Day 325 - 1 Year Surgery Anniversary!

Saturday, September 28, 2013 - Week 53

Happy 1 Year Surgery Anniversary to me!!!

It's been exactly 1 year since I've had ankle surgery! I still have my plate and 9 screws in my ankle! My ankle feels great today! No limping, no pinching, no discomfort, no tiredness, no soreness, no swelling, and most importantly no pain! No matter what, this feeling of something squeezing my ankle lightly will never go away. It is because of the hardware inside that is stretching out my skin.  Today I celebrate what I have gone through to get back to close to 100%, and feel like I am still progressing with healing.  

I will never forget the day I broke it and the wait to get surgery 4 days later. And the unknown feeling of getting back to my normal self. It was the most nerve wrecking feeling in my life! I am here now and feel as normal as I can ever feel. I am just glad I do not walk with a limp! The only unknown now is how I will feel 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now. at my 8 months mark, my surgeon did ask me if the hardware bothers me enough to hinder my everyday activities, I do have the option to remove it. I decided at that moment, the hardware did not bother me enough to remove it. Today, I can say I don't even feel it on my ankle which is amazing to say =)

I remember how hard it was to even go grocery shopping, I felt bad for taking up isle space from people and it was a huge hassle to get in and out of anything like cars, shower, and handicap shopping carts with the use of crutches. I don't miss that at all!

Today, my right calf is still a bit atrophied and not quite equal size to my left calf. 

I continue to do my stationary biking exercises at home for my cardio workout. One day I will go back to running on the track and hope to not be so sore. So far so good! I still do my ABC ankle exercises and often massaging my ankle at the end of the day.  

Dit Da Jow is still my friend, I continue to use it almost everyday. The entire year, I have swelled up only twice! Once hiking in hawaii for 2 hours, and an entire day of walking vacationing in NYC from 9:30am - 3am! I am actually shocked I haven't swelled up from running or other activities. It's mostly from very long walks or being on my feet for too long over a period of days from traveling. 

I am excited to be able to wear heels once again! The only downfall is that I can only wear wedged heels, no more stilettos. I would be too nervous to wear those and it doesn't feel comfortable or stable enough to support my ankle. I am still very cautious even in wedge heels. Must be careful! I can't break my ankle a 3rd time now. It would sadden my grandparents and mom. They were afraid I would never walk normal again after this second major break. (First one was on the same ankle with a heel hairline fracture, and torn ligaments on the same area on top of my foot, and was in a walking boot.) Seeing me in a cast really freaked them out. 

Whew, what a year! Moving forward and looking forward to how I will feel months from now. Cheers to myself! 

Day 305 - First time back to playing Softball "was how I broke my ankle..."

Sunday, September 8, 2013 - Week 50

I got a text this morning at 9:45 am to go play Softball at Gellert Park! It was my first time at this park and it was so nice! The weather was perfect too! I love this Indian Summer weather. We didn't play a game but just took turns hitting and catching. Softball was how I broke my ankle!!! I was excited and nervous at the same time. Excited because I missed hitting and catching, nervous about running on the uneven grass...

When I was hitting, I can feel a bit of pressure on the ankle when I turn to swing. I wasn't in pain but it was just a new feeling for me. Twisting the ankle to swing does feel a bit funny. I was so excited to use my gear again! It has been sitting in the closet since my injury. 

I definitely feel the sore coming on the ankle and in my arms. I will use my Dit Da Jow to get rid of the sore. September 24, 2013 will mark my one year since injury! I can't believe it's been almost a year. Time really flew. Being on the field reminded me I just graduated from Physical Therapy just in May! I'm getting back into sports slowly. Had a lot of fun today! Thanks for the invite friend. I'll be back to play again!

Day 201 - Ran on a track for the first time!

Sunday, June 9, 2013 - Week 36

It has been about 3 weeks since I ran! And this time I tried running on a track! I was ready and so excited to. I am following my Running Progression homework the best I can. 

I went to Kezar Stadium to run. The last time I was here was back in High School 1999 for track meets! I was excited to be here! It would be the first time I ran outdoors.

 

I stayed for about an hour from 12-1pm. I lasted running continuously for about 2.5 laps before I started to feel tired. I stayed in lane 3 the entire run. Then every lap after, I ran 3/4 of the lap and walked a corner for the rest of my 10 laps. Ended with a walking lap cool down. That was about 3 miles of running without any issues! No pain or pinching at all! I was just tired because it was the first time back at running since 3 weeks ago. And oops, I sort of missed the run straight, walk corners as mentioned in the Running Progression sheet Colleen gave me. I felt strong and ok to run it all. It was very exciting to run through the corners.

I think I did pretty good. My running position seemed fine, not wobbly, no duck waddling either. I felt pretty good at a comfortable jogging pace. No strenuous, or fast running pace. The entire time I stayed on lane 3. Brought back a ton of memories running pass the areas where I high jumped, long jumped, running the 200, hurdles, and relay. I was so happy to be able to even run without any pain. I get to breathe that fresh air again and to back to running outside! Towards the end of the night, I started to feel sore on the legs and a bit achy. But not in pain! My ankle felt like it is swollen but it doesn't look swollen at all. I started to develop a tiny little limp towards the end of the day but it's not really noticeable. However, I do feel really tired right now. I am still using the Chinese medicine, Dit Da Jow, every night. It should get rid of any achy feeling by morning. It's time for bed. Good night! 

