Let’s do this again, shall we?

Man, it is getting to me. I’m opening “about me” or otherwise titled posts and it’s Spam!
Worse, I once started reading the German Spam left not too long ago because it looked like a honest post and it was porn!

After the successful ride around the parking lot of the car dealership last Sunday it was time to put the show on the road again.
The opportunity to drive by myself presented itself on Wednesday.
Husband drove me to the clinic and it occurred to me I could have driven there myself as he had the day off.
I saw the surgeon and he was happy with my progress but a bit guarded at the same time. He is having shoulder surgery so I’m chalking his lack of enthusiasm up to that.
My foot still swells up to the point of uncomfortable times 10000 and I’m going to get a very sexy sock for that next week.
Right after the clinic it was time for another round of Fun with Igor aka Physical Therapy.
And my first time to drive in almost 11 weeks!
See proof! http://onetwothreebeyond.blogspot.com/

This session of PT was a long one. Stretching, massage, ultrasound and to top it off….exercise.
I did leg presses without getting faint this time. Getting better at standing on the balance board too.
Least favorite was 20 toe raises I had to do on the leg press machine. Igor’s assistant promised me that a month from now I’ll be doing them on land. Little moment of light headedness passed fast luckily.

The driving was fine, a bit odd but the fact that everyone and their brother was shopping for Christmas made the road almost empty.

Another goal done, moving right along.

For the past 2 or 3 days getting up in the morning has almost been like before.
I was in the habit of putting on shoes right when I swung my legs out of bed. Walking barefoot was terrible pain and stiffness.
Those first steps were excruciating sometimes.
No matter how much PT I had with Igor before surgery, I was in pain when I slept, had a heel strap or fresh getting up in the morning.
It’s a little too early probably to say but I think major improvement was made with the surgery.
The amount of bone taken off was substantial and there is more range of motion, Igor told me I was at 2% whereas I was at 0% all last year during treatment.
I have no pain when I’m resting my foot on the bed, no pain when getting up on bare feet (yes I’ve tried that)
And, most important, only scar pain from the strap on my shoes!

Friday marked week 11 and looking back things are moving along.
I ditched the boot over a week ago and am starting to trust my right foot more.
One of the things I must concentrate on in the week ahead is walking as ‘normal’ as possible.
Accept the fact I’m slow and not be afraid to move with small steps and use the whole foot.
It’s tight but that is to be expected.

Friends have taken me shopping for gifts, we did decide to keep it simple this year for the kids and ourselves.
With no income from me for almost 3 months and my immobility that proved to be not a hard thing.
If I don’t have it to spend and can’t drive there we’re set!

This weekend we’ll tackle getting the tree set up, decorations put out and the car situation sorted out.
I’m still not driving but want to do that this weekend, I was advised to go to an empty parking lot and slowly drive around and practice.
It will be like old times when I first learned to drive.

We have started car shopping too, one car in the New Year is not going to work.
So far the car I had my eyes on sold right before we got to the dealership. They are looking to get me the same in red and I’m hoping it will be there today.

I’m well on my way to wheels and working feet!

I decided today to just laugh at my speed of walking and the motion I can generate.
No sense to get frustrated just yet.

Husband and I took kids to various schools and he dropped me off at the PT place.

I was a bit early so I decided to go to the bank, CLEAR across the parking lot, to get some cash for lunch.
Easy for the old me with 2 ‘normal’ feet, even though before surgery I was having issues walking painless.
The new and recovering me forgot that this was day two in shoes and that the ankle didn’t bend as before.
I almost got stranded in the parking lot as I had neither speed or a fluid motion.

It took me 15 minutes to make it back to Igor and my PT appointment.

I had the PT works, stretching, massage, exercises and electrodes.
My friend picked me up and we went to hang out at Starbucks for 2 hours.
I should have stopped doing anything after that but I had made a ‘date’ with another friend to go Christmas shopping for my kids.
So it was go-go-go for me as we tackled Target where I deflated after 40 minutes and my leg in no uncertain terms told me it was DONE!
She took me to my favorite yarn store where I was hit with a wave of extreme exhaustion despite the fact I was sitting down and knitting.

