Anyone undergoing an extensive rehabilitation process can tell you, it sure does distort time. I feel like I’ve just left the physical therapy building with a new list of exercises when it’s time to return again. It’s kind like that movie Groundhog Day. Wasn’t I just here a moment ago? Didn’t I just do this?
My days begin with sketching exercises for both the ankle and knee which I do laying down on the bed. Then come a variety of balancing exercises after which I stop to ice both the knee and ankle for at least fifteen minutes, with my feet above my heart. I’ve tried watching news during this time but I don’t want to add heart attack to my list of things to recover from. So I watch My Lottery Dream House. In case you’ve missed that “home improvement” show, the host is on happy gas.
You might think that’s the end of my travails, but they want me to repeat this exercise and icing routine at least two more times. By the end of the day I barely have enough energy to climb into bed. Forget writing; forget cleaning the house; forget anything else but eating. I’m lucky in that, according to my husband, I do not properly do the dishes or wash the clothes otherwise this place would be condemned by the health department.
Physical therapists are angels, there’s no doubt. Anyone who has fallen and broken an ankle or a knee or both (like me) and had to spend a couple of months waiting for the bones to heal will have serious doubts about ever walking unaided again. We need a lot of encouragement. And we also sometimes need a kick in the fanny. But I’m stubborn. I want to climb stairs again. I want to dance. Even though it seems like each day is an unending slog through an ever-growing list of exercise routines, I persist.
By the way, these days you can track your exercise routines online through … you’ve guessed it … an app. The app lists the routines you need to complete and, if you’re a good little girl, you can mark them off as you go along. Other than just the thrill of checking off all those boxes, I don’t need another way to waste the few minutes I have between routines!
Saying nothing in particular 
I enjoyed the goose on he roof photo! Still snow here, so its nice to see a goose… as a reminder of Spring to come. Thank you.
Where are you? We have geese all year round here. They don’t generally fly up onto the roof of buildings though!
Alberta Canada. The Canada geese are not due to arrive here until mid March.
Awesome that you enjoy them all year, their wonderful noises too!
Hi Jan,
Serious injuries. So sorry. The cards we are dealt, the chances we take, the lovers we leave, the houses we raze. Don’t know what to say. Sorry again. Duke
Thx Duke – I’ve been very lucky health wise so this experience has humbled me. We’re all just a stumble away. A bad test result away from very long days.
Good for your stubbornness, Jan! You’re going to make it after all. Oops, that was for Mary Tyler Moore. 😁. Nice view from your deck!
Thanks! A cracked ankle and kneecap are generally not fatal so surviving was not a worry – I have a lot more empathy for injury victims.
Oh Jan, I’m sorry and hope your healing is progressing a bit more each day. You’re absolutely correct in saying we’re all just a stumble away from those long days. But I’ll bet you’ll be dancing again before too long.
It’s going great – just so much work!
I’d have popped that thing in the eye with a pellet gun. I grew up on the East coast hunting waterfowl.
You ever wonder why Phil Conners never went Postal? Wake up and murder everyone in the town. Do it again tomorrow.
I don’t think the hospital staff would be too happy with you !
I hope your rate of recovery increases dramatically. You’ll be climbing stairs soon.
I just made my first stair attempt and I did it but it was’t pretty!
I fractured my pelvic bone in three places in 1999, and I remember how painful the recovery was. I can remember lying in bed and crying from the pain. I have also had knee troubles although not a broken knee. I’ve been having physiotherapy for my back and neck for years. Physios are angels. Get well soon, Jan.
Thanks Robbie. You too – sounds like you’ve endured a lot more than me.
I was much younger when this happened and that makes all the difference.
Hope you’re making progress, Jan. All hail the goose on the roof!
Thanks Mick!
Jan, it does seem like a long time since your accident. At least your view is nice. A goose on the roof is an odd sight indeed. Keep doing the work. You’ll get there.
It seems like a long time to me too! The geese were trying to escape from a dog but once the dog left they decided they liked the view.
Wonderful goose photo!
I feel you with the rehab taking over your life. I blew out my knee more than two years ago and am still dealing with pain. Hope your exercises get you back to fighting form soon!
Thanks! I’ve already been warned that the knee may never fully recover – ah well!
I’ve been to one doctor, three orthopedists, 2 physical therapists and two acupuncturists. Still have daily chronic pain. Knees suck.
Here’s to all the positive energy I can send your way for healing, Jan! I tend to believe humor helps in all things and your pic of David from “My Lottery Dream Home” and the idea of happy gas? Got me giggling. I watched the show only once when my sweet developmentally disabled sis was here for the weekend, and it WAS a hoot. Happy gas, indeed. Cheers to you and continuing your recuperation…with smiles from me. And hey – maybe that goose is cheering you on as well? 😊
Thanks V! I think the goose was trying to escape a dog but perhaps he was looking for his lottery dream house!
Mmm…possibly so! xo! 😎😘😎
Nice goose, happy that you’re doing well with your PT recovery, and never seen My Lottery Dream House. However I knew a couple who bought a house after the previous owners had won the lottery and *fixed up* the house. Their improvements were the thing of home-owning nightmares.
It’s a silly show but what are you going to do with two feet above your head and ice bags on your knee and ankle? Generally I attempt to complete a crossword puzzle or check on mail while “David” effuses over his “winners.” Lottery winners are not famous for making good decisions!
That is a lovely view from your deck. Keep on with the exercises. So you can rock&roll again… Best wishes…
You can do it girl…
I did it , I learned to walk again, Incan do everything I could before…. I am not perfect but I have got there… I mange pain …can’t play the piano any more….. Oh! Hang on I never could.
Point is you are doing fine…a day at a the 💜💜💜💜
Thanks Willow – I can’t play the piano either although I had almost five years of lessons. Poor parents wasted their money on me!
Sorry about all those typos I was so tired! The point is you can do this I believe in you! 💜
By the way I could never play the piano 😂
I hope you continue recovering well and dancing soon. I love the beautiful rose bush and the goose is adorable. Hopefully, its honking wasn’t to annoying. Take care!
What a haul!
Good for you for sticking with it.
I hope you have seen major improvements.
I’m rooting for you, Jan!
Thanks Resa. I can actually walk around the house without the cane so all the work is paying off.