[flv width=”400″ height=”300″]http://www.janicek.com/video/20080408_castoff.flv[/flv]
I had my cast sawed off at the orthopedic surgeon’s office this morning. In a word: Liberating.
A couple gross things to note: my left calf has become a chunk of loose, flabby flesh. It’s amazing what 6 weeks can do to unused muscle tissue. And the dead skin I sloughed off the bottom of my left foot this evening could’ve choked a donkey!
The bad news is I’m on a walking cast for four more weeks. Doc says I should continue to use at least one crutch. This walking cast isn’t very conducive to walking as it weighs about ten pounds and is more clunky than the old cast.
The good news is plentiful: 1) I can take the walking cast off and exercise my ankle whenever I want. 2) I can shower instead of sitting in a bath of my own diluted filth every morning whilst throwing my back and hips out of alignment by dangling my casted leg over the edge of the tub. 3) I’ve decided to keep the walking cast and crutches after I’ve healed. That’ll make for generous accommodations at future live events.
So I’m happy the cast is off, even though the boot is really heavy and awkward. And it feels so good to have my leg out in the open air and be able to rotate my ankle — although it’s still a bit tender.
And it’s scary how quickly the accident happened and how long that accident has had me partially out of commission.
So I’m happy to be (sort of) back on my feet!