The next time I saw my doctor after the surgery was 2 weeks out. The cast came off and I was back in the boot. I was nervous about getting the stitches out, but that turned out to be no big deal. There was one incision on the inside of my foot, about 4 inches long, terminating right below the protruding “ankle bone.” The doc said he put one pin into the bone to hold the pieces together. Since normally they are able to get 8 or 9 of those suckers in there, he was very clear that the foot was to encounter no resistance so that the bone could heal in place. Swimming, he said, might knock the pin loose. Great…I was really excited about the possibility of getting into the pool.

I was allowed to do simple range of motion exercises with my foot, such as tracing the letters of the alphabet with my toes. I noticed right away that I had much reduced ROM, plus my calf muscle was looking fairly puny. I knew this was going to happen, but it was sad to see the limited motion of my ankle and withered leg.

I had 6 weeks to go until my next appointment. Still. No. Walking…