Stupid Broken Ankle: Week 8

Bloody Mary: (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Week 8 (days 50-56 post-op) has come and gone.  Since starting work I find that I no longer have much free time to sit on the couch with nothing to do Writing/updating this blog has taken a back seat to everything else.

Day 51: This past weekend we hosted our belated annual Halloween bash.  A murder mystery party – and I was neither murdered nor did I murder anyone.  It was such a fun time, and I spent a good portion of the night on my feet with just 1 crutch to assist me.  I limited myself to 1 beer and 3 small Bloody Mary’s over the course of the evening, which amounted to about 1 drink/hour, plus a couple of waters thrown in for good measure.  Let’s face it, a Bloody Mary is really a health food drink, so it doesn't even count as alcohol.  I managed to stay upright all evening. J

I have managed to just use 1 crutch this week, and on occasion, perhaps a short trip across a room I would go w/o the crutch in just the boot.  In the evenings I would spend most of the time with just a crutch and no boot so as to strengthen the muscles and loosen the tendons and ligaments in my foot & ankle.  Weekends are spent most of the time w/o any boot and I would only put it on if we would be leaving the house.  I can’t bear as much weight without the boot as I can with the boot, but that doesn't matter, it’s the moving of the joints that matters most.

I hit the weights pretty good this week before work and even did some squats and dead lifts with 60 lbs of added weight.  Squats are difficult without much flexibility in the ankle joint, but a sort of decent squat is better than no squat.  I was pretty sore the 3 days following squats and dead lifts.  Otherwise I've pretty much focused on upper body work and warm ups on the bike.

Oh, I nearly forgot.  I made an illegal outing on my mountain bike for 8.3 miles midweek.  I was outside.  Riding my bike - in a running shoe – no boot.  Outside!  It was great.  I was breathing hard, not race hard, but I had the heart rate up. The wind was in my face. The sun was out. The temperature was cool enough so that I broke just a light sweat.  I felt human again.  Now it’s covered in snow outside with patches of ice.  Glad I took that opportunity when I had it!  I did skip out on work one day when it was super icy out.  I was still using 1 crutch and I thought it to be very unwise to be on crutches on solid ice.

And now the best news regarding the healing of my ankle, by the end of week 8  (day 56) I was able to walk in my boot without a crutch all day long.  All Day Long!   In a nutshell I went nearly 1 week walking with 2 crutches, then a week with 1 crutch, and now no crutch.  Perhaps I’ll be out of my boot completely before Thanksgiving.  The thought makes me smile.