Let’s recap my doctor’s appointment yesterday, which was pretty much the highlight of my life recently…

The past 5 weeks have been really frustrating for me because my foot/ankle has continued to hurt despite staying off of it, icing and taking a high dosage of NSAIDs. I wasn’t supposed to have a follow-up until next week, but I had some vacation time planned next week and was conflicted about taking time off of work if I was looking at a potential surgery. So I called my doctor and he told me to go ahead and come back in so we could see where I was at.

At this point, I was convinced I was going to end up having surgery.

Follow-Up

After feeling my foot and having me stand in a few different positions, my doctor completely surprised me by telling me that I need to start walking again without the boot. I have a spot on my ankle that is pretty painful, but he said he actually thinks this is my synovium. Apparently the synovium can develop issues when your foot is immobile for a while, and walking can help to resolve this.

Guys- I almost died when he said this. I was practically in tears prior to my appointment thinking about having to go through another orthopedic surgery. To hear that not only I won’t be needing surgery but that I can ditch the crutches and scooter was seriously the best news ever!

Free

Being on crutches and living by yourself is really hard. I feel completely free now that I don’t have to deal with that anymore. I tried to hang in there as long as I could but I think I had reached my breaking point with struggling to do things by myself. Here are some very simple things that I’ve been unable to do for the past 5 weeks and am ECSTATIC about doing again:

• Carry a cup of coffee with me to the car every morning on the way to work
• Stand up while blow drying my hair and putting on makeup
• Put a glass of water on my night stand when I go to sleep
• Wear regular shoes (thank you, Brooks, for seeing me through)
• Go grocery shopping (because I couldn’t carry more than 1 bag inside by myself)
• Take out the trash (I went 3 weeks without wheeling my can out to the road)
• Walk my dog (she has been living with my ex for the past month)
• Use a regular stall in a public restroom with my scooter (do you know how many people use the handicap stall when there are regular stalls open? it was starting to make me ragey)

I was overjoyed with happiness leaving my appointment knowing that I can do simple things for myself.

I feel like my old self again!

Moving Forward

I’m supposed to ease back into walking for the next 4-6 weeks and progress to normal physical activity if things go well. So for now, I shall walk Without crutches  

You guys know how much I want to do a triathlon. It is still on my bucket list, somewhere out there on the horizon. But for now, I will gladly take being able to walk on my own 2 feet. Hopefully I can hop on my bike at some point and ride around the block… it will be January by then but I guess that’s a perfect way to ring in the new year.

Dealing with an Athletic Injury

Being injured is very depressing and demoralizing. Physical activity is a big part of who I am and most parts of life that I really, really love include being active. I feel the most relaxed and carefree when I’m on my bike.

I attribute rehabbing my knee and getting back on my bike as my saving grace when I was really struggling with my personal life. Exercise is good for your body but it is even better for your mind and soul. Losing that over the past 3-4 months has been hard.

I’m sorry to anyone out there who has or is currently dealing with an athletic injury. I don’t even have any words of advice for you because it really sucks so much, but I hope you get better soon.

A New Beginning

I hope yesterday’s good news is just Day 1 for a new beginning for me. I am really, really hoping that this pain in my ankle subsides with walking like my doctor says. I will be turning 30 next month and I would love nothing more than to put my injuries behind me and get back on track with running and cycling. I will NEVER go hiking again without the appropriate shoes, and I will NEVER try to push through an injury when my body is trying to tell me that I need rest. Please learn from my mistakes.

Something important I’ve learned over the past few months is that everyone is going to go through a time in life when they need a little bit of help, and that’s okay. Your friends and family want to help you. Thank you to everyone who has been there for me the past few months, whether it was cleaning my house, taking out my trash, going grocery shopping with me, checking in, or just leaving a nice comment here on the blog. I hope I can repay the favor one day.

P.S.

Let’s all take a moment to honor the boot and scooter.

Dear boot: Thank you for being the ultimate fashion accessory and for being a great conversation piece.

Dear scooter: thank you for rolling me along these past 5 weeks, for giving me the ability to still work, and for giving me lots of laughs and jokes. Part of me will miss you but most of me will not. I’m sorry that I will be returning you ASAP this morning. You’ve been a good friend <3

I have been in a blogging rut this past month with my lack of activity… but hopefully I will be back now with lots of fun adventures. Thanks for reading

XOXO –Sam