Yoga

So a couple weeks ago I went to my first ever yoga class. I loved it! And since then I've been to two more.

I have been talking about going to yoga for years, and for some reason I never actually did it. After my ankle I knew that I was not strong enough to do it because I could barely stand on my right side, much less balance and hold a pose. After finally feeling better and getting stronger after my second surgery I decided it was time to try yoga finally!

I loved it! But it is really hard! I guess I thought it would be mostly stretching or something. And it's even harder than Pilates. But because I have been working out with my trainer I am actually getting stronger, so I was able to hold a lot of the poses. My main problem area to work on is flexibility. I am so tight! But I am hoping this will help stretch out some of my muscles as well.

My other worry is that I was told never to even walk around without shoes on after my surgery, so exercising and standing on my right foot without shoes on is worrisome. I walk around without supportive shoes on at my house all the time and don't have a problem. But actually balancing all of my weight on my right foot, barefoot, is another story. I am hoping this is not adding to my current knee pain. I also noticed my right ankle/foot has been more swollen recently and am worried this is a sign it does not like yoga. For now I have been icing and resting when I can. I hope I'm able to continue!

Amazingly, I can also do this (although don't look quite this good I imagine)! But is it hurting my ankle??

Final(?) Surgeon Appointment

Oops! I never actually posted this post:

On January 23rd I had my final post-op appointment with the ankle surgeon. Overall he was pretty pleased with my progress and happy to hear that I can run and work out and everything again.

My appointment was at 10:15am, but at noon I was still just waiting in my room. Apparently they only had one x-ray tech for three doctors. I need an x-ray taken before the doctor will see me. So there I sat, for over an hour. I finally had to go out and say something to the nurses, and I finally was taken back for my x-ray. Luckily I didn't have anything else planned that day. But what if I had to go back to work? SO inconsiderate of people's time. I have never had such a bad experience there. But I digress...

When Dr. Buchanan was FINALLY able to review my x-ray, he came into see me. He said the x-ray looked great and he was pleased with the way my bone work is healing. I told him how I had finished physical therapy and was discharged after being able to do some working out activities. I reported that I was able to do things like stand on my toes now and had a lot less pain overall - that I'm even able to run on the treadmill! He was impressed. I mentioned that I do still have more swelling than I think I should have, and he agreed. He suggested I get athletic compression socks to help with the swelling. I also mentioned that I feel my knee and hip feel out of alignment, and he gave me a prescription to return to physical therapy to work on this. I am not thrilled about the idea of returning to PT, but if the pain continues, I'll do it. It's always good to have the option to go, and at least it's not after major work this time. Hopefully getting my knee and hip back in alignment will be simple and will alleviate any lingering pain.

So overall a pretty positive visit. And Dr. Buchanan said unless there are any major problems I do not have to go back. We shook hands and parted ways for good, I think...

Officially discharged!!

Shannon & Terry's Wedding: My Ankle Can Finally Dance!!

On Saturday, January 19 my friends Shannon and Terry got married! I was so honored to get to be part of their special day by being a bridesmaid in their wedding. My ankle was not sure if it was going to make it all day/all weekend in wedding shoes... but it did!

Wedding party!

Rehearsal dinner night we wore little black dresses (white for Shannon) and fun shoes. Sadly, they do not make orthopaedic shoes in very fun styles. But when I gave away all of my shoes that were not ortho approved (YES! this really did happen a little while back) I saved one or two pairs I could not part with! Luckily, one of these pairs was a fun, flat silver shoe. They have absolutely no support, but I can wear them for a couple hours at a time. By the end of the night my ankle was done, and I was worried about the next day. I got it up and rested it as much as I could to be ready!

Bridal party at the rehearsal dinner! Little black dresses and fun, cute shoes! 

Being silly showing my shoes before the wedding.

