One ugly foot

As promised, I unwrapped my foot and removed the gauze so I could get a photo for the blog. Swell looking foot, huh?

Dr. Thomas said that the large red area is kind of a subcutaneous blood bruise. The bruised toes are a nice touch, too, as if the incision wasn't nasty enough.

I got good news from the doc yesterday afternoon when I called him with some followup questions:

• I can now get my foot wet! That means I can finally shower (I had to take baths before - there's another funny picture that won't make the blog - my 6'3" frame stuffed into a normal sized bathtub with my lower left leg & foot hanging out the side). Last night's shower was fantastic. I even figured out how to rebandage & rewrap my foot afterwards.
• I can now ice my foot, which I have done a few times since getting home last night. That should help reduce some of the swelling that runs throughout much of my foot, and should help it feel better than even the vicodin or ibuprofen.
• I can exercise with my walking boot on! I rode a LifeCycle R9i recumbent bike for 10M in 30:56 yesterday at the store. All I had to do was remove the pedal straps, and I was all set. I think I could probably use an elliptical machine, but it might feel a bit awkward as the boot doesn't let my foot/leg move the normal way (that's kind of the point). The boot is mainly really nice as I can feel a lot more comfortable walking around and not worrying about my foot.

All that said, my foot hurt more last night than at any time since the surgery. My good news this morning is that I weighed in at 182.0 pounds. I was 181.8 pounds a week before the surgery, so I survived a period that I could have very well added another 4 or 5 pounds.