Broken Leg
Last Thursday I had my sixth-week follow-up at the specialist. My leg is healing really well! I can start moving it (well, trying to move it--it doesn't really move much), and put some weight on it when standing with support. I can't walk with it yet, at least not without support or putting my full body weight on it. However, I can tell that just working with it for one week has made a huge difference. Yes, it is sore, but I am making some progress.
My favorite part of this is I do not have to wear the air cast any longer. I still wear it if I am going to be going to a crowded place or somewhere where I think I may be in danger of being pushed or tripping. The biggest bonus though is that since I no longer have to wear that tight air cast I am sleeping SO much better. I have to keep the pets out of the room though so they don't jump on my leg. It seems to be their favorite thing to try to do, especially the cat.
The full recovery is obviously going to take a while. The muscles in my left leg are basically no longer existent. That happens when you can't use them for over a month. In fact, it kind of grosses me out. My left leg looks like nothing but bone, especially from the knee down. The calf is about half the size of my right one. It looks....wrong. This is also why I said I am 'trying' to move it. I actually physically cannot move my foot much. I was told to 'write the cursive alphabet' with my foot as often as possible. It is easier in the bath as well, but it is definitely some sloppy cursive. I do not have the full range of motion in my ankle, so I can't fully move it in any direction. I feel like I'm mostly 'writing' in the air with my toes instead of my foot. So, progress is a bit slow. It is a really weird sensation though feeling like you are doing the same thing with both feet but only one of them moving. For example, when I try to point my feet my right one points all the way down and my left one lowers about an inch, maybe less.
Over the course of the next week I am supposed to continue 'writing in the air' with my foot--basically this forces all the muscles to move in all directions. In addition to that, I am supposed to keep putting more and more weight on my left foot until I am comfortable standing on it without support and gradually move to walking without support.
The specialist also recommended I go to physical therapy, but since I am on military insurance I had to go to my PCM. I did that yesterday and got the referral to physical therapy done up and that should get processed by the end of next week. So, hopefully in two weeks I can actually start doing physical therapy with a professional. I hope that speeds up my recovery. Especially since I was working towards being able to run a 5k before this all happened. I obviously won't be able to do that too quickly.
Sorry, no pictures this week! Hopefully at my next appointment in a couple of weeks I will acquire some of my x-rays from throughout the whole process to show you the changes that have occurred since the original fracture!
