Creative Meanderings

Last week was the last of the two-crutch walk, and on Monday this week I was OK’d for just one crutch to hobble on. In actuality, I could mostly hobble along without, but there are those moments when the terrain is uneven or unpredictable, so the crutch still helps.

It’s been satisfying to be getting around. M has gone off again for a few days and I kept the dogs with me this time. Plus, I am able to drive into town and around without any difficulty. This has really helped my motivation and sense of confidence in returning to normal life. I’m still not able to do a long drive as the lack of movement makes it sore, like when sitting at a restaurant. However, the short drives around town for appointments and errands is perfectly fine.

So, with a taste of regular life again and having successes in each day with the pups, I feel more like myself again. The extra peace and quiet with M gone has definitely helped as well since I was starting to get a bit frustrated with life.

I am expecting that next week I will be OK’d to go without my crutch and the weather is improving that I might be able to get myself to the pool for my physio exercises. In the meantime, I do my yoga stretches and try not to do too much – though that is a challenge.

Anyway, all is looking good overall. Another week down!

~T 🔥🐉♋️

Don’t let the picture fool you – my foot does not like to be confined to a shoe! 😝

However, there has been progress. Two days of physiotherapy down with some pretty significant swelling that has been deemed normal for the situation reveals that the body is truly something strange and amazing. Trying to do some yoga poses on the wall has dismayed me as I found what used to be so simple and easy to be a struggle. My brain really needs focus and concentration to rebuild trust in the movements and positions.

Still, I can put more weight on the right foot. Not quite full weight, but it is definitely improving each day. With more exercises and another three-visit week ahead of physio, I am hoping that this time next week, I’ll be writing standing on both feet equally. 💪🏽

In the meantime, slow and steady wins the race, right? 🐢

~T 🔥🐉♋️

Progress at last! After two months since the fall and nearly six weeks since the operation, week 5 at home was one of anticipation as I have started to become bored with being incapacitated on two legs. Although there is still patience required, I can see an end to the wait for life to return to “normal”.

The doctor(s) have given me the green light to start putting weight on the ankle/foot, do more intense physio to walk and return to light activity, drive even, and whatever else I can do within reason. The joy is real and my eagerness is on edge, but I am trying not to go too crazy.

The bandages also came off today. The pic isn’t pretty, but it is looking good.

So, now I am mindfully stepping with the help of my crutches. I have only once or twice put full weight on the foot, but that is still a ginger action since there is still bruising on the bottom of my feet and around the ankle. Plus, the muscles are not quite ready yet. I get a bit of swelling in the foot and toes if I do “too much” so I keep an eye on it and remind myself to rest as well.

Each step is one towards a return to freedom and regular life again, so I continue with a smile and bolstered hope!

~T 🔥🐉♋️

Well, my doctor’s visit on Friday last week went positively. They took out the remaining stitches and pins/staples giving us a week off from our next visit, so in two weeks I’ll return for another check up. In the meantime, I will have regular physio appointments closer to home.

My physio sessions are starting to get more intensive as increased mobility and flexibility in the ankle and leg muscles for that area need to be stimulated after nearly six weeks of being unused. It is something odd to observe what used to be a fairly healthy and toned muscle waste away into flabby skin and zero resistance.

The therapist said that it takes 100 days to recover from trauma. This is the case regardless of whether the trauma is mental, physical or a combination of the two. A physical injury carries mental trauma even if we do not realize it.

I tend to think of myself as pretty strong mentally and my physical health is fairly good, but it really is unexplainable the toll that is taken on the mind when the body fails to work as it should. Although I do not fear re-injury or doing something that could cause something else to go wrong, I am aware of a greater imbalance in myself than before.

It takes a lot of mental acrobatics to get myself going each day thanks to the extra effort required for showering, dressing, and getting downstairs or preparing to do something productive for the day. By the time, I am “ready”, I generally feel exhausted and have to push myself to keep going. Using the knee scooter definitely makes a difference from the crutches as I can move around to clean up the kitchen or pick up things here and there since a man-clean is not quite the same as a Tara-clean. 😅

Still, I feel impatient to get back on my feet.

Each day, I push a little more than I probably should to exercise my ankle to be in the right position for standing or stretch the toe muscles so that when I get the green light to put weight on it, I’ll be ahead of the training game. Of course, I understand that it is very likely that there is “beating” the game in this case, but at minimum I feel as if I am making the effort and doing as much as I can.

It’s hard to accept that I am only about halfway through the recovery process, but at the same time I hardly feel like it was only three and a half weeks ago that I had surgery. So, with the slow there is the quick. No doubt, in another week or so I will be forgetting that I couldn’t walk. 😬🤪

~T 🔥🐉♋️