learned only 2 days before the accident). He used an ankle model prior to the surgery to bend the plate into the shape he wanted, and it turned out to be pretty close. He then used that along with pins to hold everything together.
I was in a fiberglass cast for the first 6 weeks - maybe 8 - weeks. When that was removed I was placed into a removable boot and remained in that until October. Then I was placed back into a cast, though this on was removable for showers and bed time. Then, in December I was taken out of the cast altogether. I have pictures, which I will post when I get home, as I am at work right now and don't have access to them. If you have any other questions, feel free to leave another comment.
On the knitting front - I know, it seems like I am a non-knitter these days. In my defense, I haven't blogged about anything. The knitting hasn't been neglected, just neglected being blogged about. I am joining the craftster knitting challenge this time around with the Summer Knitting Challenge. So I have been working up some designs, swatching like crazy. I have a perfect silk blend for this project and an idea working itself out. Maybe I will post some pics that don't show too much of what is going on.
More later kids.
