I like boots, but this is ridiculous…

I seem to be more inclined to write when I’m frustrated with the slow progress than when I’m satisfied, so I thought I’d just say that today is a good day!  Though a little sore, I’m not limping today for some reason.  I know the limp will return here and there, but for less and less time.  So, yay!  I think walking in the sand has been terrific therapy.  Great for the calf–sustained slightly-more-than-usual effort is the key to getting this puppy back in shape.  Started actually doing some slightly more explosive activity on the horizontal jumper in therapy this morning, so that’s good, too.  Tried some lunges in bodypump last night.  No problem doing them with my bad leg forward and my good leg back, but felt completely wrong doing it with my bad leg back… put all my weight on the forward leg and was exhausted in record time.  So, I’ve got some work there, but a month ago I could never have even put my leg back like that, so again, progress.

All in all, things are looking up.  Going for a 14 mile overnight hike this weekend with some good and understanding friends, so it should be fun.  When I told my PT guys my plan, they said “perfect!”, so I’m glad to be doing what I should, and that what I should be doing includes some fun and challenging stuff.  To sum up:  today is a good AT day!  Hope y’all are having one too.  And if you’re not, I PROMISE that one is right around the corner…

Man!  This injury just takes a freakin’ long time to heal! 

My life has settled into a pattern—3 days of PT on MWF at 6:00am.  Yes, I wake up at 5:30am, roll out of bed into shoes (sometimes I go in exactly what I slept in… I dress for PT the night before, folks).  I limp into the office, take off my shoe and sock and have it sitting there in this heater that blows hot specks of ground up corn cobs around my leg to heat it up.  They tell me the body can handle higher temperatures with the dry heat than in a whirlpool or something.  Then the bike, the recumbant stairmaster, standing on one leg, calf presses for both then one leg, trampoline, jumper, full-body resistance band walking, treadmill, stairmaster, ultrasound, laser, ice, back in the car for coffee at the drive through.  Then shower and work. 

From arrival to retreat, my PT lasts about 2.5 hours 3 mornings a week.  Still limping.  My tendon area is regularly pretty sore.  ROM is good, though, and I have moments of relatively normal walking.  Swelling isn’t too much of an issue, but by the end of the day, my incission area is good and warm and a nice elevated icing on the couch feels mighty good.  My PT Greg marvels that I’m able to do some things with no problem (stairmaster and the trampoline), and still have the persistant limp.  We figured out that I do more exercises than any other single-injury client.  Only the people with multiple injuries are there longer than me at this point.

On my off days, my PT recommended nice long walks at the beach in the sand.  It’s a hell of a calf workout, and walking in the water as the waves breaks gives my ankles some balance issues to work out.  Makes me laugh though, because when I look behind at my footsteps, I can see my right foot has walked straight and forward and my injured leg has this pathetic sideways-askew print.  It’s like Igor’s footprints.

Had another jogging dream yesterday.  When I told my PT, he agreed to try some limited minute-on-5-minutes-off jogging on the treadmill later this week.   I’ll let you know how it goes.