Day 19--First Doctor Appt

August 28, 2008
Day 19

Back on my Feet Countdown: 88 days

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Strengthening Feet--Family Visits--Awesome Friends--Great News!

I am sleeping better and better each night. I believe the reason for this is that my feet are not hurting or as uncomfortable as they have been. I also noticed this morning while doing my physical therapy exercises that I can move my toes and my ankles more and more without any discomfort. This is very exciting!! The swelling is much improved as well!

My dad and mom came in around 1pm today. They are on their way to Branson, MO and decided to come and spend the night with us. It was so good to see them. This is the first time I have seen my dad since my accident. My mother came the day after my accident and spent a week with us. She was so helpful! She took care of Collier and many of the household chores. I wish to take this moment to thank my mom for all of her care, love and help. You are a huge blessing to me and my family. So, my day was great....I spent the morning with my Mom-In-Law and Collier and then spent the afternoon with my Dad, Mom and Collier. It made the day go by fast and it was purely enjoyable!

My first doctor's appointment since leaving the hospital was this afternoon at 4:30pm. Since Robbie was working, my friend Liz volunteered to take me to my appointment. So we loaded up in the car, and took off. I began to tell Liz where we were going. She turned to me and said, I know where I am going! LOL Of course, she has lived here all of her life!

We got to the doctor's office at 4:20 and the waiting room was full. Liz laughed and said, "I bet we don't get out of here by 6!" Sometime around 5:30pm, I was called back. They began by removing the splints I had on. From there, we went to another room to conduct x-rays. The x-rays were completed and they decided to leave me on this very hard table, saying this would be the best place to remove my stitches and to put casts back on.

While lying on the table, Dr. Lorio comes in and hold the x-rays up to the light where he can show me what was going on. I have to admit, this is my first time to see x-rays of my feet after surgery. All I could see was pins and screws. Funny, was there in bone in there at all? Dr. Lorio begins to speak. We start with the left foot. He is very pleased with the healing process so far. And the wounds on that foot are looking good...no infection and no drainage. Then we move to the right foot, the one with the most damage. He gets this huge smile on his face and then then turns to me, smiling, and says; "I could not be any more excited about how this looks! You know as I told you after surgery, I did the best I could do rebuilding this foot. See the bone putty? See where we tried to use pins on the top to repair the damage!" He then pointed to the curvature of the bone and again was smiling....he continue to tell me how happy he was with the healing so far. No infections on the right. The wounds are looking good. There is still a little drainage, yet, all is just awesome. I looked him in the eye and said; "This is the hand of God, this is the hand of God!" He agreed with me! He left the room and all I could do was point to the ceiling and say; "You God, this news is all YOU! Thank you and praise you!"

From there, my big smile when to a squinting face and saying ouch! The stitches were coming out and boy, did they hurt. Big, big, ouch! But, it was temporary and it passed.

I left the office with a boot on the left foot (no cast, just a sock covered foot in a walking boot to keep it in place as it continues to heal) and a cast on the right one. They cut a hole in the cast so that I could clean my wound every day for the next 2 weeks. I go back in 2 weeks for another follow-up appointment. At that time, the wounds on the right will be healed enough for a boot covering as well. I am able to move my left foot back and forth to give my ankle some exercise.

So you see, God really does answer prayer. I am so thankful for this wonderful report and I praise Him and give him all the credit for this awesome news!