Week 9.5: Learning to fly
Nothing earth-shaking here, just some observations on my first week of FWB. As others have reported, I’ve found that once things start to click, they really move fast! Every day I feel less dependent on the cane, and I mostly get around the house in shoes without it. Here’s a full frontal selfie of my calves–kind of a weird perspective shot. At least I can feel a little muscle movement on the left now when I flex my foot, even if it’s not visible to the world yet:
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I even ventured out into the world bootless this morning, hoping to impress my physical therapist. Instead she corrected my gait and posture, forcefully and repeatedly! I guess those years of slouching have taken their toll after all. I can’t do a step up yet. I did a few heel raises underwater over the weekend, but it hurt a bit, so I laid off. Haven’t tried that one in actual air yet.
As promised, I went to the local running store and had an actual fitting for good solid trainers. They’re half a size larger than what I always thought was my proper size, FWIW. I also tapped Zappos for a pair of Fit Flops with a back strap around the ankle, as recommended by kellygirl, and I like those too.
Limpers can’t be choosers with shoes. The Asics are mint green and fuchsia–not my favorite colors. The FFs are flamingo reddish-pink–that’s all that was left in my size after summer. (This is maybe my payback for rejecting frilly pink dresses as a girl…)
Others have described having very sensitive feet in the early walking days. I always interpreted that to mean something like “ticklish,” but now I think I get it: every surface my foot touches feels harder than it normally would–as if I’d been hiking in the same boots for several hours, rather than shuffling back and forth to the kitchen. It’s very “Princess and the Pea.”
Final observation: I haven’t been so exhausted at the end of a day since the first weeks after the surgery. It hardly seems like what I’ve done all day merits being so tired, but I am.
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Nice calves, Kiki! Sounds like you are doing well and working hard. I had to chuckle at your final observation–two shoes is exhausting, isn’t it. It’s getting better for me these days but for awhile there I couldn’t stay up past 8!
Glad to hear that you are all sorted on shoes. It sounds as if your footwear collection is as pretty as mine. Just the other day, my kids were asking me if I was going to stop wearing the FitFlops now that my foot is better. Lynne (lodinpdx) gave me the great idea of telling them that I’m just going to wear them with socks when it gets colder
You should have heard them groan. The sensitive feet do get better–I hardly have any heel soreness like I did in the early days of two shoes. It doesn’t take too long so don’t fret. Great update!
Those are not the legs of a 49 year old. But then you mentions fit flops and so now I believe.
But seriously Kiki your legs look great. Great work!
Wow! This blog had it all. Even shopping tips. Can’t wait to ditch the boot but still lugging it around. Kiki - this is great to read and it sounds like you are healing very quickly. Watch out for those rabbit holes!