Post-Op to Suture Removal

From June 23rd until July 8th : my routine was pretty much the same.  Watch Netflix. Take pain meds (but I stopped taking percs less than a week post-op and took Advil instead when it hurt a lot at times). Eat. Sleep.
Lucky for me though, my amazing boyfriend was able to stay by my side since my parents were at work a lot so I didn't have to be alone. Thanks babe!

The biggest mission during this time was going to the bathroom.  My boyfriend would hold my leg/cast while I crutched because the weight of the cast would pull down on my leg and cause a great deal of pain.  And I definitely had to get used to the fact that my mom had to sponge bathe me in bed... not a great feeling to feel like you can't even do the simple things by yourself like use the bathroom and wash.

My toes looked like little sausages because they were so swollen post-op.  That started going down after a week or so...

Major feel-good moments during this time included: getting out of my bed for the first time and going out to the deck and enjoying the beautiful lake in my backyard & getting my hair washed for the first time post-op.  It lifted my spirits so much!

Then, when the time came for my follow-up appointment, we headed back down south.  I was under the impression that I was supposed to get this plaster cast removed and a new fibreglass cast put on.  However, my surgeon decided to just take the stitches out and instead of putting me back into a new cast, told me to use my Aircast boot with 5 wedges in it (because my foot was pointed so far down). Slowly in the next few weeks, I will remove one wedge a week to bring my foot back to a neutral 90 degree state.

When I first saw my incision, my stomach flipped.  I saw photos of other achilles' tendon post-op patients and their scars so I knew it would be pretty big...but at the same time, was hoping that by some small chance...mine wouldn't be.  That hope died very quickly.

I was quite nervous about the suture removal because I've never experienced that before either.  Everyone told me it would just feel like little pricks.  Well, some of them weren't so bad getting removed, but a few definitely hurt a little more than a prick and caused quite a stinging sensation.  After they were all out (I think she said there were 7 or 8 stitches), she placed sterile strips over them and another big bandage over it.  She told me to remove the big bandage in two days and let the sterile strips fall off on their own.

Below: photos of the cast and suture removal