Released from Physical Therapy!

I had my final physical therapy appointment today.  The therapist I've been working with through most of this process was not there since he's off on an African safari, but the therapist I saw said if I can do everything she had me do today, I'm ready to be released!  I did everything she wanted me to do.  I wouldn't say with ease, but I did it all.  I was given the list of my exercises and I'm supposed to do them 3-4 times a week- ideally every other day.  Doing all of them is a great workout, so I'm going to really try to actually do them as much as she recommended.

I've also just started working out again.  I'm not doing much, but I've been trying to get on the bike (my parents gave me their indoor bike trainer) every day or two for about 30 minutes.  So far I've only done it twice, but now that the girls have a play kitchen and dollhouses in the basement it would be easier for me to workout while they play.  I'm really looking forward to getting back in shape.  And a friend and I are even thinking about trying to do a triathlon together this year.  We just both need to learn to swim effectively...

Doing well.

My foot and I are doing really well.  So well, in fact, that starting this coming week I'm only going to be going to physical therapy once a week- and right now I only have appointments scheduled until the end of the year (which means only 2 more weeks!).  My physical therapist has been working me really hard, which is good.  He wants me to be able to start running before long.  Hopefully I'll be able to ease into it at the start of the new year.

Last weekend my parents brought me their indoor bike trainer so that I can start doing some bike riding.  I've got to start with some kind of workouts sooner rather than later.  I'm hoping to start getting into some sort of workout routine very soon.  Hopefully I'll actually get on the bike this weekend.

I'm still weaning out of my ankle brace.  I'm out of it most of the time, but I do put it on when my ankle/foot start to bother me.  So far today I have not worn it at all today and it feels pretty good. :)

Big News!

I went to see my orthopedist on Monday for another follow up appointment.  He looked at my foot, watched me walk and watched me walk on my tip-toes (who knew I could do that again?!).  Then he told me everything looked good, I'm ahead of the curve and he doesn't need to see me anymore. :)  He told me to take it easy over the next month- start with some biking and maybe elliptical, but by the new year I should be about ready to start running!  And this was all the day before I hit 2 months post op!  For now I'm still going to physical therapy twice a week because my therapist is not ready to release me, but I'm fine with that.

As for physical therapy, it's going really well.  He started on Monday having me do most of my exercises without my brace.  My ankle is definitely getting stronger, but still has some strengthening that needs to happen. My therapist did tell me yesterday, though, that I can start weaning out of my brace.  He said to start with taking it off for 20-30 minutes at a time and then putting it back on for a couple of hours- and to keep increasing my time out of it until I'm out of it all day.  He thinks the weaning should take about 2 weeks.  I can definitely tell when I've had it off for too long, so I think I really will wean out of the brace slowly, unlike how I weaned off the crutches and out of the boot. :)

Weaning is really good news- especially since Ben and I are going out to a nice dinner and spending Friday night at a bed and breakfast.  I'm excited to be able to wear real shoes (well, boots, in this case) Friday night and not be in my sneakers.  YAY!

I can drive!!!

Last Wednesday when I went to physical therapy I talked to my therapist about driving.  After seeing how well I did with all of my exercises in just my ankle brace he decided that I could start "experimenting" with driving.  Basically he wanted me to start with sitting in the driver's seat and practice moving my foot back and forth between the pedals and see how that felt.  Then if that felt okay, to start with short drives so as to not tire out my leg since endurance is one of the big issues with which I have to contend.

Thursday morning I drove the girls the half mile to daycare and then back home.  Then Ben's mom drove me to work and I got a ride home.  Friday I drove a little more, but really eased into it over the weekend.  By Monday I was ready to drive to work.  It is so nice to be able to drive myself around again and not always be dependent on other people to get places.  I think Ben appreciates it, too.  We're both getting a little more time alone and getting back into our normal routine, which is good for everyone involved.

Physical therapy is going really well.  He's working me hard, which is great because I can tell my ankle is getting stronger.  I'm still in my ankle brace all of the time, other than when I sleep or when I'm just sitting on the couch in the evenings after the girls go to bed.  I've been doing a little bit of work on a stationery bike at physical therapy, so I have a feeling that my first real workouts post surgery will be biking.  That's fine by me- I'll be happy to be getting exercise doing anything.  I sure can't wait until I can get back to running, though.

I am happy to announce...