Home again and early to bed for me.

Saturday I decided to just buy a pair of shoes a size bigger and forgo walking around in my running shoes.
Sunday was the first day I wore shoes and walked on 2 feet in 9 weeks.
As with every transition into something new I was very apprehensive and terribly careful.
I spent an hour in the shoes and then went back to the boot and later at night back into the shoes for almost 5 hours.
Without the heavy boot my right leg does not function as before, it’s odd to not have the extra weight when I move the foot.
At first I could only walk around the couch, holding on to it!
But then it got better.
Can’t say it is painless but that is part of the process after all.

Monday was work and PT.
We have this terrible slate covered hallway and I can tell you that slays me, big time.Most of my work today was trekking back and forth from my new desk to the old desk place.
I worked 1.5 hours, got my ride to PT.

Igor decided it was safe to up the ante and I was manually stretched a bit more than last time.
No pain, so that was good.
I had a calf massage,got new exercises, did a leg press and then it was time to hobble to the bus stop.

Now lights here are timed at 30 seconds.When I was still a fast walker with 2 normal feet I could get across with at least 10 seconds remaining. Now I’m at -4 seconds left.
There is no way you can hoof it up in a boot.
Here I am, 5 time Half marathoner trying to beat a 30 second crossing light.

Nuts!

More shoe later in the day, working on a 100% shoe day tomorrow.

Next week maybe driving?

http://onetwothreebeyond.blogspot.com/2009/12/i-haz-two-feet.html

Monday bright and early the alarm went off at 7 am.
I was up and dressed by 7:45 while husband took Little Man to school.
Resident Teen had late start and we headed out at 8:30.
This meant my first day back at work started at 9 am, with no desk to sit at as 2 days before my surgery I had to pack up my desk to make place for someone else.
If you only work 10 hours a week you tend to be low on the totem pole where I work.

I got to work and was greeted a lot and asked many times over what happened to me.
Most of my 2.5 hours at work was spent explaining to people coming in, in detail, the surgery and the complications (or lack thereof )
Took me awhile to get hold of the building manager to get my desk reinstallation moving.
As loose as the office/workplace atmosphere is at work if you want anything done, you need to go through the building manager who also happens to be the guy who makes sure stuff is safe.
I guess it’s called Risk Management?
Well he loves this part of the job and he was taking getting me a desk in my program area very seriously.
As I would be sharing the room with an active Mommy and Me program we needed to make sure both the kids and I had “privacy” and it was a safe set-up.
He left to ponder options and it became clear to me that set-up would not be on Monday so with my ride ready to go we left.

I had a delightful lunch with my friend Laura, she possesses this love for food I find very recognizable. In a healthy way, of-course.
And she is one bad @ss knitter!

As Physical Therapy was next door she offered to wait for me and give me a ride home.

Oh. Yeah. did I mention PT started on Monday?

Dr’s orders: Twice a week, get range of motion back and in shoes in 2 weeks.
That alone put fear in my heart.
What if it hurt? I’ve broken out in a sweat just trying to get the boot on, now I was going to be seen by Igor the Terrible?
And he was going to have free reign on my foot?
Did I mention he has BIG hands and is pretty good at tweaking?

We went through the motions of measuring, interview and then he got to work.
As I was on my stomach I did not see any of the action happening to my foot.
Only once did I have a twinge, he stretched and moved the foot, “hey…where is the pain” was all I could think.
Because there was none, heck it even felt good!
The other therapist she who gives great massages, we’ll call her SWGGM was next with 15 minutes of calf massage, again painless.
I was starting to feel a bit…slighted…shouldn’t I feel something? Anything?
Believe me they were not gentle or super tough on me, still I was pretty happy at the lack of pain.
Consensus is that before I had a stiff foot with a lot of pain, now I’ll have a stiff foot without pain.
I’ll take it.

And Laura? She knitted almost half a hat while waiting for me.
Told you she is bad @ss!