My ankleversary was August 7th.Today I had my final visit with my orthopedic surgeon ,sans cute resident goslings alas. As far as he is concerned everything is great and for the most part it is. It’s been one year since my tumble down the stairs and I’ve managed not to re break it in spite of the fact that I’ve a. managed to do the traditional trip over nothing on the sidewalk more than once and b. survived being shoved behind by a t-shirt toting tourist and on stairs no less. I “celebrated” the anniversary by going to yoga class.
So now it’s been a year lets revisit what I and my friends refer to as the unfortunate incident. I never thought I’d be the proud owner of not one but two walkers; a quad cane; crutches and a bath seat. Due to superstition I’ve decided to keep them. I figure as long as I have them I won’t break anything again but as soon as I get rid of them – well then, doncha know I’ll need them again. Besides the walkers have come in handy – I’ve lent them out twice.
I think of the recovery process in stages – phase one was the initial three weeks post break/surgery and probably the phase I was the most pathetic. Before the incident I was an okay exerciser, I made sure I got in at least 10,000 steps per day; rode my bike to/from work; went to the gym to weight train at least twice a week and had been taking a yoga class for six months. Post incident initially I was totally helpless, if my husband forgot to put a cereal bowl and food on the counter at approximately waist height then I was doomed. I literally could not even stand up long enough to grab a bowl from the overhead cabinets.
Then I got the hard cast off (phase 2) and got on the soft walking cast it was a tiny slice of heaven. I could actually move so much freely through the house. Unfortunately I could also go back to work and I did so with the help of my trusty scooter. Getting the scooter off and on the back of my car was pretty darn scary at times as we had actual slick pavement even here in California. Thanks to a very good friend helping me though I made it through that phase.
Eventually I got the walking boot off (phase 3) and probably entered my greatest depressive phase because I walked with a limp, a really bad limp which did not seem to get better and which also seemed to alarm my physical therapist. Trust me when your PT looks worried this is not reassuring. This is also when I had a minor setback in terms of getting my workers comp to pay for and authorize more than six PT visits. Eventually they did okay a total of 12. When I finished PT my gait still wasn’t great and my therapist thought I needed more – sadly that was not to be due to insurance restrictions. However, I had started going back to yoga as soon as Hermann the boot was off and after several months of downward do and triangle pose (neither one of which are my favorites) I feel like I’ve got most of the motion back in my ankle and I don’t limp like Quasimodo anymore.
I’m now in phase 4, the rest of my life post incident phase, and while I’ve yet to get my gym going, weight training Der Kommandant mojo back I have started biking regularly again and even braved a “deathmarch” aka flow yoga class a few times. I did discover last week though that running ever again is probably not going to be an option. After an hour of walking on the treadmill I decided to do a 5 minute test run. Bad idea – for days afterward the plate side of my leg felt tender to the touch and I had to go back to wearing my fashion plate black compression socks – yowza! I do have the occasional swelling in my ankle still and we won’t even discuss the plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendonitis in both feet which may or may not be a result of bad gait during the initial boot off phase. All I can say for those of you in the earlier stage of your ankle recovery, it does get better, but it can be a bumpy ride so grit your teeth and hang on. Yep I know that advice is really annoying when you aren’t there yet but trust me you too will eventually be singing I will survive at the top of your lungs.
I also have to say it wasn’t all bad, I did learn how to stream shows on my computer and spend a lot of time with my elderly, very faithful cat friend who stayed with me day after day. I also have to acknowledge and thanks “the saint” who carted me around town wheel chair and all; sat through several crying jags and who was just generally extremely patient. Thanks as well to all those friends who called, e-mailed and cajoled and allowed themselves to be seen in public with a lady with a walker and really ugly pants.
