2,3,4 Weeks Forced Vacation

Writing entries on Percocet is incredibly difficult, so I have waited until I am not taking serious pain killers on a regular basis.

The original estimation of adequate recovery before returning to work was 2-3 weeks. Two weeks until the stitches came out and maybe an extra week to get back on my feet.

I had been told to try putting weight on my foot with the stitches still in, but that didn't work out so well. A real step down made my stitches feel like they were ripping out. while my foot ripped apart. Very. Painful. The best I could manage was a pathetic 'resting the outside of my foot on the floor', while keeping the ball of my foot and big toe off the ground. I tried wiggling my big toe but that was really intense. Everything was incredibly sensitive. Well of course, I had just had surgery I told myself.

Needless to say I was working with crutches for those two weeks. Very difficult, especially high on pain meds, but I

somehow managed. Again, I have to say, thankfully this is the injury of active people.

I had lots of visitors and helpers, very few repeats, which was fine by me because I did not want to put a burden on anyone, as a result I got to be more social than I had been possible in a while, got lots of conversation and my cat will now come out and greet visitors on her own.

Concentrating on pain meds was incredibly difficult for me, and when I tried to read I got distracted by something shiny or would read a word countless times or would have a short-term memory lapse and forget the subject of the passage....so I didn't do much reading.

I did upgrade my netflix subscription and streamed a lot of television. And games on Facebook. Who knew the internet could be so helpful?

I took my best friend Julie with me to get my stitches out on Monday February 1. This was not pleasant at all. First they cleaned the stitches and just the cotton swab brushing the sutures made me get the sweats and nearly pass out. When Dr. Ellis examined the foot...the first time it had been out of the bandage in two weeks, he said the swelling, color change and numbness was not uncommon and that I was experiencing some hyper-sensitivity, a mild form of Reflexive Sympathetic Dystrophy...a form of nerve trauma. Other than that, the surgery site seemed to be healing well and I was given a prescription to start physical therapy before the next follow-up. When I was up on my feet he wanted me to use the hard soled sandal or the cam boot. Physical Therapy 3 times a week would help to desensitize the nerves and I would need to relearn how to walk. he gave me a list of HSS approved sites if getting to the HSS was too inconvenient.

When the sutures were removed Julie gave me her hand to hold, which I nearly broke and I also nearly put a hole in the wall when the nurse started. I've had stitches before, and I had pins sticking out of my finger that were removed, so I had a frame of reference...my foot was being unreasonably sensitive. Damn it all. I called Kate on the way home and told her the news, she had been a case study for RSD, because she had developed a severe case of it as a teenager, which was very unusual according to her doctors at the time. Her blog about it is here.

I had Julie pick up some litter while I did some banking and she took my rent check to be mailed...for some reason I didn't have any stamps left...probably used them all on my holiday cards. As soon as I got home I took a nap. Then I notified the boss, the director, the family and the friends that healing was going well but my recovery would be slower than we had hoped.
Once I got home I decided it would be best to stop using the crutches and start the process of working through the pain. Every hour or so I would stand with my weight on my foot. I hobbled to the bathroom. I started working my big toe. Gradually I increased the amount of time I would stand. When my foot got too swollen and blue I would go sit down with my feet elevated. I would take aspirin or ibuprofen with my stronger pain pills, like Dr Ellis suggested. The first day I was able to bend my toe half-way, flexing it still impossible without extreme pain.

My boss was incredibly nice and accommodating and allowed me to stay home a fourth week because even on Monday, I could barely get to the bathroom without pain and severe swelling. Getting on the subway worried me, add the expected blizzard and severe cold the risk of injury was very high. I had also been hoping to return to rehearsals for Cradle Will Rock at Theater 1010 the weekend before preview on Feb 12, but reality superseded those wishes. However, I did get a bit a good news, the Director's Note/Program Opening I had written and David had edited made an appearance in Martin Denton's blog.

The continuous lesson of all of this seems to be giving myself the permission and time to do what is needed in the healing and recovery process. For someone with a lot of patience for most situations, I have the hardest time getting myself to slow down.