7th Week

I'm in my 7th week and have had done much more outside of work and staying at home. This week I got my new cast the same day as my 6 week mark (on a Tuesday). The bone stimulation is working out fine. I usually have 20 minutes I'm more than willing to sit in the recliner and do some flipping with the TV remote. I don't feel anything during the stimulation but after I've felt some tingling, slight painfulness in that area. I don't know if it's just a coincidence. The soreness in my foot is worse at the end of the day anyway so it may not have anything to do with stimulation.

Wednesday I went out to eat with some women at work. I propped my foot up on an extra chair and stayed pretty comfortable the whole time.

I drove three times to meet with my carpool ride, once to her house, and two times to the pool. Friday I went to the grocery store before I headed up the hill, first time all by myself to do a grocery store trip. Friday night I drove to a restaurant to eat out with my son so I had a few traffic lights and more cars to deal with. Again, my foot was propped on a chair and that seemed fine. The whole thing with driving is fine with the left foot. It's the discomfort with my leg that is the main obstacle. I can't seem to get the leg in a comfortable enough position to just relax, so it gets tired. For now, I think I'll need to keep the trips short.

Also, soccer games started this week. I'd like to make most the home games. I walked around our building to talk to some of the folks I used to work with so I could ask them for rides to Grissom. One man lives really close to Grissom so he gave me a ride on Thursday. He got me there early for the varsity girl's game so I watched some of the JV game. I was out there for 3+ hours sitting on the bleachers. It was about 45 degrees after the sun went down but I had plenty of blankets, a pillow, and space to sit my leg horizontal. I went all the way to the top so I could lean my back against something. Bleachers are uncomfortable enough as it is but a few weeks ago I wouldn't have been able to stay out there that long without it hurting my foot.

I put the dogs in the pen one morning and went off-road with the crutches. Also, I had to let them in one time at the end of the day. The night of the soccer game, I got a ride home with the in-laws from Grissom to my truck at the pool so I was the first one to get home. Even with a front light on, the yard is still pretty dark, so I didn't venture down to the pen to let out the dogs. I waited for the rest of the family to do that when they got home. The dogs have learned to be less jumpy around me. I think T is scared of the crutches. S would be oblivious enough to not care but she's been pretty well behaved around me. They give me my room when I go walking through the house.

Another milestone this week is going upstairs on crutches, so no more bottom scooting. I come down with one hand on the hand rail, and one hand holding both my crutches at the handle, kind of like a cane. I hop down a step very carefully and with a lot of weight on the rail and lean slightly backwards. This seems easier and less scary than using the crutches. For some reason, going down steps with crutches blows my confidence. At the bleachers, I did fine because each step was really wide and deep. The shallower the step, the scarier it seems because if I get out of control leaning forward, I could lose it and take a tumble.

This week I also went to my Pilates class I had been going to before Christmas. It felt so great to get some movement in all areas of the body. My carpool buddy was going at lunch so I was able to tag along. The university fitness center is half a mile from our building.