I can walk!!!!

I had my orthopedic appointment today. Three x-rays and a consultation later, I am now walking in my own two shoes, sans walker, wearing an Ace ankle brace on my right ankle and occasionally using a cane for balance, or to signal in a crowd that it is probably not a good idea to jostle me.

It feels SO good!

I've seen my x-rays from today, and the bone looks good. I can't even see where it was broken, though admittedly I'm no expert at reading x-rays. Apparently, it's pretty solid now, anyway, and the doc said that in another few weeks the ankle will be completely healed and good as ever. In the meantime, I'm to walk normally, wear the ankle brace if I feel the need (and yes, it makes me feel more sure of the ankle, which feels slightly weaker than the other one, though it doesn't hurt unless I'm on it for a long time). I get to return to my normal life, and I go back to the orthopedist on April 17th for another checkup. He also said not to worry about my left knee, since a lot of the current pain I'm having in it is probably due to a combination of having been my mobility workhorse for several weeks and walking in the fracture boot, which has a higher sole than my shoes. Once I've been walking levelly in normal shoes for a while, he expects the pain to subside, and if I do the PT exercises I had for the knee before, that ought to take care of the rest. Basically, sensible leg exercises will strengthen both legs, and I'll be just fine.

I'm still a bit confused as to whether I merely have a torn meniscus in that knee, or a torn meniscus and a torn or missing ACL. My regular orthopedist is currently on vacation, and the one I saw today is an associate of his who also saw me while I was in the hospital. My regular one had told me back in September that my ACL was "okay" but my meniscus was torn; however, in a visit to my primary doctor yesterday, I was informed that according to a letter from that orthopedist to my primary doc in October, my knee injury was described as a torn ACL and a torn meniscus. Well, either way, the knee was stable after PT, so apparently it will be again. Good, because I really don't want surgery.

Anyway, I can walk now. My friend who took me to the appointment had to go back to work, but by that time my fiance had arrived home from work, and came to get me. We ran a few errands, and now he's gone to shovel a friend's car out of the snow left from this weekend's blizzard. I'm looking forward to getting back to normalcy.