Road to Recovery

I felt it was time I posted again on the blog as my progress has been so rapid over the last couple of weeks, I thought I would get distracted by the return to my hectic lifestyle and consequently never revert to updating this.   As you can tell, the good news is that my life has pretty much returned to normal — i’m walking confidently without a limp outdoors (in the boot), and gingerly around the apartment with barely a limp (without the boot).  My newfound mobility has meant, albeit the reduction in sporting activity, my daily routine and life is similar to what it was before. 

While not wanting to assume I’m on the home stretch, the rapid progress I’ve witnessed has really been due to the aggressiveness of my physical therapist.  My surgeon was somewhat conservative and had me NWB through 6 weeks, at which point he essentially ushered me off to PT and let me know I was in her hands from thereon.  Given that I am leaving for a trip to China at Week 9 1/2 mark (it’s funny to chronicle dates in weeks post operation, I know!), I felt I needed to overdose on PT if there was such a thing.  I’ve been going to PT sessions 4 times a week, an hour at a time for the last 2 weeks.  Every day, i’ve noticed an improvement in both my gait and psychological confidence.  Today, I was doing 50% calf raises and have had few issues with walking long distances around the city.

I realize progress plateaus at some point and don’t want to kid myself that I’ll be in two shoes tomorrow.  For security sake alone, I will be taking my boot with me to China… But, most importantly, I feel I have my mobility back and it’s the small successes that really make a difference.  To take a standing shower without the boot (and no cast cover) was a wonderful thing!

I’m slipping into a night splint now that I got from my PT today - she wants me to sleep with 5 degrees of dorsiflexion to keep my foot from getting lazy and tight in the mornings.  Let’s see if that works.

Continued well wishes to allow fellow recover’ers.