Well, the 7-hour patchy sleep seemed to be enough to keep my energy high today. I was ecstatic that I was finally out of that evil cast. I got up pretty early. Unfortunately, one of things that did remain even post-cast is that when I get up, I feel that sharp nerve pinch for a second...and even for the first first steps out of bed, I can't seem to put any weight on it without feeling some sharpness. The good news is that it only takes a few seconds to settle down, and then I was back to moving around like I was.
I got out of bed feeling energetic, and after the sharp stings subsided, I decided to take my new ankle for a test "walk". I was without crutches, and although my calf felt tight, and my ankle was a bit on the achy side, I was mobile pretty much first thing in the morning. I used my crutches as I went down the stairs and then was able walk slowly on my own toward the kitchen. The more I walked, the more relief I felt.
The ankle is more stiff than my calf...but I did some interesting comparisons today.
1. Size of my calf - Lost about 1-inch. It measured a little above 14" while my good calf measured about 15".
2. Weight - Lost about 5 pounds. Before I was around 165, today I was easily 160.
The weight loss is most likely a combination of muscle and diet. I haven't really been eating too much lately throughout this whole process. I'm trying to be better about it though.
With my new found ability to walk, I actually got myself to do some much needed cleaning around the house. Anything that gets me back to a semblance of normalcy. I deflated the air mattress that was sitting in our living room. I also did some cleaning in my bedroom and bathroom. I figure since I'm going to be taking an actual shower today, I should make sure that everything is pristine. I also did a much needed load of laundry as well.
As for my routine, I tried to do some calf stretches from this site:
http://www.summitmedicalgroup.com/library/sports_health/fracture_exercises/
I also gave the elliptical a try, and to my surprise, I was actually able to do a bit without any pain! I only tried for a few steps. I didn't want to over push it.
I hadn't had any weird anxieties throughout most of the day...I kept the windows open since it was cool outside, and just sat on out patio with the pup to calm myself down.
Anxiety report
Unfortunately, the panics weren't completely gone. I think I lasted all the way until about 5:30 pm when the first one hit. It was a bit of a shortness of breath again. Like things are getting a little tight in my chest. I'm still hoping all this is just anxiety and nothing more serious. I was hoping that after getting my cast off and not getting an attack for most of the day that I might have been past all these shenanigans....but unfortunately, it would not be the case.
Dinner with my parents
I invited mom and dad to head out to dinner on me. It would get me out of the house, and I owed them big time. I decided to use the walking boot while we were out. It's quite a bit lumbery so being in the boot for long periods of time was a little uncomfortable, but I ended up walking fine with the thing on. On the way back, we stopped by a CVS, so I could pick up some hydrogen peroxide, so I can clean the area of the wound...now that it's healing nicely. My mom's a Med Tech and my aunt is a doctor, so I asked both if this would be ok. I had some concerns (surprise) about redness around the incisions as well. In my copious amounts of research, one of the signs of infection is growing redness. They both said that it looks ok if the wound is dry and there's no pain. If the redness starts growing in a "streaking" pattern, than that would be cause for concern. But as of now, everything looks good.
I went to bed, still feeling some tightness in my chest and a little antsy. Similar to last night, I had maybe 5-6 hours of patchy sleep...waking up almost every hour. Still not sure what to do about that, as I have work in 2 days.
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