And I was winning…….

Hello All,
Coming up on my 2 year anniversary. What a journey. Life is back to normal, no second thoughts when running, jumping, or biking. Back on the court full time, and actually beat the guy I had to forfeit to when I blew my AT. Racquetball going full time with no apprehensions to playing. So to my fellow ATR brethren…do your PT, push when you need to and you will be back to what you love to do in no time.
Take care

Doc Ross

Well….its been 7.5 months, feeling great, running, no pain so……..Back to the racquetball court.  Went slow, had some fun showing off the scar and then it was back to normal.  No after affects just an overall achiness but felt great the next day.

Have been pushing myself with exercises.  The only thing I can report is that the medial gastroc really lags behind with respect to strength gains and therefore definition.  I have been following the “maximum calves” exercise protocol for 6 weeks and although stronger, able to do a calf raise I’m not seeing as much bulk there. 

Overall I’m happy, back to real life, the ankle is not holding me back from doing anything although I’m cautious.  I know the tendon still has a few more months before completely healing but its still nice to be out and about. 

So to those behind me…keep on exercising, pushing and don’t let the bads get you down for time heals both physically as well as mentally.

We are one day closer to the end.

Doc Ross

Well it has been 6 months.  Every day is better, every day is closer to the end.  My activities of daily living are within normal limits.  I can squat, run, do a one legged calf raise and have no pain.  Staying away from racquetball for another couple of months.  

Here are the latest pictures of my ATR.  Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Make sure you’re doing your exercises and doing something every day.

Doc Ross

Hard to believe its 5 months.  Feel as though everything has been going better than expected.  No pain, no swelling, no limp.  Measured my calves, ATR 15 7/8      Non-ATR 16 5/8   Just under an inch difference which explains no stamina with running and muscle ache with long distance biking.  Can finally do a ATR calf raise, albeit not very high as compared to my Non ATR but its up.  Just need more time.

Now I don’t feel as though my constant thoughts are on my leg.  Doing everything I want and concentrating when on hills and wet surfaces.  Golfing, riding, running and sticking with the game plan.  Hard to do at times but setting a goal of returning to competetive racquetball by January is important.  Actually trying to find an off road tri to do also.  Anything to keep me motivated.

Here are recent pictures of my leg.  Incision, 2 legged lift and one leg lift.  Not pretty but thats what I have to work with.  Reading your posts regularly but it appears that everyone is taking very good care of each other.  I am always available to answer questions as my back ground affords me information that not everyone is privy too.

Curious if anyone past 5 months notices that the medial gastroc is less developed and seems to lag behind the lateral head???  Wondering if that is an individual component of surgery or a genereal consensus.  Appreciate your insight.

Thanks to Dennis for the site, his hard work and T-shirt.  I’ll post an action picture to add to the gallery.

Doc Ross

 

Well its been 4 months since rupturing my AT.  And….doing great. No pain, no limp, literally no stamina and no strength.  As in my past posts in the beginning you attain goals quickly……boot, cast, boot, NWB to PWB, showering, crutching, steps, no boot, two shoes, FWB, limp, no limp and now…..screeching halt.

My major goal now is to do a one legged calf raise.  Obvioulsy I compare to my good AT and boy do I have a way to go.  You would think that after a month of lifting this 210# body you could see some major strength gains but to no avail, just a chicken leg.  Started running, 10 minute miles or should I say mile, cause after one mile I’m exhausted. 

My routine at this point is 3X per week—run ( until I can’t), bike for 30 minutes, stretch, calf raises standing, sitting and then core workouts.  Twice a week I golf. walk 18 but afer 14 holes really feel the fatigue.  Tournaments I’ll ride to save energy and feel pretty good at the end of 18.  Still doing the nutrition, and watching my ATR weight gain steadily diminish.

Wear my orthotics every day except one day and noticed calf and knee soreness.  So for those of you in two shoes make sure you get them.  Seriously your gait, and biomechanics have permanently changed.  Talk with the surgeon, go to your chiropractor, or podiatrist and get casted.

Actually went on the racquetball court by myself to see how my lateral movement was and pleasantly surprised.  But……will not play until January 1, 2009.  Total torture for a highly ranked tournament player.  Plan on putting in my application for a tournament the second weekend in January.

That’s pretty much what’s going on now…not too exciting, slow progress, nice scar, great conversation starter ( way to go Matts) (DOG), and as you can see us veterans blog monthly rather than daily or weekly as we used to.

Keep up the great work, PT hard………we are one day closer to the end.

Doc Ross

Here are the latest of my left ATR…slowly getting strength back but no pain.  Limp at the end of the day.  Also found a company that makes orthotic flip flops…Bri, they are comfortable.  Trying to get my pictures of the Grand Canyon up for all to see but having some problems.

Let me know if you have any questions.  thanks all

Doc Ross

 

Time goes so fast.  Just yesterday I heard the “POP” and life was about to change.  To date I feel as though everything has been flowing steady, progressing and making sure that I practice what I preach.  Rehab has been going well, actually starting to jog on the treadmill.  Recently I was on the treadmill jogging, walking backwards, side stepping and doing crossovers when a woman asked me if I was a dancer.  LOL…almost fell off the treadmill laughing my ass off.  I guess that’s a good sign that at least I looked coordinated enough to illicit that response.  Also started to mountain bike but have no strength to feel comfortable on a moderate to difficult course, so for now just sticking with paths and fireroads.  Did a 20 mile ride and felt tired at the 15 mile mark but no pain.  Walked 18 holes on June 1st and although fatigue set in at the 16th hole I played well and actually noticed that the injury has helped my swing.  Was a natural forward weight shifter and due to not feeling strong and stable on the ankle was able to keep my weight back and hit it further than last year a few times.  Pretty exciting, but hell couldn’t I have just taken a lesson.

