February 17, 2013
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Post Surgery Recovery: Week 13
Setback.
I’m walking pretty gimpily and a re-measurement of my leg is a 2cm difference vs. 1.5cm from 2010. The way I was measured is pretty rudimentary but it’s sound. On a day after I haven’t done any impact exercises, I lie on my front and stretch out. The physical therapist presses down on my back, sees if it’s curved, if there’s any scoliosis he can see. Stretch a little more. Lay on my back. I bend my knees to make my hips even and the PT presses down on them and visually inspects it. Then he measures each leg from the hip to my ankle bone. 2cm difference.
This means I can’t use the jacked up shoes I finally got altered on their own. I have to put inserts in them but I’m having a hard time getting the right height. Everything just feel weird. In normal shoes, I have to stack heel inserts and 2cm is too high – my foot ends up almost out of the shoe. Bugger!!
I see my doctor tomorrow and it’s been recommended I get a full lower body x-ray to get a proper measurement. Whether that will happen tomorrow or if I’ll have to go through more range of motion tests and schedule it with another visit.
Aside from that, the strength, core work and stretching is going so well, my PT called me a beast. Now if only I could actually WALK normally, that would be a dream. I’m trying to keep my hopes up and work hard but the pain . . . I wonder if I’ve torn tissue away from the anchors.
Because of the setback, it was another week of assisted stretching and ordered to rest a few days. Lots of ice. But I could add elliptical (nice to burn more than 100 calories in an hour) and here’s the surprise – the PT said if we can figure out this leg length problem and walk without pain for a couple of weeks, he sees no problem with me transitioning to intervals with running starting in April. It’s a big problem to solve but it’s a light at the end of a long tunnel.
