Oww, oww, owwwwwwwwwwwwww! I had my stitches removed today, a few hours ago to be exact. I had asked around as to whether or not having sutures removed hurt - the reviews were mixed. I can see where both parties were coming from. A few sutures had to be dug out due to the skin growing around them and in this situation it hurt. Badly. For the other sutures it was a weird sensation, mostly uncomfortable. However, I'm not going to lie - I held my breath, closed by eyes, and held on to my grandma's hand really tightly for both the stuck and unstuck sutures. They steri-stripped the incision site to protect it and make sure it's still held together nicely. The doctor said I don't need to wear splint full time from now on, just when I sleep and I feel my foot start rolling inward. I'm also able to start getting it wet and washing the area. Oh! And most importantly, I'd be able to shave that leg! The MA came in and said they were going to hold off on the boot and put the splint back on. I didn't like this idea, because quite frankly, its a pain in the butt (and rather painful) to unwrap and rewrap a splint with the amount of gauze they have to use to secure it properly to my ankle. And now that I only have to wear it to sleep and such, this would be a time consuming process. I asked Dr. Rod if I could just get the boot now instead of in two weeks (my next appointment) and he said it wouldn't be a problem. The MA fetched the boot and instructed me on how to put it on. This procedure hurt entirely waaaaaaaay too much. My foot has been stuck in the same position for two weeks and any movement hurts it, much less the bending it to a 90 degree angle. My heel kept popping out the back so she would have to start over. This was repeated 3 times before she said that its as good as its going to get. We left the doctors and went to Walgreens to pick up a Rx for some pills that will help me sleep. Yay for that! Meanwhile, I tried adjusting my boot 2 times trying to get it perfect. With no avail, I gave up.

I am now home and just got off the phone with my Aunt Sherry, a RN, and asked her how imperitive it is to have the bars on my boot parallel like the MA was pushing for. The response was what I thought it was, if its not working, don't worry about it - its not even weight bearing, its no big deal. She also said I could simply just wrap it with an ace bandage in a figure 8 and get the same effect, but more comfortably. With that being said, I am leaving my boot on to get used to the position, but tomorrow I will be taking it off until bed time. I also received my new set of exercises. This will make my foot stronger and will make getting in and out of the boot much easier.

I saw my parents on Sunday. It was really nice to see them! They brought me some homemade spaghetti sauce and some fabric scraps so I can do something crafty. My grandma brought me some word searches (why are those things so dang addictive?!) to work on. So, I have lots of things to occupy my days with. Matt's vacation ended yesterday so it was back to the grind for him today.

I'm not feeling quite well and will now find my way to the couch. Matt should be home soon :)

ღ mmv