Progress Report

For those who've been wondering how the healing progress on my ankle is coming along, I'll tell you that yesterday I went for a walk (!!), outside in the real world, on my own two feet, for the first time in almost two months! I still need to wear the walking boot since my foot isn't ready or able to support all of me by itself, but I'm back to being a biped. True, my "walk" was only two blocks long, but it was still a beautiful feeling to be outside without crutches. I felt so free, even though I still had to drag one foot behind me like a ball and chain.

Just since last Monday when I got the cast off there has been visible improvement in my range of motion and a decrease in the swelling. A little bit of definition has come back, so it doesn't look like an elephant foot anymore. Pointing my foot is hilarious, though-- luckily I'm able to see how truly comical it looks compared to my other foot. But even that has improved quite a bit in just a few days. I've been doing the contrast bath soaks to flush blood in and out of the area and encourage the joints to loosen up again, along with a lot of gentle manipulation to kind of tease it into gradually moving further and further towards where I want it to be. I can do some theraband exercises now, sort of, to start getting a tiny bit of strength back. My calf is utterly pathetic. It feels like pudding. I thought I saw a tiny bit of muscle definition yesterday, but it was just a mirage. There's nothing there.

But at least I can stand on it now! I've never felt such weakness in my leg, or anywhere, but supposedly it'll get better. I do believe that, but it's hard to imagine at this point. I've been practicing just standing on it (holding onto something, of course), to try to find the muscles again and see if they can still fire up, and it makes me feel like a little newborn colt, all spindly and wobbly. I've got a ton of exercises to do with the aim of re-activating all those slumbering muscles. I'm sure it'll work, but it can't be fast enough for my taste.

My tentative goal is that by the time the company is performing the last rep of this season in June I'll be able to join them in class, even if only for the tiniest bit of barre. I hope that by putting that down in writing, in public (!), I'll be even more driven (if that's possible) to make it happen.