Latest update…I don’t have a pot on my leg any more!
On Thursday I went into the hospital for a check up. The consultant had a look at my ankle, gave it a waggle and concluded I was safe to lose the pot and replace it with a great big removable boot instead! And the best bit…without the pot, I now don’t need to be injected with blood thinning drugs on a daily basis to prevent me from getting blood clots and having a heat attack or stroke…I seriously hate injections! But an absolutely huge thanks to Anna who has taken great fun in stabbing me in the belly every day for the last month and a bit.
My achilles tendon is now stitched together and getting stronger by the day. But because I have had absolutely zero movement below the left knee for over a month, my muscles have atrophied and everything is now super stiff and tight.
Fun fact: we measured the circumference of my calves…the left is a good 3cm smaller than my right.
One of the first things I did when I got home was soak my foot in the bath. There was a months worth of dead skin still attached and I needed to shed it all like a snake! And ever since then, I’ve been putting tons of moisturiser on…It’s getting there!
Anyway. With the removable boot, I can now walk about without my crutches. The boot totally supports my ankle, stops any damaging movement happening to it. But I still can’t move with any speed at all. In fact, because I’m this way inclined, I measured my speed before and after, and while I can now walk unaided, I’m exactly the same speed as when I hobbled about on just one leg! But that’s OK, because the basic practicalities of life are orders of magnitude better and easier without the crutches.
And while walking without the boot is totally impossible at the moment, it does mean I can start to do some basic rehab work on the ankle. I’m just waiting for my first physio appointment to come through. In the meantime I been trying to get some more movement from my ankle. I’ve quickly worked out that all these stretches need to be done incredibly slowly and gradually. I have a fair range of motion in the ankle, but it needs a good minute or so to go from one end to the other. I know that will improve over time, but I don’t mind admitting my stomach turns when I feel it stretching…
And I tried my first bit of “strength” work! Looping the lightest band I have around my toes and pushing it away…wow! It was quite disheartening how weak it was. In my head I’ve always known it would be weak, but actually experiencing this weakness really brought it home. But that’s ok. Because in my head, I know for a fact that as long as I stick to it (just like I tell all my clients), it will improve. I got to keep telling myself, it’s not about what I can do in this session, it’s about keeping on trying again and again, and stringing all these sessions together. If we do this, we will improve.