Oh. No wonder my ankle has been making me miserable the past two days.

Funny how some life changing events don’t seem to be so at the time.

When I fell on May 14th, I didn’t have a clue how much my life would change in the following months.

Of course there was being laid up for six weeks–that I knew when I came out of surgery–it was everything else that came as a surprise.

First, there is a lot of stuff going on that I’m not writing about, because it doesn’t involve just me, but one major thing is that my grandmother has been in Virginia with my aunt & uncle since the 16th of May, and while she was there she fell and broke her femur, and now we have no idea when (or if) she’ll return to Morgantown. That’s a major thing.

But there are little things as well.

I am a very active person (some might even classify me as hyperactive) so not being able to dash up and down the stairs or walk at warp speed is quite bizarre. And this led to the other unforeseen consequence: I gained weight, and it’s not coming off. It’s not a lot of weight, just enough that most of my pants are too tight and I need to go up a size, but since I was wearing nothing but skirts and sweats for six weeks, it did come as something of a shock. The fact I’m can’t get enough aerobic exercise to help me drop the weight was a little more unpleasant.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not obsessed about my weight, the most annoying thing is I need to buy new pants, and I hate shopping.

But this is the new normal for me.

I’m hesitant to mess with my diet too much, because the x-rays made it quite clear that I still have a lot of healing to do, and I am not going to do anything to jeopardize. So for now, I’m going to accept this as the way things are, and concentrate on doing what I need to so I can again run up and down the stairs and walk across the building at warp speed. Once I’ve reached that point, then I can worry about dropping a pants size.

After all, “If you haven’t got your health, then you haven’t got anything.”

$30 for the CD, and it was totally worth it.

Top three x-rays were from May 14th, the day I broke my ankle.

Bottom two images were from July 30th, 11 weeks after the break.

No wonder my ankle still aches–guess I still do have a broken ankle.

Yup, it’s been twelve weeks since I broke my ankle.

Hard to believe, really, especially considering everything that has happened in the interim.

I had a big ugly cast, then I had ugly stitches. Then I got an awesome boot to go with the ugly brace.

I got the stitches out, and was briefly held together with tape. Then I went to no tape, but still no walking.

Then I was able to walk, had PT, finished with PT, and finally started to get on with my life again.

And that’s how things look today. Somewhat depressingly, the swelling hardly seems less than before I started walking, however, these pictures were taken at the end of the day, and after a hot shower, so the swelling isn’t quite that bad normally.

The swelling and acheyness will be with me for at least six more months, but there are times when I manage to forget I have a broken ankle (since I had a visible fracture last week, I do believe it can still be considered broken).

Mostly, however, I’m grateful that I am recovering so quickly, and have such wonderful friends and family to support me.

It’s now been 11 weeks since I broke my ankle.

Had another doctor appointment this morning, including more x-rays.

There’s still a visible fracture in the x-ray, however, he wasn’t worried about it as he could see where the bone has been and is being rebuilt. I’ll still have to deal with pain & swelling for the next six to eight months, but that is completely normal. He said it’s also fine more me to keep taking OTC pain killers as needed, which was reassuring. Having never broken anything before, I’ve been having a hard time gauging what is an acceptable level of pain and recover and swelling. I’m glad to hear everything is normal.

We discussed the possibility of taking the hardware out of my ankle, but as that would require another surgery (and I’d be off my feet AGAIN I figure) he said I should be fine with things the way they are, however, if I discover the plate and screws are bothering me, they can be taken out.

I go back to see him the beginning of October, but he is happy with my progress, and so am I.

It’s now been 10 weeks since I broke my ankle.

During the first six weeks, I knew how long it had been precisely, because I knew how long it would be before the doctor would let me put weight on my foot. The days and weeks were interminable and it seems as if the day would never arrive when I could actually walk again.

The past four weeks have gone past almost in a blur. I had to go to the calendar and count the number of weeks, because I wasn’t certain precisely how long it had been.

