Surgery and Rehab update

Hello Friends -

I wanted to give you an update on my surgery and rehab.  It's been a bumpier road than I ever expected.  I am at the 6 week point following surgery and have followed the recovery plan pretty well: three weeks in a cast immobile, two weeks in a soft boot immobile, and another week in the soft boot beginning to shuffle around.  Of course, being me, I pushed the schedule a little bit as long as I felt good.  While the surgery went well and the heel seems to have healed properly, it was the blood clots that really threw me for a loop.  As fit as I am/was, blood clots were not on my radar screen.  But apparently, the thinking now is that I had them prior to the surgery.  They might have initially formed when I came home to let my Plantar Fasciitis heal - that change from high activity to low activity may have been what started the clotting in my right leg.  If that's the case, I hiked two hundred more miles on it before ending my hike at Harper's Ferry.

So tomorrow I have a morning full of doctor appointments.  I will get my blood drawn first thing, then go see my foot doctor and find out how the heel surgery has progressed, then I'll go to the vein clinic where I'll have the results of the blood test and see how my blood thinning level is for this month.  I will find out what the plan is to allow the blood clots to dissolve and keep my blood thinned to keep new blood clots from forming. Finally tomorrow I'll go ahead and get my flu shot. I was supposed to get it a month ago but put it off.

What I really want to get out of the day is an exercise schedule that is agreed upon by both my surgeon and my vein clinic.  I want know what I can do safely do to allow my leg to recover and still get back into some decent shape.  While the surgery was on my heel and my ankle is still swollen, the only place that has some discomfort are my knees.  They are very weak and as I shuffle around the house I feel like I'm constantly in danger of the knee folding and collapsing.  So once I find out from the doctor what my limits are in regards to exercise it will be my knees I will focus on.  I am really looking forward to it.  Sitting around the house, eating and sitting and eating and sitting has caused me to put almost all the weight back on that I lost during the hike.  I am not too thrilled about that and look forward to some real exercise and getting my weight down again. 

I just wanted to fill you in and let you know my plan is still to return to the trail next spring.

Now the question is whether to start over again at Springer or go back to Harper's Ferry and continue north onto Mount Katahdin.  More on that decision process another day.

I hope you are enjoying the videos I have been building.  There are so many photos to choose from, it's difficult to leave any out.

Happy trails,
Bob
(Six-Six)