Well here I sit the end of week 8, and a new adventure is beginning.  I got Big Red off Thursday and he was replaced with and Aircast. I did get xrayed but the disk they gave me, my computer can't read. I will try to get real copies my next visit.  They show my foot positioned under the shin bone nice and square and that my arch is raised about and extra 1/4 inch.  The arch will relax once I start to walk on it.  I also found out I got a bonus of a fourth screw.  This is to help the fusion hold up better. Dr Feinblatt actually had me stand on my foot so he could see how well it is aligned.  Let me tell ya I'm sure glad I hit the can before that visit.

The Aircast is quite the deal. It weighs about twice as much as the fiberglass cast, is more bulky and a little bit awkward.  However it is REMOVABLE, so I can take it off in the evenings and just relax.  It will also allow me to gradually begin putting weight on my ankle/foot. I have graduated from my scooter to a walker (a little more stable than crutches right now), then as I become more mobile I will start using the crutches.

 I am supposed to start with 25 pounds of pressure, measured by pushing down on a scale with my foot and feeling what 25 pound of pressure feels like.  Once I can manage that, I can increase it to 50 and so on until eventually I can support myself unassisted by crutches or cane. The goal at this time is to try and get up to 150 pounds by October 18th which is my next visit, 6 weeks out.

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The Bionic Ankle 4 week update

It has been 28days since surgery,  17 days in the green monster and now I am now looking at a 4 week stretch with Clifford the Big Red Cast around my leg, until the next check in. I am beginning to get some normalcy back in my life.  Off the heavy drugs, so the fog has lifted, more mobility, balance, ability to  converse on a coherent level and in general know what the hell is going on in this world.

Meet Clifford

 All is healing as planned.  It appears as though I do not have as much metal in me as originally suspected.  I will not get an xray until my next visit (safety concerns they don't want me to glow in the dark).  I understand there is the original post one heel screw and 2 screws through the shin bone. The outside of the ankle (the one with the biggest scar) is where all the rebuilding was done and the bone wedge was taken out, so my foot would lay flat again. 

bbbzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

POP it's open

AAHHHHHHHHHH

FREEDOM YEA 

This is the side they did the majority of the work on to level my foot and square up my frame

This is the entrance for the rod, the area to the upper left is bruising

If you grit your teeth and show real determination, you always have a chance!

The Bionic Ankle the wait

As with anything the waiting is the hardest part.  I now have to wait until the ninth of August before I can go to the next stage. On the ninth I get this cast off, stitches out and finally get to have it washed and cleaned up.  We will then get x-rays (actually I will demand them).  My curiosity is killing me as to the location, type and quantity of screws, plates and rods.  At that point a decision will be made as to how long the next cast will have to be on.  I am hoping 2 weeks (8/23) but it will probably be closer to 4 or 5,  which will be actually be the week of September 6th.  Oh well patience is a good thing bit can really make a guy like me a kranky man.

“You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...”
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!