For the first time in over 7 months I can now walk normally with no pain!  Granted, that's with an ankle brace on (a pretty strong one at that), but I'll take it!  I'm not going to mention how it feels when I'm just sitting here, though.  Why in the world does it feel better when I'm walking on it than it does when I'm sitting here with no weight on it?

Good Appointment, but still no driving :(

I had an appointment with Dr K yesterday morning.  It went well.  He said things look good and he's impressed with how good my foot looks when I stand up.  He has me transitioning from the boot into an ankle brace which is a really nice change.  It's so nice to be wearing 2 shoes again and to be able to move my ankle.  I'm probably not easing into the brace as much as I should be since I wore it to work this morning and didn't bring my brace, but that's okay.  I'm just determined to build up the strength in my ankle.  I can handle a little soreness, I just have to watch out for pain because that will land me back in the boot.  I go back to Dr. K in three weeks and I WILL be driving to that appointment.

He told me that there's no cut and dry way to tell if I'm ready to drive.  It's a matter of my ankle being strong enough and the tendon being strong enough so that it doesn't get injured if I have to slam on the breaks or something.  It's also a matter of my reaction time with my foot being fast enough to get from the gas to the break quick enough if I have to stop quick.  He said that since I'm at the point where my tendon is probably healed or at least very close to being fully healed that there's a bit of a risk vs reward going on with driving.  I have to weigh the risk of something happening with the reward of being able to drive and go from there.  He also told me to talk to my physical therapist about it and really my PT would be the one to clear me to drive.

Yesterday afternoon I went to physical therapy.  I told my PT about my appointment and he went and read Dr. K's notes about it.  He had me up and working in my brace a lot, which was really nice.  He said my movement looks really good so really it's mainly about strengthening right now.  I tried to convince him (and so did one of the aides) but he wants to see me a couple more times before I start driving so that I can build a little more strength.  I hope to be driving next week.  I need to build up my driving stamina at least a little before our Thanksgiving trip to Tennessee...

It's really nice to walk again

As of today it's been 4 weeks since my surgery.  I've been weaning off of my crutches.  Well, really, I haven't been using them much at all.  The past few days I've used them at work but not at home.  Today I only used them when I had my boot off- either to ice or do my exercises.  It's feeling pretty good.  The outside of my ankle is sore but I think that's just from it being weak after not being used for so long.

I had physical therapy on Tuesday and it went really well.  I got to do some new exercises which was nice.  He even had me do one exercises that had me bearing weight on my foot.  And I think my mobility has improved even more this week.

It's healing really well.  Here's what it looks like right now.  It's still swollen but not horribly so.  And it's definitely still bruised, but since it's my foot that's to be expected for quite awhile.

Doctor's Appointment

I was really hoping the title of today's post would be something about how I'm done with crutches, but, unfortunately, that is not the case.  I do, though, get to ease off of the crutches.

My appointment today with Dr. K went well.  He said my foot looks good and my movement is good for almost 4 weeks post op.  He's happy with my progress.  I'm supposed to continue on with physical therapy (obviously, since I've only been once), wean myself off of the crutches and when I feel like my tendon is strong enough- and my PT agrees- I can stop sleeping in the boot.  As for weaning off of the crutches, he means I need to start with walking with both feet and the crutches so that some weight is still on my hands, but I also have some on my foot.  Then just keep increasing the weight I put on my foot, just making sure that it doesn't hurt.  The concern is really getting back on it too early and injuring the tendon that he reconnected.  That would not be fun, so I'm going to do my best to really be careful about weaning.

So all in all a good visit and I go back in two weeks.  I will not be going back on crutches. :)

And now the fun stuff!  Dr K has before and after x-rays of my foot from the day of surgery.  He's shown them to me a couple of times, but today I asked if I could take pictures of them.  He was happy to let me.  Taking that bone out definitely made a significant difference in my foot.  For some reason his x-rays were printed backwards so it looks like this should be from my left foot, but I promise you, it's from my right.  Check it out:

Before

He's pointing to the bone he's going to remove.

Now it's gone- 

and he shaved down the bone next to it to get rid of the big bump I had on the side of my foot.

And before and after next to each other.  

I'm sorry it's upside down, I can't get it to flip over and stay that way.

 Pretty big difference, huh?

3 weeks and Starting Physical Therapy

As of today it's been three weeks since surgery. My foot is feeling really good. It's still swollen and bruised but as long as I don't move it it doesn't hurt. :). I go back to Dr K on Monday and hopefully he will clear me to start walking on it.