Months ago Shannon helped me pick out the flattest bridesmaid shoes on the shoe site we used. She found the ones I wore and I loved them because they were almost flat (maybe 1 inch wedge type heel!) but still cute. I was worried when they came and I tried them on because they hit me right on my scars, which are still tender. My dad saw me trying to walk in them originally and asked if I had injured myself because of how I was walking. I sent them to get dyed and prayed that what I put on my scars to shield them would work. I wore them around the house one day to break them in and had no problems. And I wore them for the wedding and had no problems! After spending a lovely morning getting ready together at the Harvard Club, we trolleyed out to the church for the ceremony. My ankle was fine walking down the aisle. Then we trolleyed back to the city with the newlyweds and took lots of pictures! For this we changed into Uggs or boots. And you all know my secret - that my ortho inserts fit into my Uggs when I wear them, so I was very comfy! Reception meant back into the wedding shoes! But guess what?? I ran around the reception and danced the night away in my shoes ALL night!! I didn't have to change into my ortho flip flops I brought! It was very exciting!

This isn't even my right foot... but Shan found some pretty cute shoes for being flat, right? And look how great the hot pink color pop looks with the navy!

With the bride! And what a great view of the shoes she picked for me!

With my savior for the night, Amanda!

By the end of the night my ankle was DONE though. Walking around Boston later, it just couldn't go anymore. My love Amanda let me lean on her when we walked back to the hotel, which I really appreciated! And sadly when my ankle is done, I am done. It was a very long day so I was pleased that my ankle did as well as it did. I really had been worried about it for months, and I had relatively few ankle problems when it really counted. All in all, a good day/weekend for my ankle, and more importantly a spectacularly beautiful weekend and celebration for Shannon and Terry!

Rehearsal dinner with the bride. I love this pic of us!

After the reception with the groom! Why I couldn't take a picture with both of them, I don't know...

Team Awesome. Over and out.

Knee Update

So my knee has been killing me. Last week I finally had to call Dave, my physical therapist, because my knee was hurting so bad. Not only did I have to stop running, I was having trouble doing normal things, including just walking in my day-to-day life. Over the weekend I was in a wedding (look for another post on that!) and I finally heard back from Dave Monday.

Dave said he thinks I am getting tendinitis in my knee and having a problem with a sliding knee cap. That sounds about right. I've never had great knees. He said I needed to ice it and rest it. He reiterated to BACK OFF it, or it will NOT get better. I got it, loud and clear. He said no running while it's like this. He was not too happy about the elliptical either. He suggested biking and said that this would be best because I'm having this problem because my quad muscles are still too weak.

So I am following Dave's advice: backing off things like running and anything that generally hurts, icing and resting, and moving to biking, etc. to strengthen my quads, and really stretching my legs out. Man my legs are tight!!

Bahahaha! This cracked me up!

Progress (until last week)

I have been so excited about my fitness progress recently! I've continued working out at least weekly with my trainer and also added in cardio on days I don't work out with him. I started a "Couch to 5K" app so that  I could slowly build up to running again. It helps to do the intervals of walking and jogging. IT'S BEEN 20 MONTHS OF ACTIVITY RESTRICTIONS!!! Getting back in shape HURTS, but finally in a good way! 

I might be high on endorphins, but I love working out again. I love the challenge of working with my trainer. He also quotes movies and tells me funny stories that make me laugh when I'm working out. I love my couch to 5k plan. I'm loving getting back in the gym! I'm planning to get in the pool soon too! Everything was going great until last week. Here's what (I think) happened...

The whole right side of my body has been out of alignment since I got injured in March 2011. I was put in a walking boot and that tends to throw you off, because your feet are two different heights. Things got worse after the first surgery. Of course one side of my body had to get stronger since it was being used, while the other side atrophied while recovering. I also began to sleep with my foot up on a stack of pillows to get it above my heart after surgery. It was so weird to get used to at first. And I had to sleep on my back to keep it up there at first, which I hated! Eventually I got used to it. I have literally been sleeping with my right foot elevated on at least 2-3 pillows since September 2011. Eventually I could sleep on my stomach or my side with my foot still elevated. This has really been rough on my right hip. So recently I've noticed that standing for a while, like while at a swim meet, my hips and back hurt SO bad. Like SO BAD!! Then last week my right knee started acting up. Thanks a lot right knee. I don't need this!

