July 27, 2009
For the past week and a half I have been FWB in the boot outside the house and nude-foot in the house. I am now spending as much time as I can at home, trying to walk around and get used to walking “unaided” by the boot and crutches. Unfortunately this also means I have run out of excuses to avoid housework, so spent most of yesterday doing laundry and dishes while my wife sat on the couch barking orders in retribution for the 11 weeks of BS I have put her through so far! Fair play….
So getting around nude-foot is frickin scary at first people. Even at home. The first few steps you take you are convinced that every pop you hear is your tendon rupturing again. Thankfully it’s mostly just the bones and ligaments in your foot crying out something like “heeeeeeeere’s Johnny” having been unused for months. The progress from gimpy hobbling around to reasonable gait is actually very fast though, I got back to walking with a slight limp around the house within about 3 days. By slight limp I mean I am concentrating like George Bush at a Spelling Bee on getting my technique right, it’s just that there is no strength in the calf/ankle to allow me to walk normally. I mean seriously, NADA in the strength department, meaning you cannot possibly walk normally and without a limp.
Am doing as many exercises as often as possible, even at my desk at work. It seems to me that the more I can do on flexibility and strength at this point (without overdoing it of course), the better off I’ll be gait-wise. I have regained a tiny amount of my bad calf, but am still He Man on the left and Steve Urkel on the right if you know what I mean. This will be the hardest part I reckon, can envisage months of painful exercise to bring the bad boy back.
Scarus Maximus is healing nicely and is not painful at all, except if it gets rubbed by Das Boot a little too much. I have also noticed that my injured leg is a different colour (slightly darker, perhaps suggesting different blood flow to the leg?) than m y good leg, anyone else have this?
Over and out!
July 27th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Tommo - Thanks for continuing the always entertaining posts. A sense of humor goes a long way towards a full recovery.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Great post Tommo. Hilarious.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:23 am
I will try to post again without the auto-censor taking out the word n*de in my reply!
I am in a very similar place in recovery. I have found walking without the boot or shoes on a hard surface to hurt my heel. therefore, I am in running shoes most of the time while out of the aircast.
I have noticed the darker color too. I came to the same, possibly uneducated, conclusion that it is more blood flow.
Thanks for sharing.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Hey there John,
Like you, it does hurt a little with no shoes on inside the house. I am sticking with it though, as I figure putting more weight on the unaided foot will help the muscles in the foot to recover faster. Another of my uneducated theories! So far it’s worked really well, except for when I tried moonwalking after hearing about MJ’s untimely demise…..might have to wait another few months for that….