Coping with life post operation
Heya everyone,
So as some of you know I had to have an operation on my foot to fix it. That happened last week on Tuesday!During the last week I've been battling with lack of mobility - as I have a back-slab plaster cast on my lower leg which is SOO heavy! And I'm not allowed to stand on it for about 12 weeks/3 months, with regular reviews to check on how the healing is going. Along with the that I'm in a lot of physical pain - it hurts to be standing up with my right foot hanging down, so I must have it resting up which it okay, but the pain can be unbearable and make moving around so difficult and draining!
I'm on some strong pain killers but they don't dull the pain completely. So I'm seeing a GP tomorrow.
With all of this pain and lack of mobility I've had a couple nights where I've cried myself to sleep. Of these sometimes I've felt completely overwhelmed by everything and just felt like it was all totally unfair.
I've felt like such a burden on my family at times because I am limited in what I can do, but on the flip side I feel like they aren't supporting me enough... My mum does the best she can which I appreciate with her lack of energy due to her health conditions. My dad sometimes helps and it really good but then he turns around and makes a snide comment or complains - which can be really hard to cope with at times. And my brother flatly refuses to help me at all, yet he'll "joke" around about hitting/kicking/dropping the cats on my cast and cannot see why I get frustrated with him.
I am frustrated because there isn't a whole lot of room at home, as it's a small house, so using the scooter can be a challenge because of narrow walkways and not being able to do a uturn, I often have to pick up one end of the scooter to move it around to turn! And crutches are a pain, and there isn't really the space to use crutches confidently either! Ugh it's just frustrating!
Sorry for the huge rant, I wanted this to be positive and to update you all on how I'm going as I know quite a few of you are interested to hear about it all 🙂
@Bee sorry you have to deal with all that 😞
this can definitely be frustrating when everything else isn’t going how you want and then you get really sick of everything. have you tried any stretching for the pain around your body ? did you do any self-care last night ? 
some of it is family stuff and still not being able to manage everything because I'm still not allowed to walk on my right foot - I JUST WANT TO WALK ALREADY DAMMIT! so there is a LOT of frustration around that on my behalf and family because they still have to help etc.
And it's just the other pain I get in my body because other parts are over compensating, so my knee keeps locking up when using the scooter or having my leg up so I have to move it often and even that it still locks up, and it hurts when it locks up. And so that creates more tension within me which then snowballs when other things go wrong or whatever...
Actually snowballing is a great way to describe everything right now 😛
hey @Bee
you mentioned you are feeling low, do you want to talk about it ? here to listen
@Bee It's exciting that your cast is off! And I'm so, so proud of you for taking those baby steps towards wellness and for caring for yourself and paying attention to what you need How are you doing today? I hope you're not in too much pain.
I'm doing okay mostly, I'm not taking as much pain relief now which is good 🙂
I'm having some nerve pain though which is really annoying and can be difficult to deal with, but otherwise I'm doing well.
I'm still trying to get all the dead callous skin off my foot *sick face* it's so gross! But I have to do it slowly as to not scare frankenfoot 😛 or make it bleed.
It's great that you've been able to reduce the pain relief @Bee although I'm sorry to hear you're still in pain. Nerve pain can be so debilitating. It sounds like you're doing an amazing job taking care of yourself and your foot 🙂
Have you been able to do any more photography editing or anything else that you enjoy lately?
yes treat it like glass! im sorry you were kept awake becasue of pain. its really horrible isnt it.
some stretching or some gentle massages might be good just very light ones to help release the muscles alittle bit.
hey @Bee
sorry you’re very tired, have/can you take some strong pain relief for your foot ? stretches are definitely a great idea ! i love stretching but i can’t think of any that would be suitable for you 😕
sending my love
I was going through the injury facebook support group and another person shared a hurt foot workout which looks good, I'd only be able to do about half of it, but it's better than nothing. I did a few reps of what I could remember this morning when getting dressed which helped a little 🙂
It is! It's the second night in a row so I'm a bit tired still but I'm getting there 🙂
I can't massage my foot yet as it's still in the cast, but after Wednesday I should be able to start gently 🙂
But yes I did too until this injury and I was like woah game changer! @scared01
SO today is WEDNESDAY! And as some of you who've been following this will know that today is the day I get my cast off! And that was great! It felt SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD to be able to give my foot a wet one wash 😛
The awesomeness of that became dulled very quickly though. I had to wait 2 hours to be seen,
the ortho registrar couldn't answer ANY of my questions and said he had no clue about them! 😮 And I had to ask him about the xrays because he didn't bring them up straight away, and then he goes "Oh I'll have to find them" And then goes over them. All is healing well, but not fused enough yet, there's still a line! (hurry and fuse you silly line 😛 )
AND than spent another 30mins at least, waiting for the physio to come and get the thing off! She was nice though. She put my cast on 4 weeks ago. She even let me wash my foot! (which back in 2015 that wasn't allowed (nor did I have anything to wash it with)) and she gave me a sock thing they use to make the cast to wear under the boot.
But now... I just feel so fragile and vulnerable 😞
I don't see the surgeon until 9 weeks time and it's just so long and it's just so hard. AND the boot is so awkward Non-Weight bearing - I prefer the cast for that! But ugh... I don't know. I'm just needing to rant. I dislike this injury sooo much 😞
@Bee yayaya !! your cast is off 🙂 i remember waiting for like 3 hours just to finally see the dr or whatever the person was to take it off.
that's annoying that it still hasn't fused, do you know how much longer till it does ?
that's frustrating about the boot, how long do you have the boot ?
sending my love
It SUCKS that waiting times are so long 😞 baby steps, though. Are you still posting in the Facebook support group for other people with the same injury?
Baby steps!
Yeah I am. I posted tonight and haven't gotten much usefulness atm 😕 but I'm not really active with helping other people there so I guess I expect it... There's maybe 1 or 2 users I could look up and chat to they said I could ages ago, but it feels weird in a private setting, but a group setting there feels okay IDK
@litgym thanks, I'm just trying to get through it, and today just feels like an emotional trainwreck. I see my psychologist Friday so great timing! 😛 But I just need to vent it and sit in the feeling a bit I guess
Thank you ❤️
It's kinda normal, fusions take longer then a bone healing so that's okay. Average is about 12 weeks to fully fuse. I will be in the boot for quite a while yet. I have no hope of getting out of it anytime soon 😛
9 weeks non weight bearing, hopefully when I see my surgeon at end of Nov I can start to weight bear, and than that is done so gradually with this injury over several weeks, it depends on pain levels with that one... SO Maybe in the new year I might be able to wear a stiff runner? It's a loong horrendous injury. I don't wish it upon anyone 😞
@Bee mm that's a bit upsetting 😞 but it's all for the best and remember baby steps. at least soonish you get to start putting weight on your foot 🙂 hugs
@Bee the foot workouts sound good and when you get your cast off (2 days !!!) you can massage your foot 🙂 i hope you get a better sleep tonight, has the pain settled down today ?
YES! I can't wait! I also need to give it a bloody good wash first because eww! haha
The pain hasn't been too bad today, I ended up taking pain relief earlier because it was sore, but it wasn't too bad. And there's still a bit of an ache but it's not painful, it feel more stiffness I think...
@Bee that’s annoying ! when does your GP come back ? that’s great to hear the pain has calmed down 🙂
@Bee aw that’s a shame 😞 well i hope the best with your gp atm till your usual one comes back !
I may try and see someone else, but idk, I don't like many of the other drs I've seen there
