My ankle has been feeling very good and the physical therapy exercises seem to be working like a charm.  (Give it up for Robin Caruso at NovaCare Rehabilitation in Ellicott City!)  I have almost full range of motion in all directions and my stabilizer muscles are coming around.  I can now walk on uneven ground without a problem.
I'm still unable to move fast, jump, run, etc. But I've come a long way.
I have to wear a compression wrap on my ankle all the time or else my ankle swells a lot.  With the swelling doesn't come extra pain, and I don't feel pain as I'm doing things that cause the swelling.  However, the swelling is persistent.
Yesterday I had a followup with the surgeon and he was surprised by my recovery so far.  He said my pain is ahead of schedule - I can do things without pain that he wouldn't expect this soon.  My swelling is on schedule.  He said to expect that by 3 months after the surgery (end of July) my ankle will be 75% healed on the inside.  At 6 months (end of November) it'll be 90% healed.  That means the swelling is normal and will continue for quite some time. 
My instructions are still to do whatever I can tolerate, pain-wise, but because my pain is mild with the activities I'm doing so far but I'm still having the (expected) swelling, I need to take the swelling into account and make sure that it doesn't get out of hand.
 
 
    
1 comment:
Glad you're healing so well! - Sally
Post a Comment