Day 157 - Discovered ankle socks bothers me

Friday, April 26, 2013 - Week 30

I woke up feeling sore today! But sore on the thighs and not in the ankle surprisingly form running last night. I'm so happy! I discovered that ankle socks bothers my ankle. It cuts off my circulation and a bit of swelling builds up. I feel this pinching pain whenever I wear ankle socks but realized it more then usual last night. It's like I can feel the metal protruding out of my ankle against my ankle bone more with the sock over it. Pretty uncomfortable. Once I moved the sock down I felt free and my limping went away. Here's what my ankle looks like, you can see the sock crease and the bit of swelling from the top view. You can see a bit of swelling from the top view too. It aggravates my hardware area. 

My grandma gave me a new bottle of Chinese medicine, the stinky Dit Da Jow does wonders! I feel fine the next day after a workout. It keeps the aches away! This big bottle costs only $6.50 bought from Chinatown. I love it!

Day 91 - Half Foam Roller Exercises

Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 - Week 21

I had a great week of recovery! I found another way to describe what I feel in the ankle. So when you squeeze you arm, that's pretty much how I felt everyday. Then every step I take, it would be an added squeeze to the arm. Just a lot of pressure really is what I feel now. The bruising feeling has narrowed down even more and almost gone. I'd say I have about 10% of this feeling left. My limping is also going away. I am able to get out of bed without stretching now, but it is still a bit stiff. 

It's been a week since my last Physical Therapy session! I came in thinking, this is my last 2 scheduled appointments! I hope I don't get anymore. Again I was 5 minutes early so I stepped on to the Elliptical to warm up. Colleen came to fetch me and went straight to a bed to get my shoes off and jumped right in with my usual survey on how I am doing and feeling. Next I did some of my usual balance exercises and I've clearly improved on standing on just my right foot bearing all of my body weight. I was able to balance and hold my body up longer. Colleen said that I may be able to join in on some balance type classes they hold there. She would decide after my entire session to see how I am managing with these new balancing exercises. I was asked to stand on my right foot alone to do some toe raises. I was not even able to do 1 just last week. This week, I was able to sort of do 10! My bending motion is still stiff on the top of my foot. Next she had me do toe squats and I was able to hold my body up with her supporting my hands. 

One fun new exercise she had me do was the Half Foam Roller exercises. This was all new to me and it was the first time I've seen anything like this. It was so interesting to me. One of the exercises, I placed my heels on it with socks on and did squats. I also stepped on it, flat side under my one foot and held on to a ski stick for support to balance. Then alternated sides I felt the stretch around the ankle and it felt good. This actually relieved a lot of pressure off my heels. It felt good and very comfortable. I liked this one a lot. 

After my entire session, sadly I was still struggling with a bit of balance and needed more leg strengthening exercises. She preferred I continue to see her so I can get more personal 1:1 time. I felt sore after all these exercises and got my bag of ice. So I left and went to the front desk to schedule in 3 more weeks. I wonder what new exercises I will get to try for next week. It was a really fun day today. Colleen was very impressed with my progress and said that I will heal up just fine and will eventually be able to go back to playing Softball if I wanted. I said, probably not haha!

I got home and continued to use my Chinese Medicine (Dit Da Jow) my grandma gave me. I've already used up more then half the bottle. I feel like it has removed the aching for me. I guess it really works!

Day 33 - Exactly 3 months since injury and I tried driving today!!!

Monday, Dec. 24, 2012 - Week 13

Ohhhh my gosh! It's been exactly 3 months since my injury! I'll never forget the day, Sept. 24, 2012 around 7pm when it happened playing softball. =(   Today, I had a good feeling about my foot strength and really felt ready to drive. Lucky the rain stopped today. It was also sunny and warm out. It was pouring for the last few days. So I went ahead and tried to go around the block. I still used my crutches to get to the car. Got myself in and played around with stepping on the pedals. Got the car ready and then I went! I felt completely fine! I was soooo excited, I drove myself to Trader Joe's to buy some groceries hahaha! I went around the store with 1 crutch on one side and carrying the bin to shop in the other hand. I can now drive myself to Physical Therapy and to work! What a great Christmas gift to myself. I was hoping I'd be off crutches by New Years, we'll see when next week comes. =) I can't believe it! I continue to use the chinese medicine "Dit Da Jow" and do my ankle exercises. I'm getting better by the day and sure feel it. Soooo happy!!!

Day 10 - Chinese medicine for my ankle!

Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 - Week 9

My calf is still so tiny haha. Chicken leg! At least the swelling has gone down and no more burning sensation. I still have a tiny bruise on the inside ankle where the dislocation happened. The torn ligaments around that area and the top of my arch is still a bit stiff.

My mom dropped by yesterday with some food and some Chinese Medicine. I grew up using this Dit Da Jow and never read what was in the ingredients. Haha, today I learned something new. Reading this made me laugh out loud! It has a really potent smell and is suppose to heal me faster.