I had my first physical therapy appointment yesterday. It went really well. Right now I'm just working on range of motion but it's nice to have permission to move it again. I have a few simple exercises to do twice a day to work on my range of motion. I can move it up and down pretty well, it's just the side to side that is tight and sore. One of my exercises is to draw the alphabet with my toes and I have to say that my letters, if you could see them, would be really ugly. It's tough when you can't make much of a circle with your ankle.  I really think a big part of the issue with my lack of movement is the swelling, but we'll see what Dr. K says about it on Monday.  I guess I should probably try icing it after I do my exercises- it can't hurt, right?  I'm definitely going to keep up my exercises though- I can't wait to watch my mobility come back! 

No More Stitches!

I went to the doctor on Monday and, after waiting over an hour and a half for my appointment, I got my stitches out!  The incision actually looks pretty good.  I don't think the scar is going to be too bad. 

It's really nice to have the stitches out and not have the big bandage on it anymore, but it actually aches more now that it did before.  I think the way it was bandaged helped hold my arch up and now without that support the tendon that he reattached is having to do more work and it's still got a lot of healing to do.  As for the incision it just itches.  It doesn't really hurt, but it really itches, which is really annoying since I have to have my boot on.

 I'm still not weight bearing on it.  I got back to the doctor in two weeks (on the 24th) and he said that normally after that appointment they let you start walking in the boot.  I cannot wait to be off of these crutches.  My doctor told me that I can start physical therapy anytime, but the first time they could get me in is next Wednesday, so that's when I'll start.  I got next Wednesday and Friday.  I look forward to starting physical therapy so that I can learn what I'm really allowed to do with my foot, you know?

Here's a picture of my foot right now.  I don't think my ankle is really that fat- I think it's just the angle and swelling- or at least that's what I'm telling myself...

I'll spare you from the picture of my foot from the day they took off my original bandage.  I took a picture when I was at the doctor before they changed my bandage.  It's pretty gross, though. :)

21 hours and 10 minutes

Until my appointment to get my stitches out.  I can't wait!

I haven't been having much pain, but the bandage that's covering my stitches is getting really uncomfortable.  My boot presses on it which makes me incision hurt.  And really, I can't wait to be able to get my foot wet and clean it really well.  My doctor even told me that I can shower after I get my stitches out.  I'm not sure how that's going to work without being able to put weight on my foot, but I think I'm going to try.  I may be weird, but I really don't like taking baths.  Oh, I also look forward to being able to easily put a sock on my right foot under my boot!

And since tomorrow is a holiday (Columbus Day) and Ben doesn't have to work but the girls still go to daycare, he's taking me to my appointment and then we're going to go out to lunch and maybe to see a movie.  Yay for date day!

In the Meantime...

So I finished physical therapy in May and I was on the mend.  I felt good as long as I wore my sneakers with my arch supports.  I started back to running a little bit.  I couldn't go far, but I was up to running a couple of miles- with some walk breaks.  Things in our house were really chaotic at that point, so I didn't get much chance to run.  I'd started working 4 9 hour days a week instead of 3 8 hour days, we'd put our house on the market and we were looking for a new house.  It was pretty crazy.

Thankfully our house sold after only 23 days on the market and a week after our house went under contract we went to the beach for a week.  I did alright at the beach.  I ran a couple of days and went golfing one day.  My foot still ached a bit, but it wasn't bad.  I still thought I'd be okay.

After we got back from the beach I went back to wearing shoes other than my sneakers.  I should have listened to my doctor and stuck with sneakers and stayed away from flip flops, but who wants to wear sneakers when it's 90 degrees outside?  Certainly not me!  That didn't help my foot at all, although I did go through a period where my flip flops were my most comfortable shoes.

At the end of July we moved in with Ben's parents for 6 weeks while we were between houses.  It was while we were there that I really started to accept that my foot was not really getting better and that I was going to end up having to have surgery on it.  I still ran occasionally, and my foot didn't hurt while I ran, but I paid for it afterward.

I started to think about surgery, but I couldn't decide when to do it.  We moved into our new house Labor Day weekend and then the next two weekends we were at weddings.  Then I had a good friend who told me she wanted to come visit from California toward the end of October.  I kind of came to the conclusion that I would get surgery after she came and I would be off of crutches by Thanksgiving.  Then Bethany told me a few weeks ago that she was going to delay her trip by at least a few weeks, so I decided to go ahead and make a doctor's appointment and get surgery scheduled.