That, strangely enough, makes the bad days harder. The first weeks of recovery crawled by and I was aware of the passing of every day. Now, time has resumed it’s normal course and every once in awhile I forget that I am healing from a broken ankle, which makes it all the more frustrating when I am forcefully reminded of this fact.

Be that as it may, I am still continuing to heal well. Stairs are an issue only when I’m very tired or sore, and I am almost back up to normal walking speeds.

The leg is still weak, however, and I still need to lose the weight I put on during six weeks of forced inactivity. But I’m getting there. I can do the work I need to and I will get back to normal.

I just have to be patient.

These are the graphs from the software that comes with my pedometer. Orange is aerobic steps, orange and blue (or just blue if there was no aerobic) shows the total steps for that day.

Hooray for progress!

Here’s May. (Note that this chart also shows that I was having a hard time with my depression, and skipping the gym when I should not have.) Can you tell what day I broke my ankle?

Then June:

Now July. (On the 7th I forgot to put on my pedometer. on the 10th it accidentally went into the washing machine. Oops.)

It has been just over eight weeks since I broke my ankle.

Monday I had my last official PT appointment; she said she had never seen someone recover as quickly as I have from the breaks I had.

Yes, I still have work to do–my leg is still weak, and my sense of balance could use some work, but those are things I can continue on my own. I can walk up and down stairs without difficulty or feeling as if I am going to fall; I can walk distances without exceptional discomfort.

No, things are not perfect. My ankle still aches, and I’m still occasionally taking Tylenol, and it will be another four weeks until the bone is completely mended, but I am extremely happy with the progress I have been making, and if I needed more encouragement to stay in shape, I’ve got it right here.

Today I had my first PT appointment since being able to put weight on my foot. Six weeks and three days after breaking my ankle, I’m cleared to walk without crutches.

Things aren’t perfect–I’m still rolling a bit to the outside of my foot when I’m tired, and I have a lot of strength to regain, but I am doing really well–in fact, Corrie (the PT) was shocked at how well I was doing.

So yeah, I still have swelling, and yeah I still have aching, but those can be easily treated and getting back to normal is probably the best way to put that behind me.

So, yay me!

…and that’s just what I’m doing.

Friday I was allowed for the first time since my accident to put weight on my foot–I’d come prepared to the doctor’s appointment and actually had a shoe with me, so I walked out of the office–albeit with two crutches.

Once back at the house, I quickly abandoned both crutches, determining I didn’t need them in the house, however, when we’ve gone out, I’ve taken one crutch, just to be safe. After all, this is Morgantown, and we are not known for flat, even ground.

I’m still taking pain-killers. My ankle is still swollen, and and it’s still a little achey, as are the muscles I haven’t used in a month and a half. Not only does the tylenol allow me to remain comfortable, but when the aches recede into the background it is easier for me to make sure I am walking correctly–not limping or using a strange gait that would place strain upon my knees or hips.

I have to admit I’m a bit worried about how long I’ve been taking the pain-killers, but being able to walk normally without picking up an bad habits is important.

I broke my ankle.

Today, I’m back on two feet and walking!

HUZZAH!

Even ice hasn’t brought the swelling down very much.

I see the last percoset in my future tonight.

Spent most of today with my foot propped up, trying not to go stir crazy.

I am normally a very active person, and this enforced stillness is Not Fun. It was easy when I was on the pain meds and they made my sleepy, but I haven’t taken any pain medication (at all) since yesterday afternoon, so I’m not groggy and sitting still is… difficult.

I’m looking into exercise I can do that won’t put any weight on my lower leg, and I ordered a yoga mat & a (non-latex) resistance band so I can do crunches and other exercises, and if worse comes to worse I’ll ask the doc for a PT referral to so I can see about getting some exercise training from them.

Otherwise, I spent the day going through and processing the almost 200 pictures I have from yesterday (I’d say I pitched about 40 for being blurry or just plain horrible). I’m learning to manipulate white balance and tone, and that did a lot to improve some of the pictures I already thought were pretty good. Yay!

Pretty good, all things considered!

I am still looking at four more weeks before I am allowed to put any weight on it, but the range of motion is very good, and the swelling and bruising have receded quite a bit!
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