An Innocent Stroll

Oops, I walked!

Last night my dad and I had just finished playing a couple hands of Spite and Mallice, one of our favorite card games.  After winning both games my father victoriously headed upstairs to bed. I plopped down onto my comfy oversized chair and turned on the tube (I'm dating myself with the word tube...) and I saw the headlines. "Osama bin Laden is dead!".  I excitedly hopped out of my chair and headed straight for the stairs as I wanted to go up and give my father the news.  It wasn't until I reached the stairs and placed my hand on the bannister that I realized that I had left my crutches behind.  I had walked!  Granted, it was only eight or nine steps, but I had walked nevertheless.  Feeling exhilarated, I walked back to where I had been relaxing to retrieve my crutches, so I could crutch up the stairs.  I went against doctor's orders, however it was purely innocent and without guilt.  Breaking the rules never felt so good!  Osama dies, then I walk for the first time in seven weeks. I walk for the first time in years, without pain. There must be a connection here.... I like to think that it signifies new beginnings.  New beginnings for us all.  Cheers everyone!

I went to see Nick, my physical therapist, today.  This was my second appointment, and already there is improvement in my ROM. Yipppeeee!  My dorsiflexion went from 2 degrees to 10, my plantar flexion went from 20 to 25!  In my physical therapy 101 post I said that my plantar was 6 degrees.  I was wrong, but in a good way.  It was actually 20.  Degrees are tiny measures, and that's fine. I'm happy to reclaim my life in tiny steps.  Today we worked on strecthing and again it felt soooo good.  I do stretch at home, but there's a lot to be said for having someone do it for you, just feels better.  We worked on getting my toes back to working order, they're stiff and I can barely bend my big toe. I do feel discomfort in my extensor tendon, the giant one extending from the big toe.  With my toe stretching exercises I expect to see and feel an improvement shortly.  Nick said that when we meet again on Wednesday we are going to start some strengthening exercises.  I asked him if that is when I will start hating him and he said "not yet, that'll come later."  :)

All in all it's been a fabulous couple of days.  I put a call in to my doctor to inquire about the possibility of starting to use one crutch instead of two.  It's not that I'm trying to rush things, even though I am impatient, and you already know that....I really feel ready to take the next step in my recovery.  Ready to move things along, get the wheel turning, you know what I mean. 

Here's to pain free living everyone, sending my best wishes to you all!

Have a beautiful day, and thanks for reading.

~Suzanne
Update:  I've transitioned to one crutch, feels great, things are moving right along.