Upstairs, Downstairs

18 days after surgery now, and my foot is doing OK. The incision has fully healed. All of my toes but one no longer look like Vienna sausages. I need to keep my left foot wrapped for three more days so that the ligament that the surgeon cut can finish healing, then I can try full pressure on my foot without a bandage. I have gotten in the habit of taking the bandage off each night and to just be careful to walk on my heel.

With my foot wrapped, stuffed in a big sock, and then stuffed in a Croc, I can walk pretty easily but with a limp. There are still a lot of quite painful and sore areas, and that will continue for some weeks.

I’ve been able to go up and down stairs for over a week now. At first, I would use only my right leg to pull myself up, one stair at a time. Right foot up, left foot on the same stair, repeat as necessary. But as of about a week ago, I could go up normally, just slowly. When my bandage is off, I have to go back to the “double step” method, making sure to only put pressure on my left heel.

At work, I mostly taken the elevator this past week, my first back. But Tuesday, I’d met a friend for lunch, and on coming back, the whole block where my building is was cordoned off with police tape. I took the long way around to get to the front door, walking an extra three blocks, to see if I could get in that way. But I was told that the entrance was off limits because of a suspicious package half a block away. However, the building was not evacuated, so I felt compelled to go back to work. Yeah, I know – dumb!

So I went in through the back door, which comes into a kind of basement, two floors down. Then I thought “What if there is a bomb? Do I want to get slow-roasted in an elevator?” The answer was an emphatic no! So I walked up, eight floors, slowly and painfully. I made it, but it was like climbing a mountain. It was sobering. Before the surgery, I always take the stairs, and it is a piece of cake. Some day soon, it will be again. For now, I’ll be grateful that I am moving around a bit.

Yesterday, I did take the stairs one time – six floors – and it was nowhere near as hard or painful. And for the last several days at work, I started walking up and down when I had to go one or two floors instead of taking the elevator. It feels good to be able to go up and down stairs again!