92nd Day-ish

Michelle is doing better, almost every day.  We’re walking further, not every time, but most times, sometimes multiple times in a day.

She’s not going this whole green-line distance every time, but usually going uphill (that's to the right, or counter-clockwise if your brain operates better with those parameters) and back home, unless we go the other way.  Short version:  a lot of the time, she’s going about twice as far as she was before, and at a faster pace. 

The whole circle (sort of a squared circle, maybe more of a block) is the distance we used to walk (with the  dog) almost every evening before we went to bed.  Well, except if it was raining.  I got the dog-walking prize on the majority of those nights, and didn't ever make the block on those occasions.  Angel wasn't so cheerful about it, and he wasn't alone in that.  Doggie raincoats and umbrellas just aren't enough.

The physical therapy side of it continues.  Part of it is going into the PT facility, the rest of it happens at home, every day.  I get to help with the at-home part.

Day 85

With 10 August, Day 83, behind us, the expected transitions have occurred; the air boot has been retired, the brace has been moved to her left ankle, and physical therapy has been scheduled.

My notes from the consult are brief and minimal.  Just to mention the detail, her surgery was on 29 May, so you can do all the day-counting you like from that point, along with the injury date of 19 May.  It’s all about counting, for some folks, and I support that option, whenever possible.

In the meantime, she’s doing lots better. Walking is still not a rapid activity, manageable without disagreeable-ness. Hard surfaces, naturally, are less forgiving, especially when she’s not wearing the brace on her bionic ankle.  Shoes on, hard floors aren't such a big deal.  It's progress.

“It’s time for her to work on her strength and balance skills,’ reads one of my notes. The physical therapy is scheduled to begin next Thursday, since that was the first available day for it.  That will include a bit of stationary biking and whatever else is on the standard list, along with some home exercises that she’s already working on.

She’s going on walks with the dog regularly. Stamina is something of an issue but, considering where she was a month ago, this is great guns progress, walking unaided.  Maybe I'm offering her my arm most of the time.  Maybe she's taking it.

I’ve considered resuming my typical schedule, going in early and such, but still feel cautious about the first part of her day.  I’ll give her another week or two and revisit that choice.

Counting Down Again

We’re counting down the days until Friday’s appointment to see the orthopedist and get the latest word on how Michelle is doing towards a full and complete recovery.  It’s sure been a long ride, but things look like they’re in good shape.  Michelle has a lot more mobility, and has gone on a good number of walks with the dog and I, most times about as far as the map shown in the earlier entry. 

The next appointment is at 10:30, so we’ll be getting there a bit before that.  She’ll be going in on her own two feet though, maybe the first time during this treatment series that this has occurred.  She’s done some amount of brief standing on both feet without any additional support.  Walking without using some kind of brace is still a ways out, but we’re getting closer to her doing that, and she’s getting better every day. We’re sure looking forward to things getting better and better.

This whole big long hassle has been a substantial challenge to us, but we’ve done well, considering, with the help of so many of our friends and family.  Looking over at the fireplace mantle, I count maybe two dozen cards that Michelle has gotten from so many thoughtful and helpful people.

If the air boot comes off on Friday, and we’re thinking it probably will, Michelle will finally be ready for some physical therapy, and she’ll get stronger that much more quickly.  Not sure about long walks by Labor Day, but Halloween looks good, I’d say.

Many, many thanks to everyone for their kind words and their generous help. It hasn’t been great, but it’s been a whole lot better than it could have been.

Michelle's unscheduled jaunt

Below, you can see the route that Michelle took on her unscheduled, unplanned, un-pre-meditated stroll.

As I wrote in yesterday's entry, I was getting ready to take Angel for a walk and Michelle decided to pick up and head on out with us to go as far as she felt like going. And, as you can see above, she went a pretty good ways. Where the line goes gray, that was about to the highest part of where we were going.  It was down-ish on to the distant end of the walk. Thus, it was downhill getting back to our house where the black line begins on the return stroll.

So, wow.  Gosh.  Progress.  It's been a lot of good days lately, after too many tough days.

21 July 2012: update

We are getting ready for Michelle’s second full week back at the office. Briefly summarizing the first week:  tiring. She was doing well on the half-days with me taxi-ing her in lunch-ish. Driving herself in on the usual commute schedule requires more preparation time, and additional tasks to complete before departure. It’s a different deal in a lot of ways.

