2 month update

Tuesday was January 17, 2012

AND

My 2-month post-surgery follow up.

AND

3 weeks since cast removal.

I went in to see my ortho surgeon and he was thrilled. My ankle stability is so good its like a brand-new ankle. My knee is tracking and gliding the way it is supposed to move.  I ditched my crutches over the weekend and Doc agreed that was ok. I am still wearing an ASO brace every day.

Now, Doc wants me to wean myself out of the brace in the next 4 weeks. I wear brace for school but take it off at home. I will probably wear brace if I go anywhere this weekend. I have also been given permission to go back to exercising. I can only do no/low-impact activities: yoga, swimming, stationary bike, and walking. No zumba…no worries there, I was never coordinated enough for zumba and it always hurt my knee when I tried. No running…yet! I know I will be back…at what level, I do not know.

I have a whole new challenge ahead of me.

I am relearning to walk.

My quads are in a constant state of soreness. My physical therapist told me that is because my legs have not been used in 2 months so now it is like I am always working out – every step, every time I stand. Since I can’t take a rest day from walking, I am going to be sore.

I am learning baby steps.

This one is extremely hard for me! I am usually thinking 6 steps ahead. Last August I was training for 2 half marathons but thinking about more. I wasn’t living in the moment; it wasn’t possible because I was thinking about the next greatest thing. To be honest, if I really think about it – I started running before I even was really ready to start running. I started running because the running excitement among my twitter fiends was too contagious not to hard to resist.

I am learning to be gentle.

I do not have to be hardcore or a badass to kick ass!! I can do right for my body and heal it properly without beating it down or beating me up!

I am learning to try new things or retry things I had long discarded.

Yoga. I have tried yoga but never been able to stick with it. Yoga sorta pisses me off…I was never able to turn my brain off enough to enjoy yoga. I am still going to try it again. I have a bunch of new video to try. I really think I need yoga in my life.

Water Fitness: I just found out that the local high school offers a water fitness class twice a week. And as a resident, I can take classes for $3. I may have even roped my little sister to try class with me. I am not exactly thrilled with the idea of a bathing suit but I am hoping to be brave enough to do it. Having my sister with me will help.

Walking. Not a new activity but a long lost activity. When I started the losing weight game, I started walking. I loved walking and somehow forgot the joy of walking and walking dvds – oh, how I loved those – why did I stop?!? I am going to enjoy the joy of simply walking in my neighborhood (and when I am ready for more impact I will add in my walking dvds – I love leslie sansone)..

I ALSO need to stay the course at Physical Therapy.

I went to Physical Therapy yesterday. I was able to up my weights on all the exercises and they even added 3 new exercises. I have been making progress and I want to keep progressing.

Today I will attempt 12 minutes on the stationary bike. Maybe I could do more than 12 minutes, but I did 10 minutes the other day comfortably. And it felt good. I need work up S.L.O.W.L.Y.

 

I was g-chatting with my good friend, deb, and she helped me figure this out: I can only compare me today with me yesterday. I MUST stop comparing myself to others. I must stop trying to jump ahead so I can compare/compete with my active friends.

 

It has been 2 months (and a few days) and I am JUST STARTING the work!

I have a long way to go but I am looking forward to the process.

MY process.