The season is over, time to work on myself

Thursday was the wrap-up for my (for now) final season.
We celebrated everyone who are now endurance athletes.

Bittersweet for me as I did not do an event this season.

Starting next week I will start doing yoga and weights.
As soon as I get balance and muscle in I'll move on to endurance.

Time flies...

So much has happened since my last post.

I really tried to get going with the walking and failed miserably.
Only once I stopped putting my energy into walking did I improve and did my pain lessen.
I don't know what causes my pain but over time I will find out.

4 weeks ago I let go of my physical therapy as well and have not looked back.
For the last 2 weeks I have less of a limp and a smoother gait.
I even started a cardio class that did not kill me!

I decided to take a year off from Team in Training.
Races are not out of my future but I'm going to start all over (again) and have my eye on a 5k ( 3 whole miles!) in September.

Stay tuned, please!

Much better now

For the last week I ditched my old shoes in favor of my clogs.
My pain decreased by 50%.

I do need to stretch more but am walking without much of a limp.

Patience Grasshopper, patience

All the best laid plans, I put out all my clothes night before.
Hit the road as usual and met up with Team at the training.
At getting up I was a bit tight and gimpy.
But I figured it would work itself out as soon as I started walking.

Not!

Roadblock #1, the TEAM was going to walk a part of the trail that is all gravel and sand.
I'm having issues with regular roads as it is so that part of the trail was out.

Roadblock #2, my heel lifts were taken out, I lost the left one too, and the odd degree my foot was in really threw me out of whack.

Roadblock#3, as soon as I started limping there was no way to control it. I can't say I did try really hard enough though so it was somewhat of an "operator error" on my part.

The day was glorious, tiny bit chilly somewhat overcast. Perfect going for a walk weather.
But not for me, I ended up at the water stop and timing people.
Feeling very frustrated and having my own private pity party.

Maybe I need to develop more patience, start biking instead.

Right now however, pretty bummed at myself.

Several things happened;

I got a new job which required more on the feet time than I had anticipated 
My kids are back in school and activities 
My Team in Training season kicked off on February 1st. 


Under the ADA  guidelines (Americans with Disability Act) my employer is obligated to provide me with modifications at work.
I needed to get back to work, I still teach one class and have a volunteer to help me out.
But I went down in hours so I was offered a job in the reception area of my company.
I like the work but in the end I was standing a bit more than I should.
I've been able to sit more and to walk less.


I'm enjoying the contact with people other than in my program a lot, I was told I bring a lot of maturity to the reception.
That had me cracking up for a bit, but come to think of it the majority of the staff there is under 25.
Whole new set of rules, need to wear nicer clothes. It's like going back to my retail days in a way.


On the healing front, it's been a lot of "two steps forward. one step back".
On my PT days I'm wiped out afterwards and even though I'm not in a lot of pain there is a fair amount of discomfort from the scar.
The fact that I just can't find a pair of shoes that adhere to the strict rules of Dr. B. and the inability in me to wear running shoes during the day are not helping in easing my foot issues..
I just can't get past that look.




Today marks 5 and a half months since surgery and I do feel improvement every day, I may have been a bit in a hurry to get healed faster but lately have resigned myself to the fact it will take a bit.
I'm not training actively, being support for TEAM has been my goal.


Yesterday I had my 4 week re-check and Dr. B was pleased and displeased at the same time.
The amount of scar tissue internally on the achilles is very pronounced, something Igor does not address enough according to Dr. B.
Back I go now, once a week for stretching, massage and scar work.
I had my first session yesterday and learned 2 new words; functional pain.


Part of the good news is that I do not need heel lifts, I can go back to wearing my regular shoes.
But as with every new development I need to ease into it.
My brand new bought right before surgery clogs fit and even though it feels weird to be out of the ugly "good" shoes it's a step towards normal again.








I'm all for normal!

Excuse me, pain now?

Since Thursday I've been in pain.
Serious OH MY pain.

I don't know why but it hurts, a lot.

Monday is my appointment with Dr B. Hoping it's "normal" healing pain.

Week 17, not feeling the love.

It's been a bit of a mixed bag week for me.

Monday Igor got my foot to 5.5 degrees, up from 4 degrees!
I also walked barefoot, very gingerly, for a few feet.
So far it feels weird but no pain.

Little Man fell ill on Monday, at first I thought it was his asthma but by Tuesday it was pretty clear it was something else.
Wednesday and day 2 of a coughing feverish kid and we were at the pediatrician.
Verdict, maybe H1N1.
Home with inhalers and no school.

Wednesday was also my 6 week check-up.

As gimpy as I am I always make ample time to get to my appointments on time so I was there 15 minutes early.

15 minutes past my time I was still not seen. In saunters a guy, he tells receptionist he is late (30 minutes to be exact) 

They told him to take a seat and 15 minutes later they call him in. So here I am 30 minutes past my visit time.

Now I'm a nice girl but the fact I was there waiting for 45 minutes by now got me a bit ticked off so I go and talk to the receptionist.

They call Dr B's nurse and she comes out.

Long story short, I would have to wait another 25 minutes and then would only have 10 minutes to talk to my DR.

Seeing as that there are some real concerns I have about my foot and the stiffness as well as the increased pain on the inside of my foot 10 minutes are not going to cut it.

Besides a 30 minute visit just turned into a 1.5 hour visit.

In the end we rescheduled for next week.

Thursday was kick-off for Team in Training and a bit of bittersweet feelings because I'm still not cleared to train.

It was great to see the rest of the 'staff' and meet new TEAM members.

I'm so excited to be an Honoree Captain this season!

Friday did bring better walking for me. 

It also meant day 4 of no school for Little Man and a diagnosis of 75% possible H1N1 or the Bacon Flu as we call it here.

Tomorrow is another day.

Pour yourself a drink (or some tea) this is going to be a long post.

Last I blogged I had my first full day of work behind me and was driving for the first week.

What happened in the last 3 weeks?

I had to go to a new PT place because Igor went to visit family far-far-away for 3 weeks and  I needed to be tortured  treated more.
Dr B. sent me to a new place and there I was put in the small but capable hands of Ninja J.
At maybe 5 foot 4 and weighing maybe less than one of my dogs he seemed kind and gentle.
NOT!
The amount of work surpassed Igor's.
First there was stretching the calf by hand, then ultrasound, massage and the exercises.
Things that seemed effortless months ago were not so right now.
Balance on one foot? I can do 30 seconds on the left (good) foot, 3 seconds on the right foot.
Walking backwards slowly, lots of stumbling.
I got to bike for 5 minutes and felt drained.
But after 4 visits and 2 weeks things were looking a little bit stronger and better.

Wednesday I biked for 10 minutes at the gym and did my exercises and stretches.
Friday I went to PT and to work.
Saturday California experienced "winter"
I had a training about 40 minutes away which involved driving in the pouring rain.
I parked in the handicapped slot, walked out and almost fell because the tiles were slippery, however I do have balance and I did not meet with the ground and test gravity.
Sunday was work and a birthday party to host.
Resident Teen was drafted to help but after 3 hours on my feet I was done.

The beginning of the 16th week also meant a lot of rain.
I drove to work on Monday and it wasn't pretty.
The drive was pretty ugly and it took a lot of concentration to drive 6 miles.
I returned to the PT place of Igor because the Ninja place was just too far to drive.

Tuesday the heavens opened and the rain started for real.
By chance my remote connection to work decided to grant me email so I made the decision to stay home and work on the backlog that I had acquired.

Wednesday wasn't any drier but I had made the commitment to go to an info meeting for TEAM so I braved the elements for it.
It was nice to reconnect with the TNT people and to share my experiences with new people.
I'm looking forward to the new season, even it might mean little or no training.
This season I'm Honoree Captain and looking forward to it.

Thursday I worked in the afternoon and was blessed with the help of a volunteer ( got to love the Americans with Disability laws) I figured out that my running shoes work the best on the concrete floors.

Friday was 16 weeks since surgery and some awesome news.
My foot fully flexed was at 0%, not good, but now it's at 4%.
The Dr. wants 5%, Igor is sure we'll get there by next week.

Week 13 behind me, wheels and work

Time flies when you are having fun, right?

This last week has me driving and going back to work.

After a long search and test driving a few cars, scary thought looking back by the way, we bought a Kia Sportage for me.
It's been a dream to drive so far and I feel pretty safe in it.

I've been so blessed with friends driving me places but being able to go anywhere when I want to is quite powerful!

Having the wheels meant I could go back to work.

Today I worked for 4 hours and was exhausted when I went home.

My foot swelled up to twice it size and I'm tired.

I'm going to have to take it slow I guess.