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.

Update...

For those of you who weren't aware, I broke my right ankle on January 16th, and this on top of having suffered a torn meniscus in my left knee last year. The knee was treated with physical therapy, and I was cleared to return to normal activity just before Christmas. So of course, less than a month later, I break the ankle on the opposite leg. The left knee decided that bearing all of my weight did not constitute "normal" activity and went on strike. I wound up not being able to use crutches, and so had to use a wheelchair. Thus began several weeks of inactivity. Inactivity of this type can often lead to the development of blood clots in the lower limbs, and I had already been hospitalized in November of 2001 for a clot in my right calf. (I was on birth control pills at the time, and over the age of 35, and had smoked briefly off and on up to that point, so the clot was chalked up to those things as they are known to increase clotting risks. I was treated with heparin in the hospital, spent three days there, was discharged, spent 6 months on Coumadin, have been off BC and smoking ever since, and remained clot-free.) I was worried about developing another clot while sitting on my butt waiting for my ankle to heal, and indeed I did develop one, this time in my right thigh. I was admitted to the hospital on Saturday, February 23rd, late at night after spending several hours in ER getting tests done. Heparin was administered via IV, and I started on Coumadin while in the hospital.

Also, while I was in the hospital they checked my ankle on Tuesday and cleared me for full weightbearing, as tolerated, in the big plastic removable boot I've been wearing since February 7th. (I also now get to leave the boot off except when actually walking in it. Yay for increased foot comfort!) They gave me a walker and taught me to use it, and had me hobbling the halls, and also had me practicing on the stairs in the physical therapy gym with a crutch so that I could get in and out of our 2nd-floor apartment without having to go up and down stairs on my butt anymore. So one day before the six-week anniversary of the fracture, I was cleared to walk.

I got home Friday evening, and will be on Coumadin (also known as warfarin) for probably the next three months, and at least to start with, I have to have blood tests on Mondays and Fridays. The clot probably did indeed result from my being confined to wheelchair, bed and sofa for most of six weeks though the doctor says that I may also be slightly predisposed to clotting, according to some bloodwork. Not all tests on that are back yet, and I'm asking for everyone's continued GoodThoughts/prayers/whatever that everything still out there comes back showing no problem. My doctor says that after three months on the warfarin, I may well be able to transition to a low-dose aspirin regimen combined with being active rather than sitting around, and indeed I am going to be getting active again while on the warfarin too, with his blessing. Since now I won't be sitting on my butt quite so much, I'm able to start getting back on track again.

Overall, it feels good to be walking, even though I have to do it slowly and use the walker for now. I go back to the orthopedist on March 11th and hopefully by then I'll be able to start walking without the walker. To be honest, the old left knee injury is actually giving me more pain and hassle now than the right ankle. Life is odd, isn't it? Anyway, now I get to start from square one with the PT exercises for the knee. Which is pretty much what I expected I would need to do.

Thank you everyone for your prayers, GoodThoughts and well wishes. They are much appreciated.

And now for my next trick...

So the broken right ankle is actually bothering me less at this moment than the left knee with the torn meniscus. That's right, the left knee that the same ortho I'm now seeing for the ankle signed off on in late December as being "ready to return to normal activities" is now back to nearly pre-treatment pain levels. Of course, it was only treated via physical therapy (which was fine by me) and what I've been asking of it lately is hardly "normal activity", but yeah, it fucking hurts. Pardon my language, yadda yadda, but this sucks.

Meanwhile, the ankle is 16 days post-break, and I'm 6 days out from my next appointment with the ortho. For those not in the loop, it was a simple break of the fibula, no displacement, no surgery, splinted within a couple hours of the break, and placed in a cast the next day. I'm supposed to not be putting any weight on it, and given that the left knee has its own issues (see above) I've been using a wheelchair. In the house, though, I've mostly been using our office chair and sort of rowing myself around with my left leg, since our place is small and cramped and difficult to maneuver a wheelchair in. And of course, we live on the second floor, so the only way I've been able to manage stairs has been on my butt, pushing myself with the left leg and using my hands on the steps and railing to push/pull myself up and down. I've limited my outings to a couple of times a week - enough to take care of necessary things I have to appear in person to do and to prevent me from succumbing to cabin fever. However, even this has been a lot to ask of the knee, apparently. (If I weighed less, it wouldn't be so much of a problem, but hey, part of how I got in this mess in the first place was as a result of attempting to exercise so as to lose weight, grrrr, and add to that the fact that I broke my ankle as a result of slipping on ice while walking as an attempt not only to lose weight but to strengthen the left leg whose trouble was at least partially a result of earlier exercise... irony, anyone?) Bottom line: I've wound up putting some weight on the broken ankle for a split second or so once in a while despite my best efforts, as I've found myself losing my balance while transferring to the toilet, to bed, etc. The first couple of times that happened, it was excruciating. Now it doesn't hurt much. I'm going to take that as a good sign. I have to be able to take comfort in something, don't I?

So.

I'm now using the wheelchair in the house, since as of last night almost any movement of the left leg results in the same sharp "catching" pain in my left knee as I was getting before the physical therapy brought that leg back to usefulness. I'm debating whether or not it is even worth contemplating attending the barony's Regular Event tomorrow. Sigh. I want to, but it's those damn stairs. I'd have to be carried down them and back up, and I'm not about to ask Dave to do it, because he's having ankle problems of his own (arthritis, it's an old and ongoing problem, a legacy of his HS wrestling days). I don't want anyone getting hurt, and if Dave got hurt then Dad and I would have no one to do things that we can't do for ourselves. If I skip the event, Dave and Mac will attend without me. The choir needs male voices, but can do without mine as there are enough female voices. Someone else can sing my solo... it will be all right, except that I will be enormously bummed. But that's life. Or at least my life. Or something. Ironically, had I skipped meetings and therefore rehearsals the past couple of weeks, I might be okay physically for tomorrow, but I probably wouldn't be too good on the music. Gah.

If by some miracle I do make it to the event, I've already decided against wearing the lovely bliaut I was planning to wear (actually half of a coordinated set for Dave and me) because I can all too easily imagine getting those swoopy sleeves caught in the wheels of my chair. Dave has wisely suggested that we save those outfits for a time when I'm on my feet again, and I agree. So they've been put aside unfinished, and will keep me busy while I continue to heal. And I will look forward to wearing them when I can actually stand up and walk on my own, unaided. It will be more fun that way anyway. So this weekend, Dave will wear the winter tunic I made for him a while back, twin to the one I'm finishing for Mac, only in a different color. And if I show up, it will likely be in my tight-sleeved teal dress, which in any case is warmer than the bliaut I was planning to wear. This being Cleveland in February, that may not be a bad thing.

I've got to get back to some sewing now.