Pins are out!

I went to the doctor last Friday. I got my cast off and had my pins removed. Everything went pretty smoothly. The first two pins came out with some difficulty (as expected) but the last one slid right out with almost no force. I was kinda expecting that because I had noticed over the weeks that this pin kept turning inward until it was almost poking into the top of the next toe. At one point I had to try to turn the pin to keep it from poking my other toe and I was surprised that it turned very easily. Too bad they all don’t come out so easily!

   

My skin was in much worse shape this time around. I actually had large chunks of skin falling off when the cast came off. I’m assuming that is because it’s winter and the air is so dry. I was expecting my skin to be in bad shape so I had brought along a bandana to wrap around my leg to protect the new walking boot from being covered in skin. That was another lesson learned with the first foot. LOL

 

 

I began having quite a bit of throbbing pain in my arch by evening time. I couldn’t understand why it was hurting so bad. After the throbbing just kept getting worse and worse, I decided to take off the boot and take a look. Turns out that the cast guy wrapped the gauze very tightly when he put the gauze on to hold the bandage over the pin holes. I don’t know why he would have done that since the foot swells so badly after foot surgery. I took off the tight gauze and replaced it with a very loosely wrapped ace bandage and the pain went away. Problem solved.

I return to work tomorrow and I’m also supposed to be able to start walking tomorrow. But I’d like to make sure I can walk okay before I try to leave for work so I plan to try walking around a little this afternoon to get my “sea legs” back. LOL  Unfortunately I can’t drive for several more weeks until the boot is removed so I have to rely on the generosity of the one of my co-workers who has agreed to drive me to and from work until I’m able to drive again. Thank God for good friends!!

So right now I’m just looking forward to a time 4-5 weeks from now when I’ll be back into a normal shoe and driving again. There’s definitely something to be said for being independent! Having to rely so heavily on others is an exercise in patience…something I usually don’t have a surplus of. LOL