May 21 2014
nine weeks The Leg awakens
Nine weeks post-op.
Driving.
Walking.
The past two weeks have been somewhat interesting as I endeavor to transition out of the boot. At week seven I was to begin going two-shoes. Somewhat petrified I tentatively took a few steps. Being busy at work with software deadlines and not wanting to get too distracted and re-injure myself, or worse, fall down one of my two precarious flights of stairs at home and break something new e.g. the good leg, I stuck mostly to the boot. At week eight I called my OS’s office to complain that they were refusing me PT for no damn good reason, and to ask where I should be shoe-wise.
Nurse Betty (name changed to protect the innocent) instructed me that I should aim to be boot-free in two weeks, which puts that one-week from today. I took that advice to heart and have slowly been increasing my daily hours to the point that I am about 70% out of the boot, and even went for a walk into Colonial Liquors after work tonight. My goal was to enter boot free, buy a fifth of gin & a cigar, chug the gin, and walk back to the car without falling over to enjoy a nice rich victory stogie. I cheated and parked in the handicap spot, otherwise smooth sailing.
Nurse Betty also told me that I could get a prescription for PT. Finally. WTF? Why I was made to wait until (a) I called, (b) 8 weeks post-op is a mystery to me. But I jumped right on that; However due to time delays of one sort or another, early morning International Space Station orbit sightings or some such nonsense, I did not get my first, yes my first at nine weeks frigg’n post-op PT appointment set up until next week. Thank the Lord almighty for this web site because it has guided me thru the dark times.
Today at work I shocked a few people by emulating Homo erectus. I had to stand absolutely still, but it felt greeaaat to stretch the calf and groin muscles and gain about two inches in height from my usual injured stoop. I had a sh*t eating grin at one point and one of my co-workers, who is absolutely completely distracted with her own situation of being back at work four months after giving birth, looked at me and said: “Hey, no boot!?”. But really she was thinking: “You are such a pu**y. I pushed a human being out of my body. Try that and walk normal.”
On the exercise front I have been slacking off on all the week 4-8 exercises due to 2-shoes. My daily routine up until last week had been:
- core: plank
- core: Dragon Flag Advanced Core Exercise Credited to Bruce Lee
- 20 to 100 situps
- exercise bike - some boot, some non boot
- toe swirls and ankle flexions - many times a day, not just the three that the MGH protocol recommends
- hip abductions and hamstring curls
- a few pushups
- 12′ pole vaults
- chicken fights on wife’s back and defeating the next door neighbor couple two-out-of-three match
I was joking about the Bruce Lee and pole vault stunts.
Now I need to re-tool a bit and since I won’t be getting any PT feedback for a whole week, will rely on blogs on this site for some guidance. For example if not too swamped by work, I may try to make it over to the local high school pool a la Smick.
Over the weekend I developed my own form of calf raises against the wall sitting down and facing it. I just did a search on achillesblog.com and seems that others came up with or were instructed on same.
I have been boot free in bed for a week or more. Yesterday I woke up after getting a rare 5 hours straight sleep. For a second or two I could not remember which side I had injured. Another milestone!
Driving continues to challenge me. I thought by now that it would be 2nd nature. I have dramatically increased my average speed, but I still use the emergency hand brake a lot. I still dread going over bumps that agravate my sore heel, and stick to the back roads most of the way back and forth.
Regardless of complaining and the aggravation of the lack of PT prescription, I consider all of the above positives. On the negative side I am in pain a lot - most of my lower body: the heel, calf, groin, left foot which seems to sympathize with the right, back aches, and headaches. At least the tendons on both legs seem pretty good, so I should be thankful for that.
Meanwhile my leg is waking up. Last week I had this uncontrollable urge to stretch every part of it. That sensation waxes and wanes each day and I feel I need to be careful not to overdue the stretching. Usually I feel much better after succumbing to the urge. But still scares me a bit at how much my body so wants to be back to its previous normal two-leg walker self.
5 responses so far
Goldman, congratulations on your progress–it is a journey! My 1st day of 2-shoes has really been a step backwards in my speed. I am walking really slow and my Achilles feels tight after my first night sleeping without the boot. Further, if I want to go anywhere in public, I need to first find my boot, knee-high sock, and companion tennis shoe with Even-up and strap everything on before going out–feels like I’m getting ready to run onto the football field. I “knew” this would happen, but I think my expectations were still a little high relative to my actual experience thus far. -David
goldman, I am at work today in 2 shoes for the first time, it is a much slower day around the office than with the boot, but offices (depending on the industry) seem to be a good place to start being in 2 shoes in public as it is a relatively low-key atmosphere. driving to work on a major highway during typical rush today for the first time, I had a couple of brake slams. Strangely enough my first one I did not even notice I used my right leg just as old times when braking, when I got to the office I realized what I had done, and it does give confidence for future driving. For both of us, we will just get better the more we do it. On the PT front, I have a call into my doctors nurse, and am waiting to hear back.
@david - thanks and I’m with ya the speed down-shift, and tight-without boot after sleeps. I am ever so slowly speeding up but man I am/was same as you had higher expectations. It’s typical in that you really have to experience it. Reading only gives you the barest idea of what it is actually like.
@gocanes — I am mostly sans boot around the office, and even though the surfaces are even flatter than the flat floors of my house, I stare at my every step. Though I have been carrying more in my arms (coffee cup, tablet, etc) with 2 shoes, so in a sense taking more risk. Luckily in commuting with car I have not had to slam on the brakes yet. Be firm on the PT… which reminds me I should set up my 2nd or backup appointment now, what with the busyness going on out there.
Happy healing guys, if it’s possible to be happy while healing from this injury, still not sure — I’ve had only one or two really good days in the 87 days since being injured.
Sounds like solid progress to me!
Waking up with a stiff AT-&-calf - especially soon after an angle change (e.g. to neutral) - suggests that sleeping in the boot would help. A tradeoff with loss of sleep for some of you (though I slept like a booted log myself, often with an extra foot-pillow).
nice post