Week Sixteen

Wednesday, January 19th, was sixteen weeks post-surgery. The soreness I had been feeling lasted into Thursday, and it seemed my foot was more numb and tingly than usual. At times there were sharp, stabbing pains in the toes, heel and along the bottom. The worst part was not being able to massage the areas because they were numb. The same thing happend if I had an itch; scratching was useless.

My therapist thought I could be having a spasm, he sad this was normal and it was also normal to have set-backs. The weather was also bitterly cold and this could be affecting my muscles.

On Friday I canceled my physical therapy appointment; the soreness was just too much and I didn't want to make it worse. Over the weekend the soreness continued but it seemed to be getting a little better; I tried to stay off my feet as much as possible. I started to wonder if I should be pushing myself... maybe the muscles were getting stiff and needed to be used more.

I started to feel upset about the numbness, tingling and soreness. I worried that this was going to be permanent and that everything I'd gone through was for nothing. Overall the discomfort was still better than what I had experienced before the surgery. I suppose I just wanted to be "normal" again; the recovery was going well but it seemed to be taking so long! I reminded myself that my therapist said setbacks were normal and knew I should contact my doctor if the discomfort persisted.

Over the weekend I became sick and was told by the doctor that I had bronchitis.