I like boots, but this is ridiculous…

lost this entry somehow… this was the day my last peice of tape fell off and I showered like a human and washed the scar area.  Sigh.

Tomorrow marks 4wks post op.  Been experimenting with PWB in my boot the last two days.  Worked out yesterday (all the OTHER muscles) and last night had a real ache in my AT.  I suppose this is fairly normal when you begin weight bearing?  I’ve been remarkably pain free from the get-go (and I have the full bottle vicodon sitting on my bedside table to prove it), so I’m just hoping the rest of you had some similar aching?  I’m also almost totally swelling-free thus far.  Did people experience increased swelling during PWB and FWB?

Living alone in a 2nd floor apartment downtown has officially sucked for 4 weeks now.  It takes me an hour to shower safely, and the effort it takes to get in, stand, get out and dry off on one foot has me sweating enough to make my shower moot by the time it’s done.

No one to help me carry a glass of water or cup of coffee from the kitchen to the living room.  No one to hand me the remote.  I do worry sometimes that if I fell, no one would know.

 The up side?  The crutch-diet is working great.  You know how they tell you that when you’re on a diet, you should decide if the thing you are about to eat is really worth it or not?  When you are on crutches, the answer is ALWAYS no.  Haul my carcass to the kitchen for a snack that I’d need to stow in backpack just to move it back to the living room?  No, thanks.  I’ve lost 9 lbs, and I’m hoping that only half of that is muscle.

 Also, I feel like HAVING to do everything for myself has gotten me out more, made me move and exercize when I might not have, and kept a feeling of independence intact.

8 days after surgery and my plans for Brewfest seemed dashed.  Until…. a lady at work leant me a wheelchair that her grandmother literally died in.  Creepy.  And although it smelled moldy, squeaked, had dangerous lock-jaw inducing rust spots, and depressing cigarette burns in the seat, it got me through the Brewfest beautifully.  Even the most inebriated managed to part ways for me to get to the vendors.  Yay!  I organized a dozen people’s Brewfest experience, and I really didn’t want to miss it.

 I think it’s sooo important to get out and do things when you’re layed up like this.  Keeps the spirit up, keeps the mind sharp.  And the spirit feeds the body which fuels the mind, which… Whatever.  The moral is, microbrews taste delightful, even when you’re in a wheelchair…

I ruptured on a Tuesday night and went to work the next day.  I had 4 clients coming in and would have been all alone at home… Decided that elevating at work and elevating at home were pretty comparable.  Surgery Thursday, home Friday, back to work on Monday.  I’ve been driving myself around the whole time, never missed a choir practice or trivia night.  I did get a continuance on a trial, but admittedly, I was looking for an excuse on that one anyway…  I was back to 2x a week upper-body lifting withing 2 weeks.  Am I crazy?  I just felt like feeling stir crazy was worse that doing the things that I am still up to doing.

This time 14 months ago I weighed about 80 lbs. more than I do now.  Lots of spynning, running, lifting, and careful eating later, I told a friend’s roommate that I’d play on his soccer team if he was short a girl (you know the old girl rule).  And I used to be good at soccer.  And I was running 4-5 days a week.  And I was strong like bull.  And damn it, this never should have happened to me!!!

So half-way through the game I had the pop, the kicked-in-the-calf feeling and the instant recognition that something awful and wrong had happened and that my life was going to be damned inconvenient for the next few months.  At least.  My team consisted of the athletic trainers for a local university, so I was elevated, iced, and diagnosed within minutes. 

 My ER doctor confirmed, with the added secondary diagnosis of playing team sports after the age of 30.  He was a really nice guy actually.  Had a meeting with the orthopaedist within 36 hours.  Confirmed again.  At this point, I had no doubt that surgery was going to be my choice.  When the doctor told me that he was going to Florida in the morning, and would be back in 10 days, I just about wanted to cry.  Until he asked me when was the last time I’d eaten… Four hours later, I was sewen back up and drifting in my morphine haze while my spinal numbness slowly subsided.

I had a half-cast splint for 2 weeks, then I was jammed in one of those hideous black walking boots that are hot and heavy and destined to be smelly.

 And here I am… almost 4 weeks from injury and few days short of 4 weeks from surgery.  Reading these blogs helps a lot in anticipating what may be to come.  I get my foot out every day and massage the poor neglected foot and calf.  My college roommate has become the worlds most overqualified massage therapist, and she performed a lymphatic massage on me (soooo great—felt awesome after and my bruises progressed beautifully afterwards) and also myofacial release on my calf, in an effort to keep the muscles supple so they don’t pull on the tendon.

 Other than that, not much.  I see that a little ankle rotation is not frowned upon at this point, and great idea from Dr. Ross to write the alphabet with my big toe.  I think I can definately handle that.

Like many of you, very little pain throughout, but feeling my leg and ankle strength ebb daily.  I try to stay very busy with work and play.  I continue to go to my BodyPump class and do the upperbody stuff, substituting pilates leg work for the squats and lunges.  I find I can still do much of the back and bicept work on my knees.  And I do sit-ups like it’s my job.

I’m praying that my doc will let my toss the crutches when I see him on Thursday.  I hate them with a passion that consumes me, and live for the day that I can carry a cup of coffee across the room all by myself…  For now I focus on the fact that I have time that I used to work out to practice my guitar.  I’ve progressed from tunes that are unrecognizable to ones that are merely embarrassing.  And I gotta say, happy with a relatively desk-only job for the first time in my life.  I have to go to court on occassion, and the Judges are particularly nice to me, though the last time I was there a Sherrif mocked me for my backpack, saying “And what grade are YOU in, little girl?”  But if you can’t laugh at that, you’re empty inside.

 How bad IS walking in the boot?  My itchy legs want to walk so bad, I have to remind myself not to put my foot down…  Thoughts?