It Happens

It happens to everyone with a blog -- you eventually stop doing it.

I've had several people complain about the lack of updates. I've been working, doing physical therapy, and going to the gym quite a bit. My bad.

My ankle progress has been absolutely awesome. I just got back from physical therapy. We took a measurement of my dorsiflexion -- I'm at 11 degrees! My goal was 10, now I think 15 is in reach. It's great to see this progress. When we started, my physical therapist didn't think we'd get to 5 degrees. My big toe still needs some work to help reduce my limp.

I've been walking quite a bit. I don't use a cane that often. I'm still having pain issues and edema, but I can manage it with rest, ice packs and Aleve.

My last doctor's appointment is next Wednesday. It'll be a bittersweet end. We love the people there, but I think both Brooke and I are done with doctor's visits.

I'll continue doing physical therapy as long as I have more gains to make. I need to make a video of my ankle to compare the motion now to what it was 6 weeks ago.

New X-Rays

Yesterday we saw Dr. Buchanan for our four week check-up. The x-rays looked great!

This is the first time I've seen my ankle without the bones covered with screws, metal plates, or an external fixator. You can see that the fibula has healed hilariously, and I have tons of large cracks in the tibia.

Notice the "C" formation of bone on the fibula?

There's a relatively large crack in the back of the tibia, but it's all fused together -- finally!

Physical therapy is going well. I started out with no dorsiflexion four weeks ago. Now, I have about 5 degrees of dorsiflexion. I'll need about 5 to 10 more degrees to walk without a limp. I plan on getting that back.

I'm taking a prescription anti-inflammatory to help with the stress on my foot joints. Most of my pain is coming from the foot. The ankle is holding up very nicely.

All in all, things are going great!

Congratulations Brooke and Crystal ICE!

Way to dominate, ladies!
Philadelphia was a blast. It was our first time there. I felt like I too ran a marathon with all of the crutching I did in that city. Thanks to our good friend John for hosting!

Chicken Fried Bacon

They have chicken fried Bacon in Philadelphia.

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Physical Therapy

Yesterday's physical therapy went great. It's located just a few blocks from George Washington University Hospital. My physical therapist is Kim Stepien. We mostly talked about the injury and took measurements of my strength and flexibility. It was a lot of fun explaining the last nine months to her.

The dorsiflexion situation, unsurprisingly, is terrible. My foot is currently stuck at 90 degrees when I try to move it up. You need about 10 to 15 degrees past 90 to walk normally.

My right butt cheek has atrophied pretty bad, so I've been given a few exercises to improve my butt strength. I'm not sure how Kim could tell. By sight? It was probably from the strength tests, but it would be amusing if her assessment was by sight.

I've added quads and hamstring to my workouts in the gym. I might have gone slightly overboard on my ankle today. At the moment, I cannot bear any weight on my foot without copious amounts of pain.

I asked Kim about the popping sounds coming from inside the joint. She said it was actually a good sign. It shows that there is some moderate movement in the joint. I also asked her about some of the pain I'm having, and she said all of the foot pain is good pain.

The next appointment is tomorrow morning and then we're off to Philadelphia for Brooke's marathon this weekend. As a Redskins fan, I'm ashamed to go to this city after what Vick did to us Monday night. I think I'm obligated to wear my Portis jersey, but there's a good chance an unruly Philadelphia fan will punch me in the face. We'll see.

Hilarious Ankle Pain

The ankle and foot pain has been bothering me quite a bit when I move it. I've started to take some of my prescription pain medication at night to help me while I try to rehab my ankle myself, but I only have a few pills left and they're probably too strong. I was hoping use up the rest of my prescription while I went to physical therapy, but it looks like I'll need to contact the doctor's office tomorrow to see what we should do. I'm looking forward to and dreading physical therapy.

I think most of the pain I'm experiencing is "good" pain. I don't have any throbbing pain in my tibia and my fibula pain is very slight. The ankle joint is very rigid and painful. When I stretch it out, I get about 6 or 7 loud pops. Fortunately, I can bear weight relatively pain free if I don't move. Once I get into a walking motion, the pain gets pretty intense.

Now I'll stop whining about my ankle and tell you about the sweet measurements we just did. We took a tape measure to my calves and my bicep. The left calf was 16 inches in diameter. My right bicep is 14. My right calf was 12. Awesome!

The two large holes are healing nicely. It's amazing what a few showers will do for the condition of my skin.

I decided to take a quick video of my flexibility so I could have something for comparison later on in my recovery. Not a whole lot going on yet.

Gross

Today was time to remove the final bandage and reveal the two puncture wounds in my shin. I'll admit, this grossed me out.

I bled quite a bit from these wounds.

The weird thing about puncture wounds is that the heal from the inside out. There's no noticeable scab on top of the holes.

My skin is in great condition.

The skin is so soft, so smooth. I need to sign up for an Aveda ad, or maybe join their institute.