We’re looking forward to the next consult on 10 August, figuring that there will be a better idea on how well she’s progressing. We both keep thinking about how she was told that the most recent x-rays of her right ankle (appearing elsewhere on this blog) don’t show signs of it every having been broken.

The other ankle, with the screws and the plate and the continued discomfort, that’s another story, and will be another story for years, I expect. She now has weather forecasting talents. Accuracy and specificity will improve as familiarity with the various sensations increases.

Earlier today, she went for something of an indoor stroll without using cane or walker, going from the den to the dining room and back, along with a few other places on the first floor. It was a cheerful accomplishment, but tiring. It’s very apparent that her left is not keeping up with her right, but we have to note that the right is wearing the air boot and that there’s some disparity in apparent local foot height from the floor. We’ve talked about other footwear choices that might balance out the disproportion.

Once this deal is behind us, I vote for high-tops. She’s not very keen on the idea. Robbyn suggests work boots, and Michelle is open for that option as long as I wear ‘em too.

It’s looking like a reasonable week for both of us. The dog misses having her around for the first part of the day, but he gets to see me at lunch. Being back on my usual lunch schedule is a big change, but I’m managing. We’ll see how it goes.

For now: Michelle’s getting better, not as quickly as she would like, but there is improvement, and the improvements are more apparent every day.

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So, naturally, 20 minutes after I posted the above part, needing to take Angel for a walk, Michelle joined us, figuring to go as far as she could and turn back when she had gone far enough. As it worked out, what with two stops to tell neighbors about recovery progress, she went a good long way up the hill and most of the way to the speed limit sign that’s been our walk-the-dog destination ever since we started walking the dog.

I shot some video of it on my cellphone, but I’m not data-agile enough to post it just yet. It’s a great example about how well she’s doing.

The SEVEN-WEEK update

The SEVEN-WEEK update of how it’s going with Michelle

IT WAS SEVEN WEEKS AGO TO-DAY THAT THIS CHALLENGE BEGAN.

Hey, got through yesterday, if you put any stock in that sort of thing.  Today has been a good-enough day.  She’s still got mobility issues that we’re dealing with.  Stairs and curbs are in issue.  Not keeping her foot up enough during the day is an issue.  Standing up is an issue.  Still, she can manage curbs and stairs, and she can stand up from a seated position.  It’s WAY better than what we were dealing with a week ago.  Impatience with how long this is taking is also an issue.  Needing to delay everything else going on to contend with all the issues is an issue.  It’s getting better, though.  Just not so quickly as we were both hoping for.

We drove down to Palmetto today, taking the three parakeets (some call ‘em budgies; I like that, but it’s not so widely recognized) down to Mom, after she expressed her interest in managing avian life and knowing that, without birds down there, sure enough there would be a comparatively small quadruped or two joining the local menagerie.

Going to sing Mass tomorrow for the second time, and the last time of the summer, what with this year’s choir season ending.  We’ll be back at the end of August, and Michelle should be down to just a brace on the left ankle by then.  We’re hoping, anyway.  And kind of expecting.

She starts back to work full-time Monday, after getting doctor permission to do so on Friday.  The half-days have gone well, but it’ll be good for her to have a whole day in the office to address those concerns.  It’ll take the focus off her own issues and give her cause to concentrate on business things.  It’s good for her to be at work.  It helps her get through the days. 

Handling the challenges

Michelle status is good, but not as good as she was expecting. She’s got mobility, but it’s slow mobility. She went out for a little walk last night, slowly down the garage-side stairs off the deck to look at the flowers, headed towards the mailbox as I took the dog for a walk, thought better of it part-way due to the driveway’s incline, headed back inside and on up for bed.

This morning, she walked down the stairs, one at a time. We’ve learned that the air boot was doing more for her right ankle than she realized. We’ll see how she’s doing tomorrow.

How about a few pictures?

Number 6 is where all the big-deal stuff happened, near where the plate and screws (316 stainless steel, I was told yesterday) and surgery happened.

The cast comes off.

The scar is healing very well.

Now, the air boot is on the left.

The whiz-bang yee-ha woo-wee 21st Century "sports brace" that's now on her right ankle.

And now it's this way.  Her next consult is on 10 August.  Maybe things will settle out better by then.