Ankle Arthroscopy ( Physical Therapy Day 1)

The first day of physical therapy saw another small storm system drop a few more inches of heavy wet snow onto the area which was just enough for me to call and confirm that the therapist’s office was open.

After I received confirmation that the appointment was still on I looked at the clock and realized that I would be cutting it close with the additional hurtle of removing all of the new snow off of our car.

But then I always haven an ace when it comes to snow, and since my wife wasn’t going to work she obliged me with getting my act together so that we made it there on time.

You know how you talk to someone and a little bit of them and then a little bit of you will trickle out into the details?

This was the case of our conversation with the receptionist, a stylish lady who gave me a glimpse of her past which happened to coincide with my present, which showed me yet again just how small the world really is.

Onto my therapist, who was working as a “stand in” (if you will), for the person I will be assigned to for the remainder of my P.T. sessions.

An auburn haired and bespectacled gem that was quite the character in her own right, she simplified the process for someone like me who doesn’t always pick up on the subtle hints on how to heal.

She was wonderful as she quickly identified and entertained the fact that I am the sum total of a child yet still trapped in a man’s body and that it takes a fair amount of scolding for me to get the point of what I need to do for recovery.

In her paisley “Dansko’s” she took measurements of my ankles to show me what I needed to work on and just how much range of motion I had lost, and then before I knew it she had given me some home work for “range of motion" exercises and sent me on my way.

(Many people in this process have told me that I needed to do these things, this therapist was the first to explain to me the "why"...)

In the amount of time that it took me to gather myself and put my “Robo-boot” back on, my wife and several of the therapist had conspired to restrain me from what I would like to and developed a plan to make me focus on what I had to do to recover.

This story continues with the fact that while I have had a common surgery with a common recovery, I have met some uncommon people along the way…

Steve

The "goniometer" used to measure "range of motion" for my ankle

Ankle Arthroscopy (Day 7) "The Waiting Game"

Seven days in, I expected this post to come at around 2 weeks, but here I am sitting on my duff having completed my mandatory "range of motion" exercises for the day with the rubber band that I smuggled out of the wife's work out room...(Ok she surrendered it willingly)

Between exercises I couldn't resist stretching the band to its full length like a bow with my ankle then launching it at my dogs who went crazy at the sound of it flying across the room.

Looking at my foot and ankle I’m really surprised at how much bruising there is. For whatever reason I did’t think about bruising when it came to the surgery and afterwards.

The Doctor indicated that the femoral block would get me “over the hump” for the majority of the post-Op pain, but I’m experiencing some pretty good shots of it throughout the day.

I was working on something at the house and accidentally folded my toe into the hardwood floor and it crippled me to ground in seconds, pretty severe, and unexpected to say the least.

But being down with an injury doesn’t mean that one is out, and I managed to find a few old CD’s which led to an impromptu jam session and some “Random Acts of Dancing” as I boogied peg leg style. (Picture the scene in Forrest Gump where he starts dancing to Elvis Presley’s guitar playing)

 ”You got new legs Lieutenant Dan”!!!