The Unveiling - and going forward.

First let me say that if you ever need to convalesce go to Peggy's. She made the first few days easy and normal. She did not hover but still there when I needed her. My dogs had stayed with Peggy and they were very happy to run in her yard and her house. Hollywood was even more adventurous then ever and decided he would take a swim one day. Luckily I saw him jump in and only mildly panicked, okay maybe more than mildly, I was screaming "he's in the pool, I can't see him splashing". Peggy got him to safety and later that day Chad moved the stairs from pool so he could not jump in again. It wasn't until later that I heard Peggy recount the story and say there was a brief moment she didn't hear splashing and was a little concerned.
The days vanished and Tuesday was upon me. This was the day I was getting my cast off, my nerve block removed and was meeting with my Prosthetist.
I took a pain pill in advance and ate lunch before Mike picked me up for my appointment. I packed a travel sickness bag and true to me and pain killers I was using it before we left Aurora on the tollway. My stomach was still upset when we arrived at the doctor but we were put in a room almost as soon as we got there and Mike was able to make sure I got a trash can in case I lost my cookies again.
Thomas the Prothetist met us at Kelikian's office so my whole team was there. Kevin, Kelikian's assistant came in and the unveiling began. Thomas had started the process of removing the cast and Kevin came in to finish the job. I felt like he was claiming his territory, after all he has removed nearly every cast I have had in 7 years.
Kevin was not very gentle as he removed the cast and bandages below but after he asked how long it had been since surgery and realized it was only 5 days he slowed down and was a little more tender. As I was being unraveled I was unraveling. The layers peeled off and I turned my head towards the wall unable at first to look for more than a second. We all know that feeling when you fall and knock the air out and you can't breath for a moment or two. That's how I felt. As much as I prepared myself I still had no idea what it would really look like. I forced myself to look but couldn't keep my hands from my face to try to hide it, like a child hiding from the scary movie on the TV. I cried, as hard as I tried not to, I couldn't keep tears back. Thomas and Kevin kept telling me how good it looked, and Thomas was next to me saying it was okay to cry. He said he saw people at all stages of the process and it was okay to cry and my remaining limb looked good. Kelikian came into the room pulled the 6 inches of tape holding the nerve block in place and the nerve block in about 10 seconds. He looked at the sutures, said it looked good, see you in 2 weeks to remove the stitches and staples and told me I was in Thomas' hands now and left. I felt like life would be normal since he was acting like his old self again.
And then my next challenge began. Within minutes of not being able to look at my leg I was learning how to put a shrinker on it and put on the rigid dressing (a cast like cone at the end of my left made for additional protection). And now I am capable of doing it on my own and have cleaned around the area of my knee with alcohol to remove the surgical markings. It is not scary any more and Mike described it best as a baseball with the stitches the way they are located.
I am home now, my friend Al who had come in to town to help me transition to home life again, has gone home and my dogs are sleeping next to me. I started working part-time today and will return to full time next week. The stitches come out on Tuesday the 7th and the next steps to getting my new foot will begin. I will keep posting as the process goes on and will eventually post some pictures of my new leg and me standing. Until then each day I get better and stronger and life becomes more normal, or normal for me.