Day 126 - Y Balance Test and JUMPING for the first time!

Wednesday, Mar. 27, 2013 - Week 26

Everyday I still wake up and feel the stiffness around my ankle. However, it is going away. I notice that my ankle movements from left to right at now less pinch like feeling. There's more flexibility. My limping is close to gone! I would say when I do get a bit tired, you can see about a 10% limp by the end of the day.

I was told to go in 15 minutes early for my session today to do my Y Balance Test with Oliver, my pool class assistant! I was so nervous! Actually, there was nothing to be nervous about. It is just a measurement of how balanced I am now as a bench mark to test how I will be once we are near complete with Physical Therapy. I do 3 of each by balancing and moving the slider with my foot on the block as far as I can get it, and they keep the highest measurements of each reach. Colleen saw the results and was very pleased how well I did.

Then, she asked me to do some 2 legged hops! And then 1 legged hops on each foot! When it came to my right ankle, I was already nervous. I told her I've gained a few lb's since I last saw her haha. I feel heavy! So I did a few hops and it is very obvious my jumps are very week, my leg is still not strong enough and there was a TON of pressure every time I landed. I did about 4 hops and towards the end I started feeling a hard fast pinch around the right ankle area. It wasn't good...=(   But I did some JUMPING today and was somewhat able to! I was happy about that! As usual, we reviewed my other exercises she gave me from my last session 2 weeks ago. It was nice to have a week off! She then brought up the idea of me to try out one Total Body Fitness class held here next Tuesday! I can continue to take the classes to improve my joint movement and can get personal assistance as the classes are small to help with my healing process. I'm so excited! She said she attends those classes too and will see her there.   

She then gave me a new Green Band! So many new things today, it was a very fun session for me. 

This green band is used for ankle sidesteps and forward and back kicks, image examples below.  I definitely feel my legs burning while doing these exercises. It made me sweat! It was funny at first because there is so much resistance I told Colleen it feels like I'm in shackles haha!

Tomorrow March 28th, 2013 would make it exactly 6 months six I had my surgery! Spring showers are coming and I can definitely feel the cold and rain coming. It's this weird pinch I get. I can't wait to get to my next 6 months and see where I am with my recovery!

Day 123 - Exactly 6 months since injury

Sunday, Mar. 24, 2013 - Week 25

It has been 6 months to the exact day since my injury! I can't believe how fast time flew by. This was my first week without going to Physical Therapy. I feel so free and happy! I woke up feeling very good today. I'm noticing I am walking faster and feel stronger in the ankle and leg. I start the day without a limp pretty much. My days still end with a slight limp. I feel that my ankle is now able to rotate more without as much pressure or stiffness. The pinch feeling is going away as well. I do still get tired after standing and walking after a few hours. I'm also getting fat haha. Now that I am able to get out and walk more, I am also going out to eat more! I need to get back in shape and continue my core workouts. I can't wait to be able to run again! It'll be a faster way for me to lose my weight. I'll have to continue with my stationary bike at home for cardio exercise. I wonder when I will be able to ride a bike again too... I will update once I am able to for sure!

Day 111 - PT appts. moved to every other week!

Tuesday, Mar. 12, 2013 - Week 24

This morning I woke up still sore from the long weekend of walking and from my friend's 4 year old son jumping around and accidentally stepping on my ankle! I screamed in pain! I started the day today with a bit of a limp, well it's pretty much everyday haha. 

I see Colleen and do the usual review of a few exercises she gave me last week. This time she brought out a mat that measures my balance abilities. Amazed how much I'm progressing every week she sees me, she now gave me a few new exercises to now help my joint movement. They also help to exercise my core. Below shows the 3 new exercises. 

First one is the knee to wall up and down movements 10 each. 

Second one is leg straight and ankle touching each corner while pushup from the wall for 10 each. 

Final one is with my knee bent and moving my hip from one side to the next while pushup from the wall and making a half circle motion for 10. 

Since I have about only 2 more weeks of my handicap placard, I asked Colleen if I still needed an extension. She said No because I need to walk and should not need it anymore. I was so sad and happy to hear that haha. Sad because I won't get the great parking anymore and happy that I need to not be lazy and need to walk more. Then she says, because I did so well on my balance measurements on the mat, we'll be moving our PT sessions to once every other week! It was like music to my ears! When I come back next time, she said that we may have someone test me again this time on the balance measurements to see how I've progressed with the time I am using to exercise at home. Then in about 3 weeks or so, she wants to get me to start jumping! Then possibly running on a treadmill with weight assist because I showed interest in running again. Ahhh I'm nervous and excited at the same time! I can't believe that next week will be the first week in about 5.5 months I will not be going to the hospital! I'm so happy! I finally get a break!

Day 105 - TRX and Half Yoga Ball tired me out

Wednesday, Mar. 6, 2013 - Week 23

I woke up a bit sore from my exercises yesterday. This time I had a lunch session. I was starving! Colleen had me try some new balancing exercises today. I primarily used the TRX and the half yoga ball. Below is an image example of some balancing exercises I did on the TRX. I did some side stepping, squats, toe raises, and push ups. This really made me sweat. The stretches felt really good though. The top of my foot had some crunching in almost every bending movement I make.

Another new exercise Colleen showed me today were balancing exercises on the half yoga ball. I also did some arm rope pulls on the wall while standing on the half yoga ball. I also did some squats, side balancing step ups alternating my feet at a 45 degree angle. 

My calf is slowly gaining muscle and getting close to the same size as my other calf. I wonder how much longer it will take before I finally get there. I was extremely sore today and clearly I have a heavy limp.

Day 102 - Able to walk on sand (sort of) for the first time!

Sunday, Mar. 3, 2013 - Week 22

My friend picked me up today to have a doggy date with Cooper, the 7 month old Australian Shepard puppy. It was my friends first time going to Ft. Funston as well as my first time back to that place since I got injured! First time back at the beach! It's dog heaven there! So many dogs, a beach, hiking trails, sand dunes, dogs off leash allowed, and great relaxing scenery! We got there around 10:45am and walked around the entire park and beach until about 1:30pm. I was nervous at first because sand is so uneven and there were a lot of bark and rocks too which was unsafe for my unstable ankle. I wanted to see if I could do it and to my surprise I felt good. Stepping on sand felt like I was just stretching my ankles. I felt a bit of pressure in really soft sand. I was just afraid to fall when walking on steep hills. I really had to becareful and watched every step I took. It felt great to be back, it was such a great destresser.

Pebbles wasn't awake yet. That lazy dog usually wakes up around lunch time. She hung out mostly around my friend and I while Cooper ran wild haha. My friend said it's because he only goes there once a month. After this long walk, I felt the soreness coming around my ankle. I was definitely tired. Once I got home, I immediately began to fall asleep and fell into a short nap. My limping came back and it got more sore towards the end of the night. I shouldn't have walked for that long. I may have overworked my ankle. I'll be more careful and take shorter walks next time. At least I took a mini break in the middle of my walk. However, I felt so happy to be out and about again. So happy to be back at Ft. Funston. Pebbles needs some exercise too haha.