On Saturday (10 days post surgery) I decided I would try to make it up the stairs so I could shower and maybe sleep in my bed that night. I started out full of hope and determination. It didn't take long for that to be replaced with realism! Now, I don't claim to be in ANY kind of shape. I'm a 56-year-old overweight woman who hasn't seen the inside of a good workout in a few years. I'm sure this is a factor in my success. If you are facing this surgery & need to deal with stairs, I highly recommend building up as much strength as possible beforehand. Practice the stairs on crutches before the surgery to get a feel for total non-weight bearing on the surgical foot. I did practice, but I did not do any strength work.
So off I start, using the handrail and a crutch. It is really hard to balance on a crutch, not touch the surgical foot at all and move the good foot up a stair. My trusty hubs was behind me, ready to catch me if I fell. All I could think was "then we'd BOTH be out of commission!" Actually, I was thinking a lot of things, including that I was more nervous about coming back down the stairs. To me, going up is a matter of strength, while going down is more a balance issue. Step two, ok, wow there are a lot of stairs. Steps 3 & 4 had me thinking of where I was going to stop and rest because there was no way I was making it up the whole flight of stairs in one session. At step 5 I decided to turn around and try a step down, just to make sure I would be able to do that when the time came. By now I was sweating pretty good, my foot was throbbing and I was a little shaky (that happens when I push the limits, I'm finding).
One. Step. Down. I gather all my strength & put the crutches down on the 4th stair. One little stair. As I shift my weight from my good foot to the crutches, I lose my balance & slip. Thankfully, I caught myself, but it was enough of a scare to send me back to my chair. Of course, I still had to get down the rest of the steps (better as I did more) but by then I was exhausted! I guess it's easy to forget that the entire body goes through the trauma of surgery.
The same pattern seemed to repeat itself over the next several days. I would think I was ready for a task, only to get partway through it and discover I needed to take a break before finishing. I'm trying to be patient, but it is really difficult to be so out of commission for this amount of time. Thankfully we have had some sun this week, which helps immensely.
As for the foot itself, I can say that it is not really painful as much as uncomfortable. First, it itches! Anyone who has ever had a cast can attest to the maddening sensation of an itch you cannot scratch! I told my love that as soon as someone takes that off I'm pushing them out of the way to do an epic scratch! Next, my foot is wrapped in what seems to be cotton batting inside in the hard splint. Imagine a cheap pillow that has been scrunched and squished for 2 weeks. It feels like it has become bunched up and lumpy under my foot. Can't wait to get that changed. If I happen to tap it on the floor or twist it in a different way, I can still feel a pull on the incision site.
I am thankful for a great husband who has been incredibly patient with taking care of my every need, a good sub who allows me not to worry about school, good insurance so we don't have to worry about paying for this forever, good friends & family who are keeping me up to speed on life outside of my house & a comfortable place to recover. Whatever else is going on, I am blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment