Day 50 - First time without an ankle brace!

Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 - Week 15

Today was the first day I went without an ankle brace! I woke up and felt even more better as each day passes. I was less stiff and did a few warm up movements before stepping out of bed. I was able to walk to my car without crutches, which I have been doing the past few days, and still brought a crutch to get to work in case I got tired at the end of the day. So far so good! Once the end of my work day came, I started to feel more tired and limpy. Yes, I still have this undeniable limp. My steps still look a bit wobbly. I just need to keep reminding myself to flex my right thigh when taking a step and the limp sort of goes away.

I started to massage my top of the leg next to my scar more. Since yesterday's physical therapy session with Serena, you can see, feel, and notice that it's a bit swollen and stiff. It feels a bit like a bruise on that area too. It is also a bit stiff and hard. After massaging it out, I do feel sore. You can see a bit of the swelling to the right of my scar just above my top arch. Notice also the tiny little bulge under my ankle, that is the part where I feel the tender bruise most whenever I walk. There's still pressure there. On the top of my ankle, you can sort of see a little bulge/indent, that's where the metal end begins. I've already put on some Cocoa Butter and continue the Chinese medicine. I will continue to massage my foot and scar, as well as keeping up with my ankle exercises everyday. I look forward to my pool class tomorrow!

Day 42 - Able to sort of walk around without CRUTCHES!!!

Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013 - Week 14

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I'm am having a great start to this new year! Since a few days ago, I've been able to get around the house without crutches! However, I do still have a bit of a limp, but I am able to walk around very slowly! I've really missed driving and have been doing more of it.

I went in to my physical therapy follow up appointment with my original physical therapist Colleen. I can't believe it has been a month and a week since I her in my first appointment. I've made so much progress since! She started with my ankle measurements and went straight into massaging the ankle. It felt sooo good. After massaging, we did another measurement and of course I was more warmed up and flexible. 

Next, she had me walk without crutches to see how I was doing. So far so good, but still a bit unbalanced on the right ankle. She said I can graduate from not using crutches whenever I can but bring them with me in case I get tired. YAY!

Colleen reviewed my past exercises and would like me to start more balancing exercises. She moved me on from using the towel ankle stretching to standing leg and ankle stretches. This feels really good. 

She gave me 5 more exercises, another one was the toe and heel raises. This one feels really good too. I'll show the other exercises in my next post. More homework! I just have to keep walking to get use to not relying on crutches now. After today's session, I was a bit sore and got some ice to relieve some of the heat around my ankle. Great start to this year! I'm so happy!

Day 37 - Fourth Pool Class

Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 - Week 13

It's my fourth Pool Class! I drove myself to class again =) This makes my 4th day driving and I had no issues. I was still sore from walking around in 1 crutch grocery shopping and walking around the mini mall by my house yesterday. This time, I used the stairs to get into the pool. Serena taught me a few new exercise moves and this time around I was able to walk around the entire pool circle during warm up. The shallow side on the left I was able to manage and was strong enough to hold myself up without any issues. However, Serena preferred I say in the right side of the pool, deeper end so I don't hurt myself just to be safe. 45 minutes of class is enough, I was starting to turn into a prune after just 30 minutes!

I looked at my chicken leg again and it seems like the muscles are starting to come back! Serena said it would take about 8 weeks for it to fully come back. It's been about 5 weeks now, Nov. 21 was the day I got my cast off. You can still see the bruise on my right inside ankle. I think that just will never go away. There is still a bit of swelling on the top of the right foot arch too. I wonder if that will ever go down over time? I'll see what 8 weeks will look like soon. I've got my entire January of appointments set up for twice a week physical therapy. Serena said I may not need anymore Pool Classes by end of January? It'll be just all land sessions there on out. We'll see...


            Nov. 21                                           Dec. 17                                  Dec. 28

Day 35 - Graduated to using one crutch!

Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012 - Week 13

Today marks my 8th physical therapy session. I woke up early, felt great, and drove myself to physical therapy for my 9am appointment! What a great Christmas gift to myself! I felt completely fine. I arrived 15 minutes early and enough time to warm up on the bike. Serena, my physical therapist, started me on standing exercises. More stretches using the rubber band, massage, and stepping on the half yoga ball balancing. Again, more measurements to see how much I have improved on my movement and still the side to side movements are still not quite there yet and stiff. Then she asked me how much I'm walking, and wanted to see me walk. Said that I may try one crutch so she can see how well balanced I am. You can definitely still tell my leg is weak, but I can put about 80% weight on the foot and walking quite well. She graduated me to using 1 crutch in non busy areas! If I do go to the mall, I should use 2 crutches to be safe. I'm so excited! First the driving, now the 1 crutch! New years is next Tuesday, I wonder how well I'll feel then. My goal to walk without crutches is near. Almost there!

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!!!