With the swelling and numbness of the lower right leg somewhat subsiding, I was quite excited to go see what the surgeon had to say in terms of how my recovery was going. I also am planning on leaving the country in late May/early June, and wanted to understand if that would be detrimental to my recovery or not.After quite a long wait (While this doctor is know as one of the best sports medicine surgeons in Boston, he also has a reputation for really shitty waiting times - Either way, I'll take that combination over the reverse any day), an awesome fellow came in to remove my stitches. I had 4 incisions on each leg, with 6 of the 8 being stitches that could dissolve on their own, and the other two being ones that had to come out. The fellow said she would also try to take as many dissolvable stitches out as my legs would let, as the rule of thumb is usually that the less foreign bodies in a person's leg the better. She got all the stitches out except for one dissolvable one, which was alright with me. As far as pain went, I've read in other places that people have experienced insane amounts of pain during stitch removal. Except for when the fellow tried to remove the one stitch that wouldn't go, there was barely any pain worth noting - she had hands of gold!
What was also good about this setup was that while taking the stitches out, the fellow was able to provide me with all sorts of reassuring information - Men do tend to fare better overall than women (sorry ladies), and she had a friend who got the procedure done a year and a half ago who is now doing triathlons. When I expressed to her concern that I had heard people who are a year and a half out of surgery and still can't go full throttle, she replied that recovery is really different for everyone, but that a substantial percentage of patients in my situation were really able to resume full activity around week 12.
Shower-wise, she said I was all good to go, except that I should only let soapy water fall down on the lower legs, and there should be no scrubbing in that area. She also recommended knee-high compression stockings in order to allow the blood to flow easier throughout the lower leg and prevent swelling. When I went to the medical supplies store, they gave me two different compression stockings to try out - Medi, and Jobst. For me, Jobst was far and away much more comfortable than the Medi, so if you have the choice, I would really recommend going with it.
Finally the surgeon came in, said my legs looked great, and said that I was all cleared to start physical therapy tomorrow. While he said the physical therapist could give me a better idea, he recommended staying for at least 6-7 weeks from the start of physical therapy in order to get the greatest benefit. I guess I'll find out more tomorrow....