I went in on a Monday for my appointment and learned the details of the recovery- and the surgery- but the recovery was what I was concerned about.  At least 4 weeks on crutches, at least 6 weeks of no driving and about 8 total weeks in the boot.  Ugh.  I had known about the crutches and the boot before that appointment, but I didn't know about the no driving thing.  That part was/is going to suck.  But I went ahead and scheduled surgery.  They could have gotten me in that Thursday, but since Ben was out of town until Wednesday night I decided to wait a week.  I scheduled surgery for Thursday September 29th. 

Physical Therapy

So after that first appointment with Dr. K I decided to try physical therapy and see if that would help.  I got set up with a great physical therapist, Nikki, who was determined to help me avoid surgery.  I went to my first physical therapy appointment and then went to Savannah for a few days with a big group of girl friends.  I walked around Savannah a lot in my boot, but it was fine.  I made sure to ice it each night and did fine with it.  Sure, it hurt, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

I came back and kept going to physical therapy twice a week.  It really seemed to help.  I went to physical therapy for probably about 6 weeks.  With that, spending 2 weeks on crutches and some anti-inflammatories that I got when I went for a second opinion my foot really started to feel better.  It was better enough that I got out of the boot and Nikki released me from physical therapy. 

I knew I had to be nice to my foot, but I thought I was done with the big issues with my foot, at least I hoped I was.

7 months ago today

It was 7 months ago today that I stepped on that shoe and hurt my ankle and foot.  My biggest fear at that point was not being able to run my 10 mile race or that I'd be out of running for 4 weeks or so.  Never in a million years did I think that this is where I'd be 7 months later.

Today I'm 6 days post op and back in my boot for the first of about 8 weeks.  My incision is healing nicely and I'm not really in much pain.  My biggest problem is sleeping at night with my boot on.  I can't seem to get comfortable and I'm not sleeping much.  Last night I finally moved to our guest bedroom and got some sleep in that bed.  Not a lot, though, especially since along with me not being able to get comfortable Virginia was up and down a lot during the night.  She sure is full of energy today, though, unlike me.  I'm hoping to get a good nap in this afternoon, though.

Yesterday was my first big outing, other than to the doctor, since my surgery.  My dad came by and picked me up and we went out for him to eat lunch.  Then we picked the girls up from school and took them to the store to get juice and came home.  It wasn't a big outing, but it was really tiring for me.  Today my hands and arms are sore from going around on my crutches so much.  I plan on spending most of today on the couch, or maybe reading on the deck if it warms up this afternoon.

First Appointment with Dr. K

When I had my first appointment with Dr. K, the foot and ankle specialist, I wasn't sure what to expect.  I was still hoping that it was still just a sprained ankle or something else that would heal quickly.  They did more x-rays and Dr. K looked at my foot, watched me walk and how I stood.  He then told me about the extra bone in my foot.  He said that about 30% of people have that extra bone.  Some people never have issues with them, some people hurt it and it heals fine and they never have to worry about it again, and some people hurt them and end up having to get them removed.  We were hoping I'd be in the second group.  He recommended physical therapy to try to help it heal and he gave me a wonderfully stylish new fashion accessory: a boot.  He wouldn't tell me how long I'd have to wear it, but just said to come back in two weeks for a check up.

How it started...

 On the morning of March 5th we were all getting ready to go to my friend Beth's daughter Kendall's 1st birthday party.  Before the party we were meeting a friend of mine from high school to give her some of Paige and Virginia's old sleepers.  Ben went to put Jefferson in his crate in the basement and I was going to carry the box of sleepers and Kendall's gift out to the car.  I took the one step down into our foyer and stepped on a toddler shoe.  I twisted my ankle, fell and that was it.

I got up and I walked on it.  We took the girls to the party and they had a lot of fun.  I walked on it all day, but it hurt.  I had been training for a 10 mile race at the end of April and I was really afraid that now I wasn't going to be able to run it.  Little did I know what was in store for me.

The next morning it still really hurt so Ben convinced me to go to Urgent Care to get it checked out.  They took x-rays, said it was sprained and put me in an air cast.  They also said that if it wasn't better in a week to go see my regular doctor.

A little over a week later I noticed that my ankle was feeling better, but my foot hurt.  It couldn't stand with my right foot flat without pain, so I decided it was time to see another doctor.  I called one office and they couldn't get me in with their foot specialist so I called a different office.  Their foot and ankle specialist had an appointment for the next day, so I took it.  At this point I was hoping it was something simple and I'd be back up and running in a week or so.