Weight bearing woes

It has been a while since my last post - this writing thing takes some discipline.

Ever since I got the green light to gradually start weight bearing three weeks ago, I've been trying to stretch my mobility. I didn't feel like I was overdoing it but I now have some evidence to the contrary. I was gauging my foot pain and progressing quite well, in my own estimation.

My previous post documents my first visit to the office at the end of my first week of partial weight bearing. At that point I was doing very little actual weight bearing and was using my knee walker to get around.  I experienced tingling and discomfort whenever I tried to put weight on the foot.

On Wednesday of the following week, I spent my first full work day at the office. I was able to carpool with a friend who also lives in St Thomas. Thanks Lori. I was exhausted by the end of the day, and had quite a bit of swelling in the foot. I wanted to gradually build up to a full work week so I planned on going to the office on Wednesday and Friday the next week. But that was not to be.

Elianna Jolene

By Tuesday - six days later - I was still in too much discomfort to try again. I did go to the office on the Friday though. I suspected that some of my discomfort was caused by the tightness of the air cast, so I took it off for most of the day. I survived the day but my leg pain had continued to grow - from below the calf to the hip - oddly, the foot was doing better than the leg at this point.

We had a full weekend planned to celebrate my new found mobility - we were still expecting the leg pain issue to resolve itself. On Saturday, I had a massage. The therapist worked the foot a little and the leg a bit more. She told me to apply ice at the foot and heat at the thigh to help the circulation. We had a few more errands and then called on my newest niece who was three and a half weeks old but I hadn't seen yet. Then an awesome Saturday night church service.

On Sunday, we had a down day followed by an evening back at my brother and sister-in-law's place, the ones with the new daughter. They had family visiting from Alberta and we wanted a chance to visit with them before they flew home. My leg was still in pain but it was manageable.

On Monday, I had a few appointments - routine bloodwork, dentist - and errands. By the time we got home, I was in a lot of pain - focused in the right knee. It was very hard to find a position for leg where the pain was bearable. I tried to get a good night's sleep and hope for the best.

This morning, the pain was worse - I'm surprised that I actually slept at all. The knee is still swollen and hot. I contacted my surgeon's staff hoping for insight and instructions on how to cope. The surgeon was unavailable until later, so I took some painkillers and tried to rest. This was supposed to be a work from home day, but it quickly became a day of agony and unconsciousness. I am very grateful to Krista who sacrificed her plans for the day and stayed home with me.

My theory to explain the knee pain, is that the bones in my legs have been repositioning over 30+ years to compensate for foot pronation. Now that the foot is fixed, the bones have to shift back but much more quickly and the knee has to adjust accordingly.

I'm unsure of what tomorrow will bring. I continue to appreciate your prayers and positive thoughts.