6 Weeks

Today is 6 weeks post-surgery.

So here is a quick update on what's been going on.

Had the surgery, no problems. Was off pain meds within 48 hours. Like a perfect patient, I stayed on the couch with my foot elevated with ice wrapped around it for 7 days.

I didn't leave the house in the first week, except to go to the doctor. They gave me a post-op shoe to wear which was very dorky, but I wore it any time I walked. In fact, if I didn't, it hurt. When the bandage came off, I was a bit freaked out by the scar.

Yes, those are my initials on my foot...they made me put them on the foot that the surgery was to be performed on so they didn't do the wrong foot. Really.

He wrapped the foot back up - can't get it wet for another week.

I love the blue bandage. Makes my leg look tanner than it really is.

OK, so 10 days after surgery, I was on my bike. I could fit my foot into the bike shoe, but I couldn't clip in. So, I clipped the shoe in before I got on the bike and then just slid my foot in. No problems. Since your toes don't bend in the bike shoe, this caused no problems for me unless I really tried to push hard.

I was back in the pool 2 weeks later. No pushing off with the left foot. I tried a couple times and if I didn't hit the wall just right, the pain from the toe bend was excruciating. OK, back to one-legged flip turns for a while.

So on it went, just biking and swimming. Not too bad. Last week, I did my first run. It was just 20 minutes and on a scale of 1-10, the pain was about a 7. My focus was not on speed, of course, but on trying not to compensate for the toe. For almost 2 years, I HAVE BEEN compensating, so now I need to re-learn to run on that foot. It's harder than you think, especially because I know if I push the weight to the outside of my foot, it won't hurt nearly as bad.

5 runs in now, and though the toe still hurts, I am able to run. It's going to be work to get back to my regular pace, but I am 2 weeks ahead of where I thought I'd be, so I'm OK with it. Best of all, I found a new running partner!