It has been nearly 3 weeks since removing the hardware. The ID doc had me stop the oral antibiotics last Tuesday, which worked out well as I caught a stomach bug and wasn't keeping much down anyways that week.
All of the staples were removed, and things were looking pretty decent. There were a couple spots to keep an eye on, in particular a spot that looked like a bit of a blood blister, and one other spot that seemed to be struggling to heal 100% with swelling, but overall it looked good, so they were all removed.
It's been most of a week since then, and yesterday the scab that the blood blister was came off, and the skin underneath looked pretty good. The other little area seems to be healing fairly well as well, and made it through a long weekend at work without major incident.
I'm all signed up for the final round of the 2017 race season, and looking forward to getting back on a bike again after nearly a month off.
While I still have a "final" follow appointment next month with both my orthopedist and the ID doctor, it feels like this may finally be coming to a close. It will have been only a couple weeks shy of a full year from the day I broke my leg until my final doctor visits. I've learned a lot about a lot of things I didn't really want to know about, including pilon fractures, infections, osteomyelitis, IV antibiotics, PICC lines, multiple surgeries, external fixators, and the many things that go into all of those things including how to live alone with a broken leg.
It has been a long year. The good thing is, I've got pretty good use of my leg, and I'm able to start getting excited about the coming year and making plans on how I'm going to attack the next race season. The prospect is pretty exciting, and I'm glad to finally be excited about something with fewer "ifs" than I've had this entire year.
