iRide

…to check my ankle and see how I’m doing.  So back on 12/23, I was finally out of the cast (whew!!) and back into my walking boot. Even though I was in a “walking” boot, I couldn’t really do any walking. When I was at the doc’s office and the cast was removed and I went into the walking boot, I took a VERY light step with the aid of my crutches and the pain was so great I thought I was going to pass out. It was essentially that way for the next few days. It gradually started getting better and I was able to put more and more weight on it–though I was still using the crutches and most of the weight was on them, not my foot.

I’ve been doing a lot of reading online about people who have had the same surgery and their recovery. I read many accounts of people saying the first few days out of the cast and in the boot was pretty hard, but then it started to get better rather quickly. Some people mentioned going down to just 1 crutch and then no crutches after a couple weeks.

I’ve felt good the last few days and started experimenting with using just 1 crutch and that went OK. I couldn’t go too long/far on just 1 crutch but I could do it. I started to feel like I could put full weight on it and walk without crutches, but I wanted to wait until I saw my doctor today. I’ve also had lots of swelling of my entire ankle, especially at night.

So my doc said it was looking good and that nighttime swelling was normal. He re-applied another bandage just to protect the incision (it still isn’t totally healed, maybe 95%) and told me I could start wearing regular socks (instead of the special sock they had given me to wear). He asked me how the gradual weight bearing was going and I told him I felt like I wanted to go off the crutches but I wanted to wait to see what he thought. He said I could start to walk without them–though for extremely limited amounts of time, slowly working up to more and more each day. He also said he would like me to be totally of the crutches by this weekend.

He wants to see me again in 3 weeks. He wants me to bring an air cast (I will get an authorization in the mail to go get one from the same place I got my boot) and a regular shoe to that appointment and I should be able to get out of the boot and into a regular shoe then!!!! I will have to wear the air cast inside the shoe, but at least I’ll be back into a regular shoe!!

I will also start Physical Therapy at that point and he said I should be able to go back to work after a couple weeks of PT!!!

At that point, I handed the crutches to Tonya and walked out of his office to the car–about a 50 yard walk–under my own power NO CRUTCHES!!!! Granted it was very slow going and my foot was aching pretty good afterward but I was still able to do it.

So I’m progressing pretty good and things are going well. This Friday will be 5 weeks since my surgery and I’m hoping to be back to work in 5 more weeks.

Seek your bliss….Ride lots!

A new piece of furniture I added to the living room to make myself feel better!!

Even though I can’t ride, I can still spend some time with my bike(s). I spent a good hour with bike polish and a rag and polished her up real nice like–what else have I got to do with my time??  I feel a little better already!!

Seek your bliss….Ride lots!!

I finally got to go today and get my cast off and stitches out!! Soon to be out:

Pulling the stitches out:

Remnants:

I’m SO glad to be back in the (REMOVABLE) walking boot. However, weight bearing is basically non-existent. Pain and leg atrophy make it very painful and all but undoable, so I’m still relying on crutches about 99%. I guess I built it up in my head that it was going to be better than this. What a reality check!!

Leg atrophy looks gross!!

I still have a long way to go, but I’m glad to be out of the splint and cast!!

Seek your bliss and…

Ride lots!!

My friend Mark took me on a 4wd ride up, over and down the Main Divide Truck Trail in his Subaru Outback since I haven’t been out on dirt in awhile. So much fun!! Can’t wait to ride some of it on my bike!!

On the way to Main Divide on I-15–a car with reindeer antlers:

We made it to the trailhead in no time at all and made good progress to start. We made it to the West Horsethief Trail junction in no time. Notice in the pic that I even brought along my temporary handicap parking placard just for kicks and giggles.

Apparently people ride there bikes here too Mark got this one in his rear view:

The Upper Holy Jim connector. Not as popular with bikes as it is with hikers and motos. It barely even looks like a trail from the road:

Mark got out to double check and saw some bike tracks.

The Lower Holy Jim trail. Much more popular with mountain bikers.

And finally, we reached Santiago Peak. Notice my placard on the rear view–ya, we got the best parking spot at the top:

The door of the car is as far as I ventured. I figured the crutches wouldn’t fair to well in the chunk:

Saw the Joplin trail junction on the way down:

So on the way up to Santiago Peak, we saw 10-12 MTBers. On the way down the other side, we saw climbing:
-1 MTBer.
-1 hiker.
-3 trail runners.
-3 fat guys on old school mopeds!!!! I KID YOU NOT!! We were too busy trying to decide if we were seeing things to get a picture.
-1 crazy guy on what Mark and I guessed was a mid-80’s Kawasaki street-cruiser motorcycle. He stopped to chat to ask if we came from the Ortega Hwy, as that’s where he was headed. Nice guy. Although he mentioned he had absolutely no tools/pump/anything to fix a flat or shredded tire. He also warned us where we were headed was “chunky”. It’s nothing compared to what he was headed for. I sit here typing this wondering if he’s pushing that Kawasaki in the dark right now.

To top that off, when we finally got to the I-15 to head back to SD, there was some crazy old dude on the off ramp playing an electric guitar with a mini-amp on a strap around his neck and everything. Umm. OK.

Anyway–thanks to Mark for getting me out for a ride (a ride in a 4wd counts, right?) on some dirt and for getting me out of the house for a few hours. Now, I can’t wait to heal up so I can get out there for real.

Until next time, seek your bliss.

Ride lots…

So I am 1 week post-surgery and I am now in a cast. I got it on this morning. I’m not liking it much so far.

The one cool thing is that I got to see my incision and stitches before they put the cast on! I made sure to take lot’s of pics. Don’t scroll down if you are squeamish.

Surgical splint and padding off. Just the gauze left. My toes are slightly orange from the pre-surgery betadine wipe down.

Gauze padding. Eew!

The incision and stitches.

Re-bandaged for casting.

And the casting begins!

Almost done:

Back in black!! Cast setting/drying.

TA-DA!!

So I’ll be in this for 2 weeks and then into a walking boot–though I’m not sure how much walking I’ll be able to do.

If you can…

Ride lots!!

My doc called to see how I was doing tonight. I told him the Percocet wasn’t working very well and he said I could up the dosage to get through the next 24-48 hours, then start to back off again on Monday as I could.

He told me in detail what he had to do (which I have updated the last post to include). He told me that the extra work in the joint would be causing me more pain than would normally be expected from just the standard surgery he expected to do. He said that in his 8 years of doing ankle surgeries, he has never seen anything like it before.

I don’t know if I’m supposed to be proud of that or not. LOL.

…and the surgery went fine. I am now propped comfortably on a bed in our living room–where I will remain for the next week. Since the master bedroom is upstairs and I certainly won’t be doing any stairs for awhile, we borrowed a bed and here I am.

it’s cool though. I’ve got a laptop, the TV, my iPod and various other supplies to help get me through.

Now, for the surgery experience…

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The surgery would be to repair the Anterior Talofibular Ligament (ATFL) and on the–as it unexpectedly needed to be repaired–Brevis Tendon on my right ankle, Tonya and I had to be at the hospital at 7am and got there 10 minutes early. Instead of having to wait, they took me back right away, which was nice.

They dropped Tonya off at the surgery waiting room and took me in. I dressed into the ever changing-highly technical hospital gown–they now have a hook up for a hose that attaches and blows warm air throughout the gown, keeping you nice and toasty!!–started the IV and then brought Tonya back.

My doctor and the anesthesiologist came in and ran through things.

Pre-surgery doc’s initials and marking of the cut he would make.

The surgical nurse then came in and they wheeled me back. The operating room thermostat was set a balmy 20 degrees, but they hooked up another warm air hose to my gown and that made it better. I started to look around and the nurse asked me what I was looking for. I told her I was wondering where they hang the sides of beef. She thought that was funny.

The anesthesiologist put the mask on me and told me she was going to start me on oxygen. About 30 seconds later she said she was going to “give me something to make me more comfortable.” And then, presto-chango, I was in the recovery room 2 hours later.

Tonya and mom said the doc came out and told them the surgery went well. Apparently, the (ATFL) ligament wasn’t severed but was very stretched out. So bad in fact, that it was folded under in the middle and was growing into the joint of my Fibula, Tibia and Talus bones. This was causing me a lot of pain and basically made my ankle so unstable that it might as well have been severed. He said he had to go into the joint and excise some ligament tissue that had grown onto the bone. This included scraping and cutting on the bone and in the joint. He then trimmed the ligament: cut off the non-viable tissue, trimmed the edges, shortened/trimmed the length and re-attached it to make it much tighter.

I was released a couple hours later and we made it home OK. So far the pain isn’t unbearable. I’m keeping on top of it with the Percocet. I’m sure the anesthesia may still be working a little though, so we’ll see how I’m doing tomorrow. I have a followup appointment this Thursday. My doc said they may cast it then, but we’ll have to see.

So, big thanks to Tonya and mom for all their help today. Thanks mom and Marilyn for the extra help with the kids. And extra thanks to all of you for keeping me in your prayers. I appreciate it more than you know. I’m blessed to have such people in my life!

Home at last!!

If you are able to, take advantage of it and…

Ride lots!!

I hope you had a great one!! Mine was pretty good. Low-key dinner (actually we ate around noon) and then off to dinner #2 with some friends at their place. Very nice!!

And…only 1 more week until my surgery. I don’t mind saying I’m getting nervous!! I’m also really missing riding my bike. It’s been over a month and it’s heart breaking for me to think it will be about 3 more months until I can ride again!!

If you are able, get out there and…

Ride lots!!

Just hung up with the scheduling nurse from the ankle doc’s office–surgery is scheduled for Friday, December 4th.

FINALLY!!

I’m kind of bummed I still have to wait the better part of 4 weeks still–after all this. But at least I have a date now!!

Again, here’s the crazy recovery time frame I’m looking at:

4-6 weeks: no weight on foot/ankle what so ever. Meaning I’ll be in a surgical dressing for a 1-2 weeks, and then a cast for another 2-4 weeks. Walking on crutches.

6-8 weeks: In a walking boot like I am now, but limited time and distance on foot/ankle. Should be off crutches at this point.

8-10 weeks: Should be able to drive a car again somewhere in this period. Still in walking boot. You read it right–I won’t be able to drive a car for about 2 months!!

10-12 weeks: Easing out of walking boot into a regular shoe. Even with strong legs from MTB’ing, major muscle loss and atrophy is to be expected in the right leg, mainly in the calf.

3-6 months: Physical Therapy to rebuild leg muscle and regain ankle flexibility. Here is where I’ll get an idea of what sort of time frame I’m looking at to resume MTB’ing and Taekwondo.

When I first think of ankle surgery and recovery, for some reason I don’t think of it as being this serious. I don’t know. It still seems kind of crazy to me, but I guess it is what it is.

And just to cheer myself up, here’s a pic of my Nomad looking pretty on my roof rack: