I've been wallowing in self-pity on and off again for the past 5 1/2 months. Not being able to consistently exercise in any way has been very hard. I've been walking, but it does not have the same stress management effect as a cardio burst. Which is why I was thankful for the perfectly timed Happy Trails pep talk! "It's ok to do only what I can do."
With that, I got on the dreaded stationary bike and did what I could do. Turns out, I got in a pretty good 30 minute intense (at least the current definition of it) workout. Adding my core work and an hour walk helped out a lot.
Another good step - Steve talked me into driving 90 miles to see an A.R.T. doc that he highly respects. The visit was sooo worth it. This guy explained more about my injury and lull in recovery than I had learned from an ortho surgeon, sports med doc, podiatrist and physical therapist all together. What these providers did not and may never get, is that it helps to give a patient information. Information like what exactly broke, why it's not feeling right, and what specifically they are doing to try and fix it.
I learned where the retinaculum is, where it tore based on the large amounts of scar tissue I've got, how the scar tissue works, why I need to work on the scar tissue before continuing physical therapy exercises, why my leg feels so tight I'm scared to move, and some possible biomechanical issues that might have caused it in the first place. Most of all, I was given a little bit of hope which goes an awful long way when you are sitting at 6 months post injury!
1 comment:
Iris, I SO feel for you! Separate from being limited or unable to do the physical activities we so enjoy is the psychological release/relaxation we get from our running, biking, etc. Can you say 'basket case' when we can't do what we are meant to outdoors??? :-) Not only is it easy to become frustrated and depressed, it is also easy to feel isolated, in a social sense, because we aren't able to join in and share those activities with our friends in the same capacity as before. But like I came to grips with this past week, the time is short, in relation to our life. 6 months, a year, 2 years (hopefully not 2 years, please!) is short in the grand scheme of life. That means I still have 40+ years to 'play' after all is healed up. The same goes for you. Right now it seems SO LONG and so impossible but it WILL get better, really! Just go easy on yourself and ride the stationary bike, hike, whatever you can do right now - it's ok. It's what you can do and you are doing it. Don't lose your hope!
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