6+ weeks post surgery

It's been a few weeks.  Little has changed.  I am still in a boot. I have one wedge left in it.  I still have crutches, but I am able to use my foot to sort of walk now.  Partial weight bearing, as tolerated. 

The focus in PT isn't solely on my foot these days.  There is a lot of hip mobility stuff, because when you are in a boot for 7+ weeks (so far) you never really put your leg behind you.  It's all in front.  Think about it.  Even "walking" with a boot keeps your knee in front of the other one.  It's a weird limpy hobble.  And my hip is SORE.  It's sore from not using it the way it's meant to be used and it's sore from the mobility that I'm doing at the gym to combat it, and it might be sore from the PT, but they really have me do a lot less than I do at the gym. 

This week I'm putting more weight on it at PT.  I've been doing stuff without the boot on.  I shift weight from one foot to the other, which is painless.  They had me stand on a block of foam and try to balance and that was really hard.  I've also been doing calf raises, but seated.  You know, when your standing and you rise up on your toes?  Those.  But not standing.  And my calf was incredibly pained the next few days.  It was the first time I've used in in nearly 2 months and it doesn't know how to work anymore.  That simple motion had me worried that I'd re-injured it.  Really, that was how much it hurt the next few days.  It's feeling better today (not great), and the PT said that it's pretty normal, but I noticed that he did scale back what I did there yesterday, and he spent a lot more time on massage and manipulation. 

We talked about getting into a shoe in the next few weeks.  I have one wedge to go still and then a week in the boot at plantar neutral before I go to a shoe.  And with how sore I am this week, I'm not in a huge hurry.  I DO want to be in shoes again, but not in such a rush that I hurt it again, or have trouble.  I'm a little afraid of it, honestly.

I've been hit and miss at the gym.  I'm not even making excuses not to go. I get a good workout when I go, but the coach has to spend so much attention on me that I feel self conscious.  I can't get out or put away my own equipment because I need both hands on crutches.  I've been only going about 2 days a week.  I've set a goal to get there 4+ from here on out.  I have to get over the hurdle.  I was in the committed club twice, and I'll get there again.  I hate that I've missed it for nearly 2 more months.  This week I went twice and the off days I went to PT.  So, it's not like I'm doing nothing. 

Since I'm not at the gym, I've put a little more focus on food.  Which might end up being the silver lining in this fiasco.  I'm forcing myself to get some control in the kitchen.

Week 3 after Surgery

The steri strips came off by themselves this week.  I'm super impressed with how great the scar looks.  It's very minimal. 

I had several PT appointments.  The first was great.  The second was less awesome.  On Friday it was swollen and sore.  She assured me that the next week is going to be worse because we are going to take out another wedge and possibly try walking with crutches.  I'm excited about both of those things.  I worked hard all weekend to get and keep the swelling down. 

All of my muscles are super sore.  Especially my hips.  Both in different ways.  I ended up getting a massage on Friday after PT.  I have a friend from Crossfit who is a massage therapist.  She did a great job. 

I slept really well on Friday and Saturday night.  And I took a really long nap on Saturday.  On Sunday, I felt AMAZING.  It's great to have some sleep finally.  I hope that maybe I've crossed that bridge and can get back to a normal amount of sleep each night. 

My amazing mom came over to change my sheets again and help me with some chores.  I'm so lucky to have her around! 

This coming week is an incredibly busy one.  I'm hosting a yard sale on Friday and Saturday.  I've got PT and a massage scheduled.  And I'm planning to get to the gym 3-4 times this week.  I only got there once last week because I was so sore and so very tired.  I'm optimistic for the coming week, because I had such good sleep the last 2 nights. 

Looking forward to making some progress this week.

Update

Last weekend was Labor Day and so I had a nice relaxing three day weekend.  Just kidding.  My mom and I went on the hunt for an inexpensive shower chair.  It seems ridiculous to have to pay $50 for a bench that goes in the shower.  I ended up finding a chair for $40.  Still more than I wanted to pay, but I really want to be able to shower too, so I bought it.  Injuries are expensive. She helped me put it together and haul it upstairs.  

Then she did the best thing anyone could have done.  She helped me change the sheets on my bed.  I changed them myself before the surgery and slept on the sofa for days.  I imagined how hard it would be to change the sheets while on crutches and non-weight bearing. I was right, it's hard. I'm not sleeping well and clean sheets are like sleeping pills for me, so I was hopeful that it would help me.  It didn't help much, but gosh it felt good.  

While she was helping me she saw the half started project in my craft area.  I had started to rearrange the sewing and craft room before I was injured.  Now it's difficult to move furniture so the project was on hold.  Mom made it her mission to help me get that done so that I can do some crafting.  It feels amazing to have that done.  Though it felt rotten to watch her do all the heavy lifting while I directed and hopped around.  I did all that I could do.  

By the end of Sunday, my foot was quite swollen.  I'd maybe done too much.  So I sat and relaxed a lot the rest of the evening and most of Monday.  I did get to go to a friends house for a bbq on Monday.  That was awesome!  

Yesterday, I had a teeth cleaning appointment and an appointment to finally get the implant tooth seated.  So now I have no more gap, where a tooth was pulled out.  The implant looks better than a crown, and it almost feels like I just have a tooth there.  I'm impressed.  

Wednesday, I was back at physical therapy.  I have to say, it's almost luxurious, so far.  I'm enjoying it.  I get a hot, moist, wrap around my foot for a while when I got there.  Then the PT spent a lot of time massaging my calf and ankle.  The scar tissue is adhered, so I have some instructions to do massage myself to help try to break the adhesions and get the skin gliding again.  There is only one tender spot.  It is below the scar, near where the tendon attaches to the ankle bone. 

we were able to remove on of the wedges from the boot.  So my foot is now a little closer to being flat.   There are 4 wedges in total.  

I tried to pick up marbles with my toes.  That was frustratingly difficult.  I didn't manage it.  Instead, my exercise is to "grab" a towel with my toes and drag it to me.  I was able to that better, but it was still no easy task.  My favorite exercise was when she had a board that rocked, and I was to push the toes down and then rock the heal down.  I could use the other foot to help push the heal down, and I got a really nice stretch from that.  I did another 15 minute ice compression session before leaving.  

I left today feeling much better than I did last week.  My progress is apparent and I'm certain that the 8 month time line is going to be too long.  I'm doing what I'm told, no more, and never less.  And I'll be going to PT religiously, until I'm walking again, at a minimum.  I'm looking forward to building up my squat again and jumping.  

My right leg is sore and tired.  I'm going to be focusing on that ankle quite a lot now too.  I do NOT want to do this with that leg.  

My shoulder is also feeling rotten now. I'm afraid that will slow me down a lot too, because all I can do right now is upper body.  I'll be doing a lot of Crossover Symmetry and some ROMWod stuff to get that worked out.