Poor pen pal…
OK, it’s been nearly two months since my last confession…I’m still alive and my foot is still attached. It’s working pretty well, too.
This summer has been great. First we spent two weeks in Europe. I wasn’t quite ready to spend three days walking around London, climbing St. Paul’s and schlepping from museum to museum, but getting to know my limitations was good. What I hadn’t expected was that my heel would be so sore. I felt a bit older than I really am as I occupied the disabled and elderly seats wherever I could. At least my family didn’t complain that I was taking them out on yet another death march. I was the one complaining about that. “Are we there yet?”
Given travel and a crzy travel schedule post vacation, I wasn’t being too diligent about doing my exercises and became frustrated about my progress. Well, duh! Since that rather basic realization, I have been doing well. My limp is slowly disappearing and my vision of Kevin Spacey in the Usual Suspects as he limps then slowly walks more normally is the image in my head. Kaizer Soze, that’s me.
I found a great way to train up my tendon, but am not holding my breath on widespread adoption. Rollerskiing. Yup, that’s the ticket for me. It allows me to move my foot as I would in a normal stride, but with slightly less weight and no impact. And I get a good upper body workout, to boot. The only challenge is that my shape is not exactly stellar. Three days of moderate rollerskiing and I’m ready for a looong nap. Tomorrow will be a day off, with only mild heel lifts.
Nope, I’m not there yet, but getting close. I can almost lift my weight, but expect it will take another two weeks before I can do it for real. I feel a bit like the Aflac duck in rehab, exercising to the theme from Rocky while lifting only the lowest weight. Obscure reference, but I love that ad.
Reading the new posts and seeing the new folks is a great reminder of the journey we’re all on. While yesterday was the first day I felt pretty normal, I have a long way before that is really the case. That big lump above the tear that gets sore when I overdo it, the slight limp that gets worse late in the day, and the odd feeling as I try to extend my foot as far as I can are daily reminders that I’m only at mile 8.
Thanks again everyone for posting!
Lol! Thanks for the chuckles. You deserve props for going to Europe. I was complaining about walking around San Francisco for a day and a half! I am well acquainted with bringing up the rear these days too. Waiting for mom gives them more time for texting, I suppose. It’s also weird hearing myself say, “We’re not walking there, are we?”
Whoa, rollerskiing? I had to look that up. It looks like fun although I’m not sure how it differs from in-line skating except that it must be harder to master? I’m a better skater than I am a skier so I will stick to skates, I think.
Love the Aflac allusion. I identify with the duck too–seeing him at PT using the pec deck cracks me up to this day! I’m really up on the tv ads these days having watched more tv than I care to admit while NWB! Thanks for the great update!
KG
My rollerskiing reference is to the older style classic technique — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_l9QY4C5gg although skating works too. Good allround workout!
Another method to achieve the same effect is to steal your kid’s scooter and push off with your injured foot, rolling from heel through toe. You need to work hard to stay away from the kid you stole the scooter from…;-)
That looks like more work than skating and might require better balance too. No thanks on the scooter tip, I ruptured skateboarding–pushing to pick up speed. I’m keeping my distance from a scooter or skateboard for a good while! LOL!