Final post

I was sort of reminded by a friend's blog post that I hadn't taken photos of my feet in awhile, so here is my ankle this morning so you can see what it's looking like a little over eight months post-surgery.

It's still noticable in real life (photos have a way of not focusing on scars), but isn't garish. I have to wear tennis shoes a lot but I can wear my Clarks Mary Janes (not what they call them) a lot more as well without issues. I like the scar, it makes me look like something exciting happened to me.

I've been hitting the gym about 45 minutes/week for the last month, and as I iron out problems that arise from ankle durability I'll increase that. My goal is to get down to a size 14 pants by my college graduation (May 14), I gained almost 15 pounds in the last year while all this was happening. Mostly I'm accomplishing this through the stationary bike and the treadmill. I'm not sure if I've dropped any weight yet but I've stopped gaining it.

So this is the final post for real this time, and I hope it's been helpful. If you're going through this or about to start, good luck!

Likely Final Post

I think I'm done with this blog after this post. I've "graduated" from the podiatrist, can reliably walk, and only need to use a brace part of the time. It's been seven months since the surgery and six years since the original injury that began all this.

The nerve damage is permanent- I was informed that there are steriod shots available to hopefully make the feeling come back, but I'm not nearly annoyed or in pain enough to consider that. The damage isn't in a vital area so for now I'm fine with working around it.

Although I'm not quite back up to how I was before, I'm well on my way. I can work out in a gym with few or no problems and still be able to walk the next day. Still can't jump or run, but that will hopefully return with time. Uneven surfaces aren't a problem anymore, though I still try to avoid them unless I have my brace on.

Hopefully this blog helps anyone debating or recovering from peroneal tendon surgery now that my adventure with this is over. It's time for me to move on to other things now. Best of luck to all of you!

Quick, small update

I go to the podiatrist on the 27th, but first I'm going to recap all that's up, six months later.

First, this is a cold weather injury. I wish it wasn't because I don't like wearing a brace all the time, but there you go. When my foot/ankle isn't cold it doesn't hurt and isn't so wimpy.

Second, my nerve damage has expanded to my little toe over the last few weeks, which is now kind of tingly but not yet numb. The numbness hasn't expanded toward my ankle so I suppose that's good. But the tingly toe thing is not cool, and I'm still not thrilled to have nerve damage to begin with.

Third, I can visibly see much of the bulge of my ankle bone most of the time. The swelling doesn't happen anymore, and the contours of my right ankle almost match up with my left again. This is good. The only real visible difference is the big scar running across it.

And finally, although I am fully capable of walking and being on my feet all day and jogging across the street so I don't get hit by anything, I still cannot jog any further than across a street, run, skip, jump (this one I unintentionally did over Christmas to get a balloon off the ceiling. STUPID IDEA.), do cardio on the bike, or get up from sitting on the ground with my weight on that foot. So there's a lot of progress still.

Luminarias

This doesn't have to do with ankle tendons (which is doing okay, I suppose. Dad keeps telling me I'm not being patient), I just think it's really cool and preferable to all the finals I'm working on.

The Backstory: Every year, UNM hosts its own Hanging of the Greens, in which nothing green is hung however thousands of luminarias are lit all over campus. Luminarias are little paper bags with a candle inside, and when lit after dark they glow in a pleasant but slightly eerie fashion. This is my final winter in New Mexico- next summer after graduation I am moving to either Texas, Washington D.C., or New Jersey for graduate school, none of which do this sort of thing at Christmas.

For non-southwest-US people: About luminarias

And now for photos!

The UNM logo as it appears on the stamps, made out of luminarias instead.

A pretty star

Zimmerman plaza, where the customary humongous zia symbol is designed with luminarias every year. There's more in the background.

I'm not sure what this area is called but it also has luminarias everywhere.

What they look like on the inside.

I didn't get nearly as good photos as last year, because last year I went alone and could take my time. This year I was with a group, being social, as well as trying to navegate grassy hills with a bad ankle and undiagnosed vertigo problem (my next medical adventure- I either have a vestibular problem or a tumor (less likely)- the extensive balance test next week and the MRI in January will tell).

My other blog, madisonisconfused.blogspot.com, has photos from last year's luminaria event. Link to that year-old luminaria post. It makes Christmas eerily beautiful and not nearly as commercial as normal. :)

Five months later

So it's okay. There are still a lot of things I can't do, such as running or nearly all sports. The swelling never goes 100% away but it stays really mild. Pain still happens, but only after I've been on my feet all day and even then it's not bad. I can walk on soft or uneven surfaces like grass now. Stiffness is slowly fading, flexibility is slowly returning. Quite a bit of work to do overall but there's still tons of improvement. I'm still not thrilled about the nerve damage the surgery created, but the spot where it is (circled above) doesn't really do anything important so it's okay, I suppose. Walking is great. :)

No more therapy, and hot air balloons

First off, the doctors appointment went well. There is a chance I have some nerve damage, but he hasn't said for sure since generally nerves are slow to heal and it may still go away. As it is, there is a numb spot about 3/4 in. high and 1 1/2 in. across on my foot, but since it isn't on the main nerve right below the spot, no one's very concerned. Neither am I, to be honest. I've kind of gotten used to it. Also, I am done with physical therapy! 5 hours of my week is back and can now be spent studying for the GRE and doing my grad school applications.

Also, this morning and tomorrow morning I went/will be going to the balloon fiesta! The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the largest in the world, and has around 800 hot air balloons and over 100,000 visitors from all over the planet!

Here is my bad stitched panoramic photo of some of the balloons (my camera offered the feature when it was brand new and not meant to be used, so it's not very good).

My mom's favorite- this year they surprised us with a third bee. Normally the red and blue ones kiss and hold hands while they take off. This year momma bee and baby bee hugged. TOO CUTE!

And the internationally famous Darth Vader balloons! These guys come here from Belgium every year for this.

I also got my photo with a storm trooper!

My initial concern had been that I wouldn't be able to be on my feet at all long enough for the fiesta, let alone on the grassy turf of the field, but it turns out that it wasn't a problem at all for the first few hours due to the reinforced ankle brace from CMV that I had on. I'm a little sore now, but not much. So tomorrow morning I'm back up and out the door at 4:30 a.m. for more of this- and I'm getting a t-shirt too!

Temporary post

I've had too much coffee today and am about 8 oz though a glass of sangria. This is a good state to ponder life in, especially this semester, which has been one of the consistently busiest I've had to date. On the other hand, it's also one of the most productive, especially in getting that pesky gimpy ankle fixed.

I do feel like it is fixed- I've got a long way to go (especially if I want to start riding races next fall- not to win, just to not finish last), but I can definately tell a difference from this time last year to now. It's still pretty stiff but is way tougher- I wobble a lot, but my ankle doesn't give out on me before I can redistribute my weight and avoid what would have been in the past a nasty sprain. That was the goal. Both the doctor and the physical therapists say that if I want to ride my bike I can- I just haven't had the time yet.

So at my semester, my 12 hour/week internship for a democrat, my ankle, and general senior year projects like graduate school applications and the GRE, I make this face:

I'm still winning.