first hurdle

 I had my first postsurgical visit yesterday morning, and everything went surprisingly well! Getting out of the house and into the van happened with a minimum of fuss, and Liam was nice enough to be my driver for the morning. At the doctor's office, they took off the splint and I got my first real look at the results: a raised, stitched-up line of skin about three inches long on the inside of my ankle. I look a little pieced together, but the doctor says there's no sign of infection, and everything is healing really well. My stitches aren't quite ready to come out yet (she said it can take up to a month with this type of stitches), so I'm staying in a splint for the next two weeks. Which is good news because it means that most likely I will be able to avoid getting a cast entirely. (Not gonna lie, I was giving serious thought to what color cast I would choose, and now I'm stuck with beige elastic bandages, but oh well.) Even better news is that I'm cleared to start doing things, as long as I maintain non-weightbearing status on my left foot. The elevation requirements have eased up a little bit too. All this means that I'm good to go to my aunt Chris's birthday/retirement party in Michigan later this month, which makes me very happy.

The prognosis for the future is two more weeks in the splint, then possibly going to a walking boot at my next appointment. As of tomorrow, I'm three weeks out from surgery, so two more weeks in the splint plus a week and half in the boot not bearing any weight will bring me to the six-week mark, which is when I slowly start bearing weight on that foot and start physical therapy. I'll still be in the boot until about 12 weeks, but I'll be working on getting more and more independent AND I'll be able to take a shower without it being a major production. It's the little things, people. By 16 weeks, in theory, I should be back to normal activities.

And in the meantime, I have finished something not so little: The Mighty Bowser, the lego set Mike and the boys got me for my birthday. This one was pretty involved, so it's taken a good while to build. It's so neat! The boys all admire him very much.