so today was the big day...time to rip out those stitches! yikes...but i've found that sometimes if you build up an event to much in your mind that by the time it actually comes you will most likely be relieved that it isn't as horrible as you might have imagined. well, i'm not going to say it was fun, or a picnic in the park, but i did survive....haha. well, we'll get to the main event in a minute but i started off by first getting another set of xrays. to do that they took off my big cast, and when they took the full thing off the first wave of outside air felt both soothing and slightly painful; it's still an odd sensation i can't quite put into words. the nurse had to pull off some of the cottony gauze that was stuck to the skin and again that was weird. they did the xrays and when dr. cory popped those suckers up on the light board i was able to see all that hardware. but what drew my attention after seeing the two rods and sets of screws was the my tibia was actually broken a second time up more towards mid shin level. "umm, is my bone broken there also?" i asked, i was afraid that i'd have to go back in for more steel or by some crazy fluke they had missed that second fracture and this was the first time it showed up. but he explained that the biggest trauma was of course closer to the ankle and that was the main priority; i guess when compared to what was going on further south that second break wasn't that big of a deal. so dr. cory told me that the bone would heal up fine on it's own. the funny thing is that i had been noticing a strange clicking sort of sound when i straightened my leg and couldn't figure out why...i was afraid it was some tendon gone awry, but the good doc told me that's actually coming from the second bone fracture...huh, good to know! but since the whole area is still partially numb i don't feel any specific pain in the region, so no harm no foul i guess.

they got the skin all cotton free, and i will say it did look like one mr. edward scissorhands gotten ahold of me! at this point my dear friend ron, who actually put in all these fine sutures, stepped in and got down to work. i couldn't look, but ron was great and even joked, "well, the good news is this doesn't hurt me a bit!" i assured him that yes, that was the top priority! ;) because there were so many stitches i think the whole thing took about 20 minutes, but ron was a pro and it wasn't as bad as i had played it out in my mind; but i'm not going to lie in that it was painless...i'll just say i'm glad it's over and leave it at that.

so the good news is that i'm on track and where i should be in terms of what dr. cory expected. i was a bit appalled at how much my calf had atrophied, i have NO calf muscle now...haha...still thankfully some of the swelling around what used to be my calf went down. what scared me also was that my whole ankle and heel is still very swollen, (and i dare say i may even have kankles!) but dr. cory assured me that is to be expected, it did go through some trauma after all, and he said that it will stay swollen most likely for a year. that blew me away, but it also made me feel better in that it's not 'behind schedule' by still being so beautifully yellow. ;)

dr. cory then added a few stretches to my PT routine; i'm now to start stretching my achilles by placing a towel around my foot and pulling the foot towards me, and because i can't actively point my foot down i will start to 'stretch' the upper tendons by just dangling my foot over the edge of a chair. slowly i will regain some muscle control in the upcoming weeks and the next step will be to work on being able to point my foot down and begin flexing it towards me without the towel. it was frustrating when i was staring at the limp foot and willing it to point and flex and the little bugger refused to move! but like i went through that same feeling with not being able to move my big toe much at all, and then progressing to moving it millimeter by millimeter the doc told me it will come in time...so of course it's back to being patient; not one of my strong points, but i'm getting better at it!

overall the visit went well, and i must say my doctors, and my main man ron (i asked him if he ever sewed anything other than skin and he told me he was rather good at fixing socks), are kick a** and i always feel uplifted after seeing them. oh, and now i am in a splint which feels like i've dropped about ten pounds of excess cast weight from my leg, and that's nice; at the same time i feel a bit nervous without the extra protection and feel like the whole area is so exposed. but, since i am now supposed to start airing it out and working on moving the foot, i've got to be able to unwrap those bandages...and so FRANKENLEG must see the light! alright, i'm wiped, so goodnight to all and i hope you all rest easy...do not worry, frankenleg will not haunt your dreams. ;)