Everything can be solved with Hot Water

I was finally allowed, after FOUR weeks and finally getting the stitches removed, to get the incision wet and actually soak in the bathtub. This feels like the first real hygiene I've had since surgery. (It's not, but it sure feels like it!)

Not a sit-on-the-shower-chair affair with my foot in the giant baggie, trying to wash while sitting and holding the shower sprayer, not a washcloth-and-towel sort-of wash, but a full-on, soak in the bathtub until I was pruney BATH!

It was AWESOME.

I had to drain and refill the tub twice, but I am scrubbed and exfoliated (which was a wee bit gross, what with my foot in the bandages and boot for the last month) and clean! We have a bit soaker tub in our bathroom, so I had a pretty easy time getting into the bathtub. Mark supervised.

Getting out was a bit harder, but I can still manage it if I'm very careful. I'm just so paranoid of doing anything without the boot on, that it's hard to maneuver without the boot and not bash or twist or press on my foot. My poor leg is all skinny and atrophied (no movement at all for a month, I hope it remembers what to do in two weeks when I can start moving my ankle!) but it is at least hairless now.

Mark says the incision looks good, and I'm sitting in the chair letting my foot air out and dry. But I get queasy looking at the incision, so he has helpfully draped it with a washcloth so I don't have to see it.

It's pretty funny, actually. I am just a wuss.

I will need to replace the ace bandage to help with swelling, but at the moment, I have a big bruise on the top of my foot where the bandage was apparently a little too tight. I don't think it was the boot -- it's not in a place where the velcro straps cut across my foot, but I'm going to keep both the bandage off and the boot for as long as I can bear sitting here in the chair. My toes are a bit swollen and feel sort of sausage-y, but otherwise look pretty good

And now for those who like watching the surgery channel, the actual incision:

It doesn't actually look too bad (and for some reason, looking at the pictures doesn't make me want to hurl, just the live foot does that.

I don't see the surgeon again for another week and half (at full six weeks after surgery) and hopefully the next step will be to start doing some weight-bearing and starting to stretch the tendon back so I can stand flat-footed. Right now, my foot is pointed at a "neutral angle" and I am not supposed to pull on the heel at all. That process will take 4-6 weeks as well. He's being very conservative, but I'd rather be slow and sure than risk damaging something or having a ton of pain.