In the same way that it’s easy to blast through low grades in climbing and then start to take more time to advance, my progress this week was not as dramatic as in past weeks, but I’m still working hard to recover, and each day is better than the day before.
Milestones:
Day 22
It seems like exciting things happen on Tuesdays. First I broke my leg on a Tuesday (exciting is maybe not the right word), then I got rid of my boot after the first week, then I went down to one crutch after the second week, and this week, Tuesday was my first day going entirely crutch free. I haven’t used one since. Exciting! What will come next?
I also wore jeans this day, instead of tights or leggings, and stood up in the shower, both for the first time.
Other notes:
Went to my first PT appointment. Some good news is that my range of motion in my knee and ankle is basically the same as on my good side. The other good news is that the PT guy estimated 12-16 weeks until I could run and boulder again. What?!?! That is so contrary to other people’s experiences I’ve seen on the internet, as well as that of my doctor who said 9-12 months for running, that I’m not even sure I understood correctly, but I’m pretty sure that’s what he said. The bad news is that after years of running, my soleus muscle (deep in the calf) is super tight, even on the good side. Yes, that is the bad news. I’ll take it!
Apparently much of the pain I feel while walking is due to swelling at both the knee and the ankle. As a result, I now own an over the knee compression sock (black, not tan/flesh color, thank god) and a 12″ x 18.5″ ice pack so that I can ice my ankle and knee and the fracture site all at the same time. I am really hoping these things help, because I’m not going to lie — walking hurts and kind of sucks. Got some exercises to due daily — heel raises, wall squats, and calf stretches. Heel raises and wall squats are kind of fun (1×15 daily), but the stretches (6 minutes worth 3x daily) are kind of annoying…but I am doing them!
Also:
- Tried to stop taking Tylenol for pain, since I only have pain while walking, but decided to go back on to deal with the pain while walking.
- Can balance a fair amount on just my bad leg. At the beginning of the week I stood in the shower, at the end I stood on my bad leg with my other foot up on the top of the tub to shave my leg! And didn’t even notice that I was doing it.
- Going up stairs feels great — better than even walking on a flat surface — but I still can’t go down stairs without matching feet. I think going down stairs is going to take a long time.
- At the beginning of the week, I also tried to go up on my tiptoe just on my bad leg while holding onto a railing, and it was SO HARD. By which I mean, I wasn’t even close. Just before typing this, I was actually able to do it a little bit.
Also, I have successfully taken a few tiny jumps, getting both feet off the ground! If I land on my toes, it’s no problem.- My legs are definitely smaller than they used to be — particularly my bad one — which I know from getting back in jeans. Climbing friends encouraged me to keep it that way since I have the opposite of skinny climbing legs.
- Even though it hurts, walking has certainly improved over the beginning of the week — I’m probably 75% faster by the end of it? And if need be, I can go at normal pace, I just have a huge limp.
Psychological:
Getting off crutches was an amazing psychological boost! Since then, it has felt like progress has been slow, mostly because there won’t be any milestones as big as getting off crutches for a while. But in writing this out, I realize how much progress I actually have made over the course of the week. Which is also a nice boost.
Everywhere on the internet, the advice that I’ve seen is to maintain a positive mental attitude, do physical therapy like it is your job, and push yourself to keep trying new things. I’m doing pretty well at this, though the pain while walking is getting to me a bit. Ready for that to go away, and to be able to walk further.
I am still a bit incredulous about my PT’s suggestion that I could be back to bouldering 16 weeks post-fall. I mean, I’ll take it if it happens, but really, I decided that I *must* be back to it by May 16, 2016, when I get back to the States, which is 27 weeks. Definitely going to pack my shoes and a chalk bag when I go away, just in case.
A more short term goal is to be able to bowl in my family’s annual Christmas bowling excursion. And I really want to go top rope one time in January before I leave the country. Also, I’m interested to see how strong I’ve stayed/gotten through all of this lifting, abs, and pullups I’ve been doing — and whether my shoulder injury will actually get better before my leg — or not!
I Broke My Leg Bouldering 