Week Seven: Where there's a Will, there's a Way!

Hello Physical Therapy

The last post ended with me stewing about not being able to wear the boot.  Well, it turns out I didn't have to!  Dr. Royer called twice the next day to check on me (yes, it was actually him that called), and we discussed the problem and the options. He said that he would go ahead and put me in a sturdy tennis shoe and start Physical Therapy and have them massage and do ultrasound on the problem area in my foot for pain relief.  Funny thing was...after I got into the shoe, I didn't have the pain anymore!  Is that not weird?  There is no explanation as to why that happened, but there was a huge difference from the boot to the shoe.

New Balance 927 Walking Shoe

I am going to the Tom Landry Center @ Baylor Hospital in Dallas for my Physical Therapy three times a week.  After this week's therapy, my foot is beginning to somewhat loosen up where it was "stiff as a brick" before.  It gets sore afterward, but a good sore. I don't push it - I go home and elevate and ice on and off for the rest of the afternoon.  The muscles, ligaments and tendons are manipulated like they haven't moved in two years.  Plus, I have a bonus!  I have two PT's working on me.  Hallie is going to school at UT Southwestern and she is my PT's assistant while she gets her degree.

They are twisting, turning and pointing my foot down and then up as far as I can go, turning from side to side as far as it can go, and pushing against a little resistance.  There is a round turntable on the floor that I put my foot on and make circles. (It's harder than it looks.)  After I finish with about 6 different kinds of exercises, the good part comes - the massage  - and it does feel delightful on a sore, achy foot.  I can point my toes now and they have me walking, and training my foot to walk like it's supposed to.  I have hardly any flexion in the bottom but a lot of that is due to the swelling and lack of use for so long.  When I left today, I said a prayer of thanks that Dr. Royer made the decision to go ahead with Physical Therapy now.

It's strange in a way how I'm running into people who are having major ankle problems.  When I was in the waiting room at Dallas Orthopedics, a man came around to people with rollabouts and walkers asking, "Have you had an ankle replacement"?  The lady next to me said, "She has!" and pointed to me.  He sat down and wanted to know everything!  He has been hesitant because he has heard of ankle replacements with the center incision on the lower leg and foot, the recuperation time of being in bed for 2-3 weeks and the pain afterwards.  I assured him that for me, there was no question that I was going to have this done.  I had hit a wall with the pain and limitation, so I was eager and ready to go.  He seemed really glad that we talked and said I made him feel a lot better.

There have been some emails from people who are getting almost disabled and are asking questions as well as this blog getting out there with information.  I wish I had stumbled across a blog before I had my surgery, but you know what?  It's an adventure and I expect the very best

Then and Now

You can see the massive amount of hardware in the photo on the left after my original fracture. In the photo on the right, is my brand new STAR replacement - what a difference!