Week 8 after my surgery is like my magic turnaround week in recovery.
Finally, I can work almost a full day, half the day on my feet, and not have to quit early from swelling & pain. I'll admit, during the 6th week, I had to sign up for another round of Celebrex. Now, the swelling is on the wane and I have more tolerance for standing, driving, and sitting in public...even went out to the movies last week!
The first night I went swimming (post surgery) was at the end of week #5. I regretted it later. Throbbing pain woke me up intermittently through the night. This week, though, I've been able to swim, stationary bike, and use leg weights. Physical Therapy is intensifying - they added some weight-resistance leg exercises, and started me doing toe-raises on a pilates-like "shuttle" machine that uses elastic bands for resistance. I've found the leg press machine at the gym is a good substitute. Doctor has got me stretching my achilles on a slant board up to 10 minutes per day. I still continue the theraband foot exercises 3x daily that were instituted by my physical therapist on day #11 post-op.
The thing that's the most difficult for everyone to understand, is the TIME. It requires time to rest and to do all these excercises. It requires time to sit and flex/curl your big toe joint every day 3 times a day. All of this crap has to be done, if I want to get my full range of motion back, to be able to roll through a step without stiff painful toes! Don't expect your friends to understand. They'll figure that by now, if you can drive, and you can walk, and you can do a full work week, then you should be ready to go hang out at happy hour!
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