Broken Ankle Week 23

Downhill is still difficult. Maybe my expectations are really high because I thought I’d be able to easily walk up and downhill by now.

A lot of this injury recovery is about being flexible with where I am right now and letting go of expectations.

Discomforts

• I was walking back from grocery store (a total of a mile round trip) and felt a really weird painful sensation go up my leg, starting at the incision above my tibia. I stopped and waiting and it passed.
• Later that same day when I massaged my Achilles tendon I felt tingling on the top of my ankle and foot. Bodies are fascinating.
• There were a couple rainy days in the past week and I experienced a new pain in my tibia. It was different from the nerve pain around/aligned with the incision. It’s an ache that makes it difficult to bear weight, standing or walking. So I stand, move my ankle around, and then walk anyways even though it hurts, because walking is freedom.

Improvements

• I finally realized that my calf muscle regrowth, from weeks atrophying in splints and cast, is going slow because it is completely dependent on ankle weight-bearing. That helped me feel better because trying to see improvement in my calf muscle is like watching paint dry.
• When I compare plantarflexion and dorsiflexion between my ankles I can see improvement. I can almost force my recovering ankle into same flexion as my other ankle.
• Stairs are easier than hills!