It's been about a month since I last updated. It's been a very busy month, at that!
I went to Dallas for a quick weekend trip with my sister to see my grandma. The weekend after that, I spent a few days in the suburbs watching my mom's dogs while she was in Dallas. Want to know how I got there? I DROVE! Oh yea, you read that right. I drove. A car. MY car. After I got back from Dallas, my boyfriend came out to pick me up and I decided to go for a little test drive while there weren't too many people on the road. I had previously been working on the pedal motion of up and down with my foot, so I felt like I was ready. I did great, so I amped it up and drove back to my mom's the following weekend. I know it seems silly to be excited about driving at 29 years old, but when you haven't been able to do it for almost 6 months, you'll understand.
Let's talk PT. My range of motion is phenomenal, the swelling is almost all gone, and the scars are lightening nicely. I am also standing more evenly on both feet. In my last post, I talked about the step-downs I had tried that resulted in me crying. Well, my therapist has not had me do them since. I still do the bike, and I have been working on ankle and toe raises on a shuttle. Recently, I started working on an Alter-G. It's a treadmill that I zip into and it blows up with air to take pressure off my ankle. I started walking on 50% of my body weight at a whopping 1 mile an hour. I have since upped it to 60% of my body weight at 1.2 mph. The Alter-G has really helped me get the motion of walking back. There has definitely been some pain associated with using it, and that really made me nervous.
I had another follow up visit with Doctor Arndt at the end of May. I voiced my concerns over the amount of pain I had when trying to walk. He had some x-rays taken to make ure the joint space he made was still preserved. The end of my tibia where is meets the talus is very worn and ratty, and is most likely the cause of my pain. I need to continue walking and doing PT to work it out. Dr. A and did say that a fusion or a replacement may be needed if the pain does not subside. Just to be clear though, a fusion is out of the question. He also told me to try using my Arizona boot that I had made last summer. That brings me to the surprise! After digging around my mom's house, I found the boot. I got home, strapped it on, and it provided so much more suport that I was able to
TAKE A FEW STEPS. I was so thrilled that I just started sobbing. I do need to use a cane, and the boot only fits into my gym shoes (that I bought last summer specifically to use with this boot) and my work shoes. I also can only do it for a little bit at a time. Progress is progress though, right?
I was prescribed some new pain cream at this appointment as well. I had heard about compounded medication before, but this is my first time using it. It's a combination of several medication that are then made into a lotion. The most prominent ingredients are Ketamine and Gabapentin. It is bright yellow and smells like radioactive horse piss. I've only used it once since getting it a few days ago. Aaron and I went to see Off With Their Heads, Bayside, and Alkaline Trio at the Metro so I was standing for several hours and I put it on when we got home. I felt better almost instantly! I will use it before PT this week to see how I feel on the Alter-G.
I promise to put some pictures up soon. I've been blogging on Aaron's macbook because he conveniently leaves it on the coffee table next to the couch I spend my days on. As soon as I unpack my laptop, I will get some pics up. :-)
In other non-foot related news, the new apartment is coming along nicely. We had our first visitor's over when Aaron's mom, sister, and niece came over Memorial Day weekend. I also went to my first baseball game of the season (finally!) while the red sox were in town. Sadly, the red sox lost the game. Aaron did get picked for white sox trivia and won a shirt and hat though! We are going to a patio party this coming weekend at US Cellular Field with a bunch of friends, and I'm excited to get my craft on and make the shirt my own! Clearly, I am not letting the pain and crutches ruin my summer. We have also been happy that the Chicago Blackhawks are kicking ass in the play-offs.
Pictures soon!
- Vanna
