Week Twenty

Wednesday, February 16th, was twenty weeks post-surgery. By that Friday I had noticed that I hadn't taken any Aleve the entire week, and my ankle was feeling good. The only times I noticed it was sore were days after physical therapy, and when the weather was particularly cold. On those days it was harder for me to push off my foot when walking, but I persisted and felt as though my walking was becoming more smooth, I was taking more strides rather than limping so much.

My energy level seemed to be increasing. I wasn't sure why, but maybe it was because I could see that I was improving. On Saturday I was at the shelter in the morning, then went to physical therapy, and then ran some errands. Before my surgery there was no way I could have had a day like that. The shelter would have put me out of commission for the rest of the day.

I was definitely seeing the benefits from having had the surgery, but I knew there was still work to be done. I began using the trampoline at physical therapy, and it was hard and painful to push off my left foot. I had to concentrate on increasing my ankle strength. Any type of movement that required pushing off my foot or leaning forward onto the ball of my foot was difficult. This was the next obstacle to overcome.

Week Nineteen

Wednesday, February 9th, was nineteen weeks post-surgery. Physical therapy was still going well and I worked more on pushing off my left foot when walking, as opposed to putting my right foot down and lifting my left foot up to walk. Pushing off my ankle was uncomfortable but I knew the more I did it the stronger it would become. When it came to putting all of my body weight on my left ankle, I just couldn't do it... I definitely needed to increase my strength.

On Monday, February 14th, I stopped using my handicapped parking pass at work and parked a little further away from the building entrance. I probably could have stopped using the pass a few weeks earlier, but the snow and ice on the ground made me nervous and I just wanted to get inside as quickly as possible! With the snow and ice finally melting away I felt more comfortable and knew it would be better for my ankle if I started walking a little further on it.

I also wanted to start paying attention to the weather; it seemed cooler temperatures or low pressure seemed to cause my ankle some discomfort. I felt it was important to keep track of this so I could plan ahead in the days to come, work around the knowledge of whether or not my ankle would be sore that day.

Week Eighteen

Wednesday, February 2nd, was eighteen weeks post-surgery. I had slowly been getting back into my exercise and physical therapy routine after my illness.

On Thursday my physical therapist noticed that my ankle had more range of motion and my Achilles tendon was not as tight. Maybe my "week off" did some good!

By Monday I was fully back into my routine and working up my strength again. There hadn't been too much change in my ankle strength or discomfort, except that some exercises hurt a little because I hadn't done them in a while. The numbness and tingling still persisted, some days better than others. I knew those sensations would last for a while.

Week Seventeen

Wednesday, January 26th, was seventeen weeks post-surgery. I was still suffering from bronchitis and couldn't do much. On the bright side, my ankle was feeling better because I wasn't on it all day long. I had to cancel my physical therapy appointments; I just didn't have the strength to go. By Friday I was feeling better, although still not 100%. It seemed like the antibiotics were finally kicking in.

I went back to physical therapy on Monday, January 31st, and took it easy as I was still on the road to recovery.