Last week I told my trainer Mike about my knee and he had me back off some leg exercises. My arms got an extra workout that day! After a LONG swim meet Friday night, I spent the rest of the weekend resting my knee/ankle/hip. It felt like it was ready to go. Today I headed back to the gym to do a couch to 5k cardio workout. I could feel how bad my knee was when I was first warming up and walking. When it came time to jog I could not take the pain. I had to get off the treadmill and tried to use the elliptical, thinking it would be easier on my knee. It was easier, but I still had pain. So I got off that too and went home. I'm so bummed.

Tomorrow I will be putting in a call to my physical therapist to see what I should do. And next week I see my ortho surgeon again - it's supposed to finally be my last appointment! I thought I would have good news for him, but now I'll need to see what I should do to get back in alignment and stop having this crazy knee pain!

New Year, New Goals

It's amazing to me how different this year is from last year already. And how different my goals for myself and my ankle are... And then again how some things never change...

Last year at the holidays I was pretty proud of myself for wearing two tennis shoes. It was seriously a major milestone. I was still in physical therapy, and just inching along with my ankle progress. I remember that every single morning I woke up, put my feet on the ground, and felt searing pain. I wondered if I would ever step out of my bed in the morning and not feel pain, or at least not feel like I had a giant right foot.

Amazingly, I now get out of bed in the morning and (usually) my feet feel exactly the same as each other. I sometimes marvel at this. And if it's raining or really cold (as if that ever happens around here anymore) I can jog real quick from my car to the building. I seriously wondered if that would ever happen again. And I really thought that I would have to get used to a "new normal" where I couldn't work out or do some other things the way I wanted to. But guess what? I CAN NOW WORKOUT!! I got back into it slowly, but I can seriously do any exercise. Well, any exercise that my out-of-shape body and lack of endurance allow me to do. It's pretty exciting!

So my goals for 2013 are to get back in shape. To work out consistently, start swimming, and running. I need to get into shape and also lose this weight I've gained while I've been on activity restrictions for the past 20 months. And I really need to get my endurance and muscle mass back!

PT now = Personal Trainer

I originally wrote this post in the beginning of December and never posted it officially... oops!

For Christmas my parents bought me sessions with a personal trainer. This is like the best gift EVER and I am so excited about it!!

I wanted to get back into working out safely. I'm an athlete - I know I'm out of shape and I've been on activity restrictions for almost 2 years now. I can push myself, but I like it when someone else helps push me. And I really wanted to make sure I didn't push myself too hard too soon, or do something wrong, and re-injure myself. A personal trainer is definitely an investment, so I was beyond excited that I got sessions as a Christmas gift.

I joined the gym my sister has been going to. It's awesome, and way less expensive than Freedom Center. When I signed up for personal training the guy was like, "Do you want a male or female trainer?" Of course I said, "Definitely male." "Oh, you want someone to push you? I have just the guy," was the response I got. Awesome. No seriously, I was way excited.

Last week I met Mike. And he is awesome. After an assessment day, we got to the real work on Thursday morning. Oh my gosh, I am out of shape!! I mean, I knew I was out of shape, but this was ridiculous! And Mike was like, "You did great today! This was great for a first day!" Oh Mike...

After my work out I felt awesome, but tired! I was SO tight. Apparently my muscles were so tight that they were pulling things out of place. When I got to New York that night I allowed my friend who is a chiropractor to adjust me for the first time. It was scary and it hurt a little, but I felt so much better. WOW!! Since then I've been trying to stay looser, because she's not around to fix me! :)

Tuesday it was back to work with Mike. It was a little easier this time! And he was very impressed that I remembered how to do things correctly. I woke up Wednesday morning with sore legs and a left arm that I couldn't straighten. (Yay!) Every now and then I get a tendinitis flare up in my bicep tendon, and that seems to be the problem right now. I had another session with Mike today, and luckily I was still able to do all of my exercises even with my bogus arm. He continues to push me and be simultaneously impressed that I'm improving. I don't see it, but I appreciate the positivity. Today he also brought me this heart rate monitor thing which was awesome. I would really like to invest in one if I had the money because it just keeps track of so many things for you and tells you where your heart rate is at. I was definitely able to keep mine up pretty high!

Onward!!