Left Side Tires Only!

Splint Day:  10  Recovery Day:  10

Days recovery remaining:  80

I mentioned my tumble into the front yard?  Well it seems that I cracked the bottom part of my splint when that happened.  So after a couple of days of dealing with a distinct "this doesn't feel right" type of feeling and my toes being numb 98%+ of the time I called the doc's office to see what I should do about it.  The asked me to come in so they could change it out for me.

So in we went.  The giant, hard plaster/ace wrap combo they put on immediately after surgery came off to reveal what the incision looked like:

My first reaction?  HOLY SHIT THAT'S A LOT OF STAPLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My second reaction?  The incision looks like it's healing pretty well!

My third reaction?  HOLY SHIT THAT'S A HUGE INCISION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you so desire you can click on the pic, zoom in a bit and count at least 15 staples.  So that scars gonna be nice!  And as we all know, chicks dig scars!

Only about 5 days left until the cast.  Speaking of which, while I was there for the new splint I was able to peruse cast color swatches and I'm pretty sure I picked out the color.  Now to just start looking for a cast cover I can wear in shower.

That Went Well

Splint Day: 7, Recovery Day: 7

Days recovery remaining:  83

Sunday I had a minor mishap.  From the time I arrived home from the surgery center on Tuesday I'd been in the house.  It was determined that the first time I tried to leave the house and make it to the car shouldn't be Monday morning when I'd be pressed for time, etc.  So, we made a trial run.  That didn't go so well.  I'll save the details but trying to navigate the self-closing front door, a couple of steps, and the knee walker all combined to equal a tumble in the front yard.  Over the front handle bars of the knee walker.  I was okay (only damaged the front edge of my splint) but I scared the living hell out of both myself and T.  Then we laughed about it and tried it again.  Crutches much easier.

It was back to work yesterday.  Not a great day back, but not a horrible day either.  I need to tweak a few things in my office so I can prop my foot up better during the day but all in all I seem to be able to function decently.  We'll see how covering events go Friday and Saturday though - that could be interesting.

Q & A

Splint Day: 4 Recovery Day: 4

This might be bordering on TMI, but I managed to make it upstairs for a bath today.  Major boost to the mood.

Sage was wondering what my return-to-running program looked like, so here it is:

We've used this protocol the last year or so with some of our student athletes with great success so this is what I'm planning on utilizing for myself.  If everything goes well I should start the walk/jog portion on January 9, 2012.  No, I don't have any grand goals for that first half marathon back.  I'm still researching what exactly my training program will look like - I'll consider it "training" once I'm back to running 30 consecutive minutes - and that will be a post on here much later.  Plenty of time to figure that out.

The other goal for the day?  To increase the time between percocets.

How Much Down Time?

Splint Day: 3, Recovery Day: 3

Monday, October 24 is when my time table starts.  Why Monday?  The goal for this recovery/rehab process is to be ready to return to training for a spring/summer race in 12 weeks.  84 days on the injured reserve list or until Monday, January 9, 2012 to be more exact.  Not that I have it planned out or anything.

Why that day?  Well that gives me the perfect amount of time to train for this race in June 2012.  6 weeks for a return-to-running program and then 18 weeks to actually train for the race.  Ambitious?  I don't think so but then the approach, for now, is to just be able to get back out there.

The first 6 weeks of this process will be easy.  Not much to do but wear the splint right now and wait until the cast.  I probably need to start thinking about what color cast I want!

On a Scale of 1-10

Splint Day: 2, Recovery Day: 2

The nerve block is about 90% gone - just a small numb area behind my knee - and I'm able to wiggle my toes now.  So that's a good thing, the bad thing?  The discomfort has started to kick in.  Discomfort.  Not pain.  Maybe that's due to the percocet?  Probably.  But it's not nearly as bad as I was anticipating.

Still trying to get used to navigating around the house with the splint.  The knee walker is much, much easier than crutches so that helps but it's still a challenge.

I'm taking my aspirin like I'm supposed to be, icing (not really sure just how effective icing my popliteal space is but still following instructions), and I'm a fixture on the couch.  Twelve more days until the cast.

On the fun side, the Star Wars Blu-ray marathon has begun!

Recovery Starts Now

Splint Day: 1, Recovery Day: 1

The last month has been a whirlwind...from my Dad passing away and all the family drama/stress that comes with that type of major life events, running a half marathon (Grand Rapids of course) after less than ideal training (see the first item in this list), to yesterday and the Modified Brostrum Procedure on my left ankle.

So the title of this post really encompasses more than just the healing process going on in my foot/ankle right now.  Healing my ankle, getting past the loss of a generation of the family, getting things back on track. 

The nice thing?  I've got plenty of down time coming my way.  At least the next 4 days on the couch.  Plenty of time to put the plans in place for a full recovery.