Back to normal at work, patients inquire about how I am doing, staff still concerned but overall doing well.  No limp to speak of except late in the day.  Still sticking with the program that got me to this stage. 

Home life is rather uneventful- back to mowing the lawn, cleaning and fixing.  Able to get up and down stairs with no problem and there have been days that I felt 100%. 

The ankle is pain free, tight at times and the swelling comes and goes depending on activity.  My heel will be sore once in awhile, with the altered biomechanics I am sure that I am striking my heel in a different spot than pre rupture.  Based on this I will be fitted with new orthotics. 

So overall I am pleased with where I am.  My main focus now is on strengthening the calf and making sure no compensatory problems arise from the altered gait.

So to all that are following in us veterans footsteps, listen to the surgeon, follw the PTs instructions, read the blogs and comments and before  you know it…you too will realize………..time flies.

We are one day closer to the end

Doc Ross

S’car Smoking at the Canyon

Well I’m back……

refresher on the trip….

fly to Vegas, small plane to South rim of Canyon, stay over night at Bright Angel Lodge, then 10 mile hike down to River, raft 5 days 4 nights, helicopter out to Bar 10 ranch, small plane back to vegas.   all this at 10.5 weeks

So was I nervous, anxious you bet….First having the weakness post surgery, not really exercising and not knowing what lies ahead made me concerned.  Flying was not a problem at all.  The hike was my biggest adversary– 10 miles of switchbacks in new hiking boots along with 100 degree weather made for an interesting day.  So at 5 am we were off…and for 7 miles I did great and then the burning kicked in…almost like my muscles said time to stop…but my mind said if I stop I may not start again…so I pushed thru the burning and interesting enough the burning stopped.  Also the burning was not along the incision or the gastroc but localized to the outer part of the leg.  So after 5 1/2 hours of hiking, heat and moving away (couldn’t really run) from a rattlesnake we were at the river.   Hard hike, especially with a 30# backpack but after undressing down to my skivvies the cold Colorado river felt great not just for my ankle but also for the rest of me…I had made it…

The rest of the trip was uneventful if you consider majestic views, great rafting, nature hikes, good food, camping, stargazing, laughing and meeting people from around the world uneventful.  I was able to participate in all the climbs, jumps off waterfalls and swimming.  If you have not been to the Grand Canyon I highly recommend it…. We used www.riveradventures.com

My only real bump came after camping at a very sandy spot,  swelling set in at night to the point that I soaked in the lake, did my exercises while looking at the spectrum of colors within the canyon…Not a bad place for rehab.

Will post some pictures of the trail and scenes but here is the post hike one

Post hike  

So there you have it…at 10 1/2 weeks thanks to the surgeon, and all of you for the advice, good thoughts, I couldn’t have done it without you….

If  you have questions about the trip let me know…Now back to reality, catching up on all your posts and my first round of golf this Sunday…

We are one day closer to the end.

 Doc Ross

10 week post op visit

time goes slow the first couple of weeks but now……..

Follow up appointments are so surreal now…walking in, seeing others with crutches, boots, casts and thinking I was just there..

Scene 1:  surgeon feeling ankle, moving it arround, saying ahhh,,,ohhhhh, not looking patient in the eye.

Surgeon:  ” You are ahead of schedule, doing great”
Me:           ” I bet you say that to all your patients”
S:              “No, I’m serious”
Me:           ” So now what”
S:              ” Start easing back to normal life”
Me:          ” hike 10 miles??racquetball??, running??, golf ??, mountain biking??”
S:              ”  Oh……that’s not a normal life!!”
Me:           ” for me it is……so then what can I start to do??”
S:           ” definitely golf, jog light, and increase calf strength”
Me:       ” Some swelling at times , should I be concerned??”
S:          “No it will take 6 months to a year for new blood vessels, lymph chains to be repaired so you will experience periods of swelling depending on your activity level”
Me:      “so do I need to see you again”
S:          ” yes but only on the golf course, you owe me a round or two for the great work I did”

So there you have it, time to get back to an easy, light normal life.  Will start to jog and increase weight load on leg.  Curious as to how long it takes to actually do a one legged calf raise??
that’s my next goal.  In the beginning it was goals like surgery, cast off, boot off, NWB to PWB to FWB, then two shoes and now a one legged calf raise.  Set dates of June 1 for walking 18 holes, July 1 for a mountain bike ride, Sept 1st for an 8 minute mile and January 1, 2009 to step on the racquetball court and play.

Excited about my trip, this Saturday to the Canyon so I’ll have pictures of an ATR on the Colorado river, soaking in the sun and loving life.  thanks for everyones support, encouraging words, and insight on this chapter of my life.  Will report back in 2 weeks so keep up the fight…and
never, never, never……give up………Winston Churchill

Doc Ross

So 2 weeks and counting until my trip..

I will be hiking the Bright Angel trail so if anyone has done this I would appreciate intel.  By then I will be 10.5 weeks post surgery.  Rehab has been going well, swimming, biking, treadmill along with PT.  Actually seeing some definition in my calf, no swelling, occasional heel soreness.  Only problem is stamina, get very tired after a day at the office.  Would appreciate any info from the veterans/front runners as to how they felt endurance wise at the end of 10-11 weeks.

Below I found Bright Angel trail facts.  Luckily all down hill with an average 14% grade.  Wonder if they’ll let me bring my mountain bike.  Not sure how long they want to take to get to the river, cause I know I’ll be slow.  Hopefully I can hitch a ride on a donkey if not my buddys are carrying my 6 ft 200# butt.

http://grandcanyonhiker.com/cgi-bin/trail/trails.cgi

Thanks for everyones support.

We are……………one day closer to the end

 